MUSIC SATURDAY - ANTOINE FORQUERAY

“I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.”― Tom Waits 

Antoine Forqueray (September 1671 – 28 June 1745) was a French composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba. Forqueray, born in Paris, was the first in a line of composers which included his brother Michel (1681–1757) and his sons Jean-Baptiste (1699–1782) and Nicolas Gilles (1703–1761).

Forqueray’s exceptional talents as a player led to his performing before Louis XIV at the age of ten. The king was so pleased with him that he arranged for Forqueray to have music lessons at his own expense and then, seven years later, in 1689, named him Musicien Ordinaire de La Chambre du Roy a position Forqueray held until the end of his life. To supplement his official income he gave lucrative private lessons to members of the royal family and the aristocracy.

In Louis XIV's later years the normal routine of concerts at the court of Versailles was augmented by Mme de Maintenon. She arranged almost daily performances in her apartments by such musicians as Robert de Visée (guitar), René Descoteaux (flute), Jean-Baptise Buterne (harpsichord) as well as Forqueray.

At the time of Forqueray’s appointment the most renowned viol player at court was Marin Marais, who was famous for his sweet and gentle musical style. Forqueray in contrast became renowned for his dramatic, striking and brash style. According to Hubert Le Blanc Marais played like an angel, and Forqueray like the devil. The Mercure de France of 1738 chided both Antoine and his son Jean-Baptiste-Antoine for writing pieces ‘so difficult that only he and his son can execute them with grace.’ Forqueray’s style was so distinctive that three of his near-contemporaries Jean-Philippe Rameau, François Couperin and Jacques Duphly each composed a piece named ‘La Forqueray’ as a tribute to him.

In 1697 Forqueray married Henriette-Angélique Houssou, daughter of a church organist. Forqueray was often accompanied by his wife on the harpsichord when he played. Their marriage was apparently most unhappy, and after several shorter periods apart, they separated finally in 1710. His relationship with his son Jean Baptiste was just as difficult. He had Jean Baptiste imprisoned in 1719 and exiled by lettre de cachet in 1725.

In 1730, he retired to Mantes-la-Jolie outside Paris, where he continued to draw his salary, and died in 1745. His son Jean Baptiste published his works for the viola de gamba in 1747 (two years after his father’s death) together with a version for harpsichord. Although Forqueray’s obituary notice indicated that at the time of his death around three hundred pieces written by him still existed, the thirty-two pieces contained in his son’s edition are all that survive today.

Here are some of Forqueray’s “Pieces de Viole avec la Basse Continuë” performed by Paolo Pandolfo (Viola da Gamba), Eduardo Eguez, Rolf Lislevand, Guido Morini (continuo).

ALL ABOUT SUMAC

“Even just a few spices or ethnic condiments that you can keep in your pantry can turn your mundane dishes into a culinary masterpiece.”- Marcus Samuelsson 

Sumac (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: summāqāʾ [=red, red shift, turning red], Arabic: سمّاق‎‎ summāq; also spelled sumach, sumaq) is any one of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. The dried and powdered fruits are used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in East Asia, Africa and North America.

Sumacs are shrubs and small trees that can reach a height of 1–10 m. The leaves are spirally arranged; they are usually pinnately compound, though some species have trifoliate or simple leaves. The flowers are in dense panicles or spikes 5–30 cm long, each flower very small, greenish, creamy white or red, with five petals. The fruits form dense clusters of reddish drupes called sumac bobs. The dried drupes of some species are ground to produce a tangy crimson spice. Sumacs propagate both by seed (spread by birds and other animals through their droppings), and by new shoots from rhizomes, forming large clonal colonies.

The fruits (drupes) of the genus Rhus (for example, R. coriaria) are ground into a reddish-purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a tart, lemony taste to salads or meat. In Arab cuisine, it is used as a garnish on meze dishes such as hummus and tashi, and is added to salads in the Levant. In Iranian, Afghan and Kurdish cuisines, sumac is added to rice or kebab. In Jordanian and Turkish cuisines, it is added to salad-servings of kebab and lahmajoun. Rhus coriaria is used in the spice mixture za’atar. 

Za’atar
Ingredients
1/4 cup sumac
2 tablespoons dried thyme leaves
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons dried marjoram
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon coarse salt 

Method
Grind the sesame seeds in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle it on bread, dips, dressings, meat, vegetables, rice, potatoes, pasta, soups, and more.

In North America, the smooth sumac (R. glabra) and the staghorn sumac (R. typhina) are sometimes used to make a beverage termed “sumac-ade”, “Indian lemonade”, or “rhus juice”. This drink is made by soaking the drupes in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth, and sweetening it. Native Americans also use the leaves and drupes of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

Sumac was used as a treatment for half a dozen different ailments in medieval medicine, primarily in Middle-Eastern countries (where sumac was more readily available than in Europe). An 11th-century shipwreck off the coast of Rhodes, excavated by archaeologists in the 1970s, contained commercial quantities of sumac drupes. These could have been intended for use as medicine, as a culinary spice, or as a dye. Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) is a powerful antioxidant, with ORAC rating over 1500 μmol TE/g.

Some species formerly recognised in Rhus, such as poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans, syn. Rhus toxicodendron), poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum, syn. Rhus diversiloba) and poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix, syn. Rhus vernix), have the allergen urushiol and can cause severe allergic reactions. Poison sumac may be identified by its white drupes, which are quite different from the red drupes of true Rhus species. Cases of allergy involving pure Rhus coriaria have not been documented in medical literature.

In the language of flowers, sprigs of Rhus carry the meaning: “Touch me not”. Flowerheads or seed clusters incorporated in bouquets imply: “If you get to know me, you shall love me.”

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MIDWEEK MOVIES - DOCTOR ZHIVAGO

“But Sasha was from Russia, where the sunsets are longer, the dawns less sudden and sentences are often left unfinished from doubt as how to best end them.” ― Virginia Woolf 

Doctor Zhivago (1965) Epic Drama, 197 minutes – Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak and directed by David Lean; starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay. – 8.0/10

One has to revisit one’s past occasionally and observe it from the new perspective that several years passage can give it. It is the same with books one has read, films one has seen and music one has heard. In many cases it is pleasant surprise, in other cases disappointment, rarely complete mystification as to why we were besotted with that in the first place. In any case, revisiting the past can bring back a host of memories and feelings, some gratifying, some disagreeable.

It was interesting to see David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago” again, after so many years. It felt a little like opening a time capsule and discovering all sorts of things one doesn’t see today. They certainly made films differently in the 1960s, especially the grand scale epics that films such as this represents. In any case, the film still is a classic and David Lean is one of the great film directors. The acting was as grandiose as the sets and the gorgeous expansive landscapes. The music score by Maurice Jarre still held its status as an unforgettable and evergreen musical gem, while the cinematography by Freddie Young is absolutely faultless.

The plot is set around the time of the Russian Revolution, and centres on Yuri Zhivago (Sharif), who is a young doctor who has been raised by his aunt and uncle following his father’s suicide. Yuri falls in love with beautiful Lara Guishar (Christie), who has been having an affair with her mother’s lover, Victor Komarovsky (Steiger), an unscrupulous businessman. Yuri, however, ends up marrying his cousin, Tonya (Chaplin). Lara marries, Pasha (Courtenay), a revolutionary whose passion for the Communist cause cannot be compromised.

Lara's true love is Zhivago who also loves his wife. Lara is the one who inspires Zhivago’s poetry. But when Zhivago and Lara meet again years later, the spark of love reignites. The story is narrated by Yevgraf (Guinness), Zhivago’s half brother, who has made his career in the Soviet Army. At the beginning of the film he is about to meet a young woman he believes may be the long-lost daughter of Lara and Zhivago…

The plot of course is simple and almost inconsequential to the point of banality, yet the complete package of the film is fresh, visually appealing, engaging and despite its epic and grandiloquent (even a trifle bombastic), style it still manages to bewitch the viewer. The film still manages to excite emotion and exudes an innocence that we have lost in much of modern film-making. We would recommend getting your hands on this and watching it, even if you have seen it before. It does stand up well to a re-viewing!

TRAVEL TUESDAY #99 - TOULOUSE, FRANCE

“France is, for me, the country of happiness.” - Max von Sydow

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.  

Toulouse (Occitan: Tolosa, Latin: Tolosa) is the capital of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the region of Occitanie. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, 150 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, 230 km from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km from Paris. It is the fourth-largest city in France, with 466,297 inhabitants as of January 2014. The Toulouse Metro area, with 1,312,304 inhabitants as of 2014, is France’s fourth-largest metropolitan area, after Paris, Lyon and Marseille, and ahead of Lille and Bordeaux.

Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus (formerly EADS), the Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, ATR and the Aerospace Valley. It also hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNES’s Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites also have a significant presence in Toulouse.

The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 103,000 students, it is the fourth-largest university campus in France, after the universities of Paris, Lyon and Lille. The air route between Toulouse–Blagnac and Paris Orly is the busiest in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers in 2014. According to the rankings of L’Express and Challenges, Toulouse is the most dynamic French city.

The city was the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom in the 5th century and the capital of the province of Languedoc in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution), making it the unofficial capital of the cultural region of Occitania (Southern France). It is now the capital of the Occitanie region, the largest region in Metropolitan France.

A city with unique architecture made of pinkish terracotta bricks, which earned it the nickname la Ville Rose (“the Pink City”), Toulouse counts two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Canal du Midi (designated in 1996 and shared with other cities), and the Basilica of St. Sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe, designated in 1998 because of its significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.  

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ART SUNDAY - BOHUMÍR DVORSKÝ

“The human soul is hungry for beauty; we seek it everywhere - in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening, companionship, love, religion, and in ourselves. No one would desire not to be beautiful. When we experience the beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming.” - John O’Donohue

Bohumír Dvorský (1902–1976) was a Czech painter. Strongly influenced by Julius Mařák and Paul Cézanne, his works generally had social themes. Bohumír Dvorský was supposed to become a bookbinder, however, his talent and interest led him to painting. In 1924 he started to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, the studio of landscape painting led by Otakar Nejedlý. He travelled a lot during his studies; apart from trips to South Bohemia he travelled to paint in Italy, France and Corsica. After completing his studies he lived in the Ostrava Region and before the beginning of World War II he moved to Svatý Kopeček near Olomouc where he lived until his death.

During the period at the Academy he was influenced considerably by the landscape painter Julius Mařák and during his trips to France he was strongly inspired by the selection of colour tones and style of Cézanne. During his stay in the Ostrava Region he paid attention to industrial landscapes and social topics. Consequently, the colour schemes of his paintings also changed. After his move to Hanakia the colour tones grew warmer and the prevailing topics of his paintings were bouquets and the so-called ‘King Rides in Folk Costume’.

Bohumír Dvorský is one of the most important Moravian landscape painters who often presented his work at foreign exhibitions. In 1940 he participated in the Venice Biennale and, again in Rio de Janeiro and Helsinki in 1948 and at Stockholm a year later. In 1971 he was awarded the title of National Artist. The parental home of Bohumír Dvorský is at 238 Kirilova Street in Paskov.

His painting above is “Z Velkých Pavlovic” (From the Great Pavlovic) and shows a broad expanse of trees, fields, rolling hills and a tapestry-like appearance with bold brushstrokes and impasto that reveals a passionate love for the country the artist was depicting.

MUSIC SATURDAY - CAROLUS HACQUART

“My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.” - Edward Elgar 

Carolus Hacquart (the latinised form of his original name: Carel Hacquart) (c. 1640 - after 1686) was a Flemish composer and musician. He became one of the most important 17th-century composers in the Dutch Republic and possibly also worked in England.

Hacquart was born in Bruges around 1640. He received his education, comprising Latin and composition as well as viola da gamba, lute and organ, most probably in his native town. Records referring to a “Charges Akkert” who was accepted in September 1650 as a choirboy in the St. Salvator’s Church in Bruges suggest he may have been born later than 1640. His brother Philips is accepted the same year as a choirboy in another church in Bruges. At the end of the 1650s both brothers are recorded in Ghent where they are choirboys in different churches.

Attracted by the growth of musical life of the rich citizens of the Dutch Republic, his brother Philips moved to Amsterdam around 1670 where he was joined by Carolus a few years later. It seems the brothers never held official positions and both gained a living as free-lance musicians. In Calvinist Holland there was little interest in church music and the aristocracy generally was not supportive of the arts. The brothers therefore became musicians and music teachers to the well-off Dutch burghers.

Carolus moved in 1679 to The Hague, where he taught and organised concerts with the support of the elderly Constantijn Huygens, who was the chief counsellor of William III, the stadtholder and future king of England. Thanks to Huygens’ recommendation of Hacquart to the stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, Hacquart could organise weekly concerts in the famous Mauritshuis. Hacquart was also an organist at the Old-Catholic church of The Hague.

To earn a living, Hacquart gave music classes to many wealthy patricians such as lawyers and other notables who made music in their spare time. One of his students was Willem Hoogendorp, the future mayor of Rotterdam to whom he dedicated his sonatas Harmonia Parnassia Sonatarum. In 1686 Hacquart composed 12 suites under the title Chelys which he dedicated to two of his students, the lawyers Pittenius and Kuysten. The words Chelys is Greek for ‘lyre’. In the 17th century it became the Latin term for any stringed instrument but in particular the viola da gamba.

Little is known about his life after 1686 and there is no trace of his life in the Dutch Republic after that date. Based on the possible identification with a person with a similar name (Charles Hakert) who was identified as a native of Holland in a document dated 16 July 1697, it is believed that he had then moved to England. The fact that the composer Gottfried Finger who worked at the English court owned a copy of Hacquart’s Chelys suggests that the two composers may have worked together in England. Hacquart died possibly in 1701.

Hacquart is the composer of the first opera in the Dutch language with the title De Triomfeerende Min (Triumphant Love). The opera was based on a text by Dirk Buysero (nl) which he wrote on the occasion of the Treaty of Nijmegen of 1678. The opera was not performed during Hacquart’s lifetime. The first known performance dates to 1920 when the piece was performed in Arnhem. Unfortunately most of the music of this opera has to be considered lost.

Three other publications of his music have survived. His first published work is the Cantiones Sacrae, which consists of religious pieces for vocal soloists, choir and instrumentalists, which could be sung by both Catholics and Protestants (1674). His second published work is the Harmonia Parnassia Sonatarum, which is a collection of 10 sonatas for two or three violins and basso continuo (1686).

His third published work Chelys (1686) consists of 12 suites that can be performed by one viol, two viols or one viol with a basso continuo accompaniment. Only one copy of the gamba part of Chelys survives. The bass part is lost. The work of Hacquart belongs to the best music composed in the 17th century Netherlands. In particular, the instrumental sonatas from his opus 2, Harmonia Parnassia Sonatarum stand out. Copies of Hacquart’s works are kept in the library of Durham Cathedral, England.

Here are some sonatas of Chelys, performed by Guido Balestracci (Viola da Gamba), Nicola Dal Maso (Violone), Rafael Bonavita (Archlute), Massimilano Raschietti (Continuo).
Suite no 6 in D major
Suite no 10 in A minor
Suite no 8 in E minor
Suite no 12 in C major
Suite no 11 in G minor
Suite no 9 in F major

FOOD FRIDAY - PEACH TRIFLE CUPS

“I’m not a vegetarian! I’m a dessertarian!” ― Bill Watterson 

Occasionally, we like to spoil ourselves and any ideas of healthful food and diets goes out of the window – not all that often, but once every blue moon one must gourmandise… These individual peach trifle parfaits hit the spot and the recipe is easily adaptable to utilise seasonal fruits or even suited to raiding the pantry for rustling up an impressive looking and tasting dessert in a few minutes. Such was the case recently when I did not have much on hand except a can of peaches in nectar, some berries, cream, jelly powder, mascarpone and pavesini biscuits.

Peach Trifle Cups
Ingredients
1 can (400 g) of sliced peaches in nectar
2 tbsp maraschino liqueur
About 25-30 pavesini biscuits (or ≈15 savoiardi biscuits)
85 g pack of passionfruit flavoured jelly (may use other flavours)
250 g mascarpone cheese
5-6 dessert spoonfuls of caster sugar
Vanilla essence
600 mL of whipping cream
Berries as available 

Method
Make the jelly first according to the packet instructions. Pour into a flat baking tray and allow to set (making it flat and thin cuts down on setting time if you are rushing).
Prepare the cream by softening the mascarpone and adding an equal quantity of cream, the sugar and vanilla essence and whisking into a velvety consistency.
Break each of the biscuits into 3-4 pieces and lay on the bottom of a parfait glass, champagne bowl glass or dessert glass (recipe makes 6-7 portions).

Drain the peach slices and reserve the nectar. Cut the slices of peach into 3-4 portions and spoon some of these into each of the receptacles, over the biscuits, adding a few berries here and there. Mix the liqueur into the nectar and spoon equal volumes of this over the biscuits and peach pieces.
Take the cooled, set jelly and cut into 1 cm square pieces. Put some jelly pieces over the mascarpone cream.
Whip the remaining cream and pipe over each dessert. Decorate with berries or as you like. Chill before serving (preferably for at least 2-3 hours to allow the biscuits to soften and the flavours to meld).

ALL ABOUT FOOL'S WATERCRESS

“Gardening with herbs, which is becoming increasingly popular, is indulged in by those who like subtlety in their plants in preference to brilliance.” – Helen Morgenthau Fox 

Apium nodiflorum (synonym Helosciadium nodiflorum), commonly called “fool’s-watercress”, is a flowering plant found in ditches or streams and native to western Europe. It is a low-growing or prostrate perennial with pinnate leaves which have a vague resemblance to those of watercress. It is classified in the Apiaceae family. 

Apium nodiflorum has short-stalked umbels of very small white 5-petalled flowers which are opposite the leaves and grow from the side of the stem at the leaf axils. It blooms in Summer (July and August). It is not a poisonous plant, but it could be easily confused with the allegedly poisonous lesser water parsnip – Berula erecta. It is common throughout England, Wales and Ireland but is much less so in Scotland. 

Apium nodiflorum is also sometimes known by the name of “Lebanese cress”, although many nurseries that sell it give it the incorrect botanical name of Aethionema cordifolium, which is an unrelated plant in the Brassicaceae (cabbage) family and which looks like nothing the real thing! 

Apium nodiflorum is an easy herb to grow and once it is established it can be difficult to eradicate! It grows well in shady, moist spots and will do well as a pond plant growing in a clay pot filled with soil and submerged in your pond. It happily grows all year and the tender young leafy shoots are the ones that harvested. It is a good source of aromatic greens for salads and soups. The leaves are a good source of vitamins A, B, C, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium.

The flavour of the herb is earthy and fresh, somewhat like a cross between celery and carrot. Fresh, it is a welcome addition to green, leafy seasonal salads, coleslaws, potato salad, sandwiches and soups. It can be used to add flavour when cooking spinach, and various other stewing herbs or wild greens (see here).

The leafy parts of the herb added to a bouquet carry the message: “I am not what I seem”. If flowers are included, it changes its meaning to: “I have revealed my true nature to you”.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #98 - GALAXIDI, GREECE

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” - Grace Hopper 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.  

Galaxidi or Galaxeidi (Greek: Γαλαξίδι/Γαλαξείδι), is a town and a former municipality in the southern part of Phocis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delphi, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 126.088 km2. Galaxidi has a small harbour on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. It is 7 km southwest of Itea, 15 km southwest of Delphi, 17 km south of Amfissa and 48 km east of Naupactus. The Greek National Road 48 connects Galaxidi with Naupactus, Itea and Delphi. Galaxidi is a 2.5 to 3 hour drive from the capital Athens and a relatively popular weekend retreat.

Modern Galaxidi is built on the site of ancient Haleion, a city of western Locris. Traces of habitation are discernible since prehistoric times with a peak in the Early Helladic Period (Anemokambi, Pelekaris, Kefalari, islet of Apsifia). A significant Mycenaean settlement has been located at Villa; the hill of St. Athanasios also revealed a fortified Geometric settlement (ca. 700 BC). In the Archaic and Classical periods (7th-4th centuries BC) was developed the administrative and religious centre at the modern site of Agios Vlasis. It seems that in ca. 300 BC the present site was settled and surrounded by a fortification wall; it is the period of the expansion of power of the Aetolian League. Haleion flourished throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods until the 2nd century AD.

Galaxidi is a small port situated on a natural double harbour surrounded by mountains. The deeper main harbour provides docking facilities for yachts and small fishing boats and is lined with restaurants, bars, and stores. The smaller harbour is Chirolaka. On the rocky shoreline by the side of the larger harbour, is a pine forest planted by school children in the early twentieth century. There is a road behind the town that leads up the mountain to the Monastery of the Metamorphosis (actually a convent that was inhabited by one nun as of 2010). This provides a splendid view of the town and its surroundings. No traces remain of the town's medieval castle. The Church of Saint John of Jerusalem, built by the Hospitallers in 1404, survived until after World War I, when it was replaced by a modern church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme. 

Add your own travel posts using the Linky tool below, and don't forget to be nice and leave a comment here, and link back to this page from your own post:

MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 29, WADJ-WER

“I think that any time of great pain is a time of transformation, a fertile time to plant new seeds.” - Debbie Ford 

Wadj-wer is an Egyptian god of fertility whose name means the “Great Green”. It was commonly believed that Wadj-wer was a personification of the Mediterranean Sea; however, it is apparently more likely that he rather represented the lagoons and lakes in the northernmost Nile Delta, as suggested by some texts describing the “great green” as dry lands which could be crossed by foot, possibly a mention of the edge between two or more lakes.

The earliest known attestation of Wadj-wer is dated back to the 5th Dynasty, in the mortuary temple of the pyramid of Sahure, at Abusir; here, he appears similar to the god Hapi, but with his body filled by water ripples. He also appears on the walls of the much later (20th Dynasty) tomb QV55 of prince Amunherkhepeshef, son of pharaoh Ramesses III.

Just as Hapi embodies the fertility made possible by the Nile’s annual inundation, Wadj-wer embodies the productivity of the ‘Great Green’, especially fishing. In PT utterance 366, the king is compared to Wadj-wer: “You are hale and great in your name of ‘Sea’; behold, you are great and round [i.e. encircling] in your name of ‘Ocean’.” 

Most references to Wadj-wer, however, denote a place rather than a divinity, albeit sometimes it is a mythic locale: In the Conflict of Horus and Seth, the three-month combat between Horus and Seth in the form of hippopotami is said to take place in the wadj-wer.

The only myth we know in which Wadj-wer features, and which is known in very fragmentary fashion, told of how Seth subdued the sea on behalf of the other Gods. The myth is possibly to be regarded as originally involving the Canaanite Gods Ba’al and Yamm. Indeed, in one of the attestations of the myth, reference is made indifferently first to Seth, then to Ba’al. In a spell against “the Asiatic disease,” it is said that the disease is to be conjured by Seth “just as Seth conjured Wadj-wer”.

ART SUNDAY - ALEXEI SAVRASOV

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.” ― FyodorDostoyevsky 

Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov (Russian: Алексе́й Кондра́тьевич Савра́сов - May 24, 1830 – October 8, 1897) was a Russian landscape painter and creator of the lyrical landscape style. Savrasov was born into the family of a merchant. He began to draw early and in 1838 he enrolled as a student of professor Karl Rabus (1800-1857) at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA). He graduated in 1850 and immediately began to specialise in landscape painting. In 1852, he travelled to Ukraine. Then, in 1854 by the invitation of the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna, President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, he moved to St. Petersburg.

In 1857, Savrasov became a teacher at the MSPSA. His best students, Isaac Levitan and Konstantin Korovin, remembered their teacher with admiration and gratitude. In 1857, he married Sophia Karlovna Hertz, sister of the art historian Karl Hertz (1820-1883). In their home they entertained artistic people and collectors including Pavel Tretyakov. Savrasov became especially close with Vasily Perov. Perov helped him paint the figures of the boat trackers in Savrasov’s “Volga near Yuryevets”, while Savrasov painted the landscapes for Perov’s “Bird Catcher” and “Hunters on Bivouac”.

In the 1860s, he travelled to England to see the International Exhibition, and then onto Switzerland. In one of his letters he wrote that no academies in the world could so advance an artist as the present world exhibition. The painters who influenced him most were British painter John Constable and Swiss painter Alexandre Calame. 

“The Rooks Have Come Back” (1871) is considered by many critics to be the high point in Savrasov’s artistic career. Using a common, even trivial, episode of birds returning home, and an extremely simple landscape, Savrasov showed the transition of nature from winter to spring in an emotional and involving manner. It was a new type of lyrical landscape painting, called later by critics the “mood landscape”. The painting brought him fame.

In 1870, he became a member of the Peredvizhniki group, breaking with government-sponsored academic art. In the late 1870s, he gradually became an alcoholic. The process may have begun with the death of his daughter in 1871, which led to a crisis in his art and, possibly, dissatisfaction with his artistic career. In 1882, he was dismissed from his position at the MSPSA. All attempts of his relatives and friends to help him were in vain. His work suffered dramatically and the last years of his life were spent in poverty. He was usually drunk and often dressed in rags. Finally, he found himself wandering from shelter to shelter. Only the doorkeeper of the MSPSA and Pavel Tretyakov, founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, were present at his funeral in 1897.

The painting above is his “Rasputitsa – Sea of Mud”, painted in 1894. The winter landscape is bleak and despite the thawing of the snow, mud is revealed and no hopeful sign of green. Painted after Savrasov became an alcoholic and after being dismissed from his position at the School, the painting encapsulates the desperate situation the artist found himself in. Three years later he would be dead.

MUSIC SATURDAY - GEORG MUFFAT

“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.” - Pythagoras 

Georg Muffat (1 June 1653 – 23 February 1704) was a Baroque composer and organist. He is most well known for the remarkably articulate and informative performance directions printed along with his collections of string pieces Florilegium Primum and Florilegium Secundum (First and Second Bouquets) in 1695 and 1698.

Georg Muffat was born in Megève, Duchy of Savoy (now in France), of André Muffat (of Scottish descent) and Marguerite Orsyand. He studied in Paris between 1663 and 1669, where his teacher is often assumed to have been Jean Baptiste Lully. This assumption is largely based on the statement “For six years ... I avidly pursued this style which was flowering in Paris at the time under the most famous Jean Baptiste Lully.” This is ambiguous (in all of the languages in which it was printed) as to whether the style was flourishing under Lully, or that Muffat studied under Lully. In any case, the style which the young Muffat learned was unequivocally Lullian and it remains likely that he had at least some contact with the man himself.

After leaving Paris, he became an organist in Molsheim and Sélestat. Later, he studied law in Ingolstadt, afterwards settling in Vienna. He could not get an official appointment, so he travelled to Prague in 1677, then to Salzburg, where he worked for the archbishop for some ten years. In about 1680, he travelled to Italy, there studying the organ with Bernardo Pasquini, a follower of the tradition of Girolamo Frescobaldi; he also met Arcangelo Corelli, whose works he admired very much. From 1690 to his death, he was Kapellmeister to the bishop of Passau. Georg Muffat should not be confused with his son Gottlieb Muffat, also a successful composer.

Muffat was, as Johann Jakob Froberger before him, and Handel after him, a cosmopolitan composer who played an important role in the exchanges between European musical traditions. The information contained within the Florilegium Primum and Florilegium Secundum is very important historically. The performance directions accompanying the pieces were intended to assist German string players with the idiom of the French dance style, and include detailed rules for the tempo and order of bow strokes in various types of movement, as well as more general strategies for good ensemble playing and musicianship. These texts remain extremely valuable for modern historically-interested musicians who strive for a genuine baroque sound.

Here is a collection of pieces known as Armonico Tributo (Sonate Di Camera Commodissime A Pocchi, Ò A Molti Stromenti -Salzburg 1682). They are played by Les Muffati under the direction of Peter Van Heyghen.
String Sonata in D major;
String Sonata in G minor;
String Sonata in A major;
String Sonata in E minor;
String Sonata in G major.

FOOD FRIDAY - CHINESE VEG STIR-FRY

“He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skills of the physician.” - Chinese proverb 

We love vegetables and as Chinese cuisine provides opportunity for using several bits and pieces that are in the fridge, a vegetarian stir-fry provides a nutritious, healthful and satisfying meal. 

Chinese Vegetarian Stir-Fry

Ingredients

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp sesame oil

1 and1⁄2 cups broccoli florets

1 Tbsp water

1 cup baby carrots, julienned

1 and 1⁄2 cups snow peas, ends trimmed

6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1⁄2 cup sliced water chestnuts, drained

1⁄2 cup sliced capsicum

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Spring onions, chopped

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

3 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp vegetable stock

1 tsp corn flour

 2 cups hot cooked rice or vermicelli 

Method

Cook the rice or vermicelli and keep warm. In small bowl, combine the soy sauce, broth and corn flour; mix well to dissolve, reserving till needed.

Heat the oils in the wok and add the broccoli, stirring to coat with oil. Add the water and stir-fry for 1 minute or until broccoli is bright green. Add carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, water chestnuts, garlic and spices; stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes or until tender crisp, the add the chpped Spring onions, stirring to mix through. Add the corn flour mixture to the wok and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Serve over rice or vermicelli immediately.

ALL ABOUT CHINESE 5-SPICE MIX

“Spices, of course, are essential…” - Marcus Samuelsson 

Five-spice powder is a spice mixture of five (or more) spices used primarily in Chinese cuisine or Desi Chinese cuisine but also used in other Asian and Arabic cookery. Five-spice powder is used for cocktails as well.

While there are many variants, a common mix is: Star anise (bajiao) Cloves (dingxiang) Chinese cinnamon (rougui) Sichuan pepper (huajiao) Fennel seeds (xiao huixiang) Other recipes may contain anise seed, ginger root, nutmeg, turmeric, Amomum villosum pods, Amomum cardamomum pods, licorice, Mandarin orange peel or galangal.

In Southern China, Cinnamomum loureiroi and Mandarin orange peel, are commonly used as substitutes for Cinnamomum cassia and cloves, respectively, producing a slightly different flavour profile for southern five-spice powders.

Five spice may be used with fatty meats such as pork, duck or goose. It is used as a spice rub for chicken, duck, pork and seafood, in red cooking recipes, or added to the breading for fried foods. Five spice is used in recipes for Cantonese roasted duck, as well as beef stew. It is used as a marinade for Vietnamese broiled chicken. The five-spice powder mixture has followed the Chinese diaspora and has been incorporated into other national cuisines throughout Asia.

Although this mixture is used in restaurant cooking, few Chinese households use it in day-to-day cooking. In Hawaii, some restaurants place a shaker of the spice on each patron’s table. A seasoned salt can be easily made by dry-roasting common salt with five-spice powder under low heat in a dry pan until the spice and salt are well mixed.

Here is a recipe I use at home: 

Chinese Spices Mix
Ingredients
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon ground star anise
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon dried ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
pinch of ground cardamom
pinch of ground chili

Method
It is best to toast the spices just as you are ready to compound the mixture. Ensure that all spices are ground well and mix thoroughly before use. You can upscale the recipe if you need more. Rather than store it, I prefer to make it as I need it from the raw spices.

MIDWEEK MOVIES - GRANNY'S FUNERAL

“Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.” - Booth Tarkington 

Granny’s Funeral (2012; “Adieu Berthe – L’enterrement de mémé”) Comedy/Drama, 100 minutes – Written and directed by Bruno Podalydès; starring Denis Podalydès, Valérie Lemercier, Isabelle Candelier. – 6.0/10

Last weekend we watched a low key, tragicomic, French film, which although agreeable didn’t really shine. It was time pleasantly spent and the film did broach some serious topics, but overall, the comic pace was jolting, the bumbling anti-hero was somewhat tiresome and the two women of his life a trifle annoying. The plot is as follows: Armand Lebrecq (Denis Podalydès) once dreamed of becoming a magician but he has become a pharmacist. He still loves his wife, Hélène (Isabelle Candelier) , but wouldn’t mind leaving her to live with Alix (Valérie Lemercier), a strong-minded woman. But should he?

One day, Armand learns that Berthe, his granny who lives in a nursing home, has just died. A little guilty of having neglected her lately, Armand finds himself busy with organising her funeral as well as having to deal with his complicated personal life. He does everything clumsily, as usual...

The basic flaw of the film is that the plot outline sounds more promising than the actual resulting film. The characters do not involve the viewer in their lives and predicaments successfully and the story with “granny’s youthful secret” is not as climactic as the writers believe it to be. Armand fails to growth and learn from his experiences and at the end of the film he is as bumbling and ineffectual (if not more so!) than at the beginning of the film.

Nevertheless the film is pleasant enough for a weekend afternoon, watching with a glass of iced tea (or perhaps something stronger, which may make the movie even more agreeable for you). Watch it if you chance upon it and you have an hour-and-a-half or so to kill, but don't go out of your way to search for it too assiduously…

TRAVEL TUESDAY #97 - NAPLES, ITALY

“Put a compass to paper and trace a circle. Then tell me which other country has such a concentration of places like Amalfi, Naples, Ischia, Procida, Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii, and Capri.” - Diego Della Valle 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Naples (Italian: Napoli; Latin: Neapolis; Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις, meaning "new city") is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the city's administrative limits. Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea.

Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC. A larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. The city was refounded as Neápolis in the sixth century BC and became a lynchpin of Magna Graecia, playing a key role in the merging of Greek culture into Roman society and eventually becoming a cultural centre of the Roman Republic. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, serving as the capital city of the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. Thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861.

Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II. Much of the city's 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolini's fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. In recent decades, Naples has constructed a large business district, the Centro Direzionale, and has developed an advanced transport infrastructure, including an Alta Velocità high-speed rail link to Rome and Salerno, and an expanded subway network, which is planned to eventually cover half of the region. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city and surrounding Campania have decreased since 1999. However, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high.

Naples' historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) and enclosing 27 centuries of history, and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta and the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city.

Neapolitan music has also been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar and the mandolin, as well as notable contributions to opera and folk standards. Popular characters and historical figures who have come to symbolise the city include Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, the comic figure Pulcinella, and the Sirens from the Greek epic poem the Odyssey. According to CNN, the metro stop “Toledo” is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as “Public building of the year”. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide. 

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
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MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 28, APEDEMAK

“I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children’s stories. They were better than that. They just were.” ― Neil Gaiman 

Apedemak (or Apademak), was a lion-headed warrior god worshiped by the Meroitic peoples inhabiting Nubia. A number of Meroitic temples dedicated to this deity are known from the Butana region: Naqa, Meroë, and Musawwarat es-Sufra, which seems to be his chief cult place. Interestingly, inscriptions at Musawwarat al-Sufra are in hieroglyphs, not in Meroitic script, indicating a close link with Egyptian religion.

In the temple of Naqa built by the rulers of Meroe Apedemak was depicted as a three-headed leonine god with four arms, and as a snake with a lion head. At Naqa, walls are filled with reliefs of Apedemak together with Egyptian deities, forming a triad with Isis, with Horus as their son. Apedemak is also represented together with Hathor and Amon. The god is also depicted as a man with a lion head. Apedemak was a minor deity in the ancient Egyptian religion, being instead a product of the Meroitic culture.

Apedemak was called “The Lord of Royal Power”. In Nubia, with the kingdoms of Cush, the royal throne was always depicted as a lion. Temple reliefs could show kings subdued by lions, and even eaten. There are great similarities between Apedemak and the obscure Egyptian god, Maahes, who also represented a specific religious dimension in the oases of the Western Desert. Also, it is possible that the cult of Sekhmet, Egypt’s lion goddess, was introduced from Nubia, and related to that of Apedemak.

ART SUNDAY - JAN AUTENGRUBER

“An awareness of your mortality can lead you to wake up and live an authentic, meaningful life.” - Bernie Siegel 

Jan Autengruber (25 April 1887, Pacov - 15 July 1920, Prague) was a Czech Post-impressionist painter. After the early death of his father, his family moved to České Budějovice. After completing his primary education, he was accepted at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. After two years, he transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he was a two-time recipient of the annual award.

He achieved very little critical attention in his home country, so he exhibited widely throughout Germany, in Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Mannheim, Hannover, Cologne, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. In 1913, he was awarded a scholarship to study in Italy. During the First World War, he attempted to avoid being drafted by studying restorative art at the Munich Academy, but it was only a short reprieve and he was mustered into service at Jindřichův Hradec.

He managed to survive the war and settled in Prague, where he took courses in art history at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. In 1919, he married the artist Hana Jedličková (1888-1970). The following year, he became a victim of the flu pandemic, dying from a combination of flu and pneumonia.

His wife spent her life promoting his works. A major retrospective was held in 2002 at the National Gallery in Prague, followed by another in 2009 at the West Bohemian Gallery in Plzeň.

MUSIC SATURDAY - HOFFMEISTER

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.” - Abraham Maslow 

Franz Anton Hoffmeister (12 May 1754 – 9 February 1812) was a German composer and music publisher. He was born in Rottenburg am Neckar on 12 May 1754. At the age of fourteen he went to Vienna to study law. Following his studies, however, he decided on a career in music and by the 1780s he had become one of the city’s most popular composers, with an extensive and varied catalogue of works to his credit.

Hoffmeister’s reputation today rests mainly on his activities as a music publisher. By 1785 he had established one of Vienna’s first music publishing businesses, second only to Artaria & Co, which had ventured into the field five years earlier.

Hoffmeister published his own works as well as those of many important composers of the time, including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf and Johann Baptist Wanhal. These famous composers were also among Hoffmeister’s personal friends: Mozart dedicated his String Quartet in D to him and Beethoven addressed him in a letter as my “most beloved brother”.

Hoffmeister’s publishing activities reached a peak in 1791, but thereafter he appeared to have devoted more time to composition. Most of his operas were composed and staged during the early 1790s and this, combined with an apparent lack of business sense, led to his noticeable decline as a publisher.

In 1799, Hoffmeister and the flautist Franz Thurner set off on a concert tour which was to have taken them as far afield as London. They got no further than Leipzig, where Hoffmeister befriended the organist Ambrosius Kühnel. The two men decided to set up a music publishing partnership and within a year had founded the Bureau de Musique, which was eventually taken over by the well-respected C.F. Peters, a firm that is still active today.

Among the publications of the Bureau de Musique was the first edition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Keyboard Works in 14 volumes (1802). Until 1805, Hoffmeister kept both the Viennese firm and his newer Leipzig publishing house going, but in March 1805 he transferred sole ownership of the Bureau de Musique to Kühnel. His interest in the Viennese firm also waned, for in 1806, apparently to allow time for composition, he sold the 20-year-old business to the Chemische Druckerey.

Prominent in Hoffmeister’s extensive oeuvre are works for the flute, including more than 25 concertos as well as chamber works with the flute in a leading role. Many of these works would have been composed with Vienna’s growing number of amateur musicians in mind, for whom the flute was one of the most favoured instruments. Hoffmeister also composed at least eight operas, over 50 symphonies, numerous concertos (including an often-played concerto for the viola), a large amount of string chamber music, piano music and several collections of songs.

As a composer, Hoffmeister was highly respected by his contemporaries, as can be seen in the entry, published in the year of his death, in Gerber’s Neues Lexikon der Tonkünstler: “If you were to take a glance at his many and varied works, then you would have to admire the diligence and the cleverness of this composer.... He earned for himself a well-deserved and widespread reputation through the original content of his works, which are not only rich in emotional expression but also distinguished by the interesting and suitable use of instruments and through good practicability. For this last trait we have to thank his knowledge of instruments, which is so evident that you might think that he was a virtuoso on all of the instruments for which he wrote.” 

Here is his celebrated Concerto for Viola in D major, with a cadenza by Franz Beyer, played by Ashan Pillai (viola) and the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by Christopher Hogwood.
1. Allegro 0:00
2. Poco Adagio 8:15
3. Rondo. Allegro 15:17