>>6245616>>6245336>>6245392>Napoleon>revolution, The Terror etc>are guillotines good or bad?I suppose to understand Napoleon you have to understand what came before him, the Ancien Regime etc. all those Lettres de Cachet and secret denunciations that led to incarceration in the Bastille by unbridled royal prerogative
Napoleon demonstrated how any common artillery cannoneer could eventually crown himself Emperor, which is why I suppose monarchist Britain had to see him crushed argh.
But conversely, there was probably a good reason why Beethoven tore off and ripped apart the dedication of his Eroica Symphony to Napoleon, hehe
I came across a ravishing and bewitching piece of music from France before the revolution recently, it is this.
If you imagine any rpg with a palace court or Versailles -esque encounter with nobility, this version is the real thing
Jean Philippe Rameau, Les Boréades (1763) /
Act IV Scene 4 Entrée de Polymnie / Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2V8O8W30sH4This particular version has a slower tempo but after listening and reading about it I discovered this tragedie lyrique opera had a hidden political subtext. You see Rameau was the court composer of the King but this opera Les Boreades written and rehearsed from 1759-64 was never performed during the reign of Louis XV, and some people believe it was due to the interference of censorship. It is because the opera includes a sympathetic portrayal of a torture scene (the music of that segment is unfortunately rather disappointing) and it was feared that this would draw attention to the torture of the failed regicide Damiens, his public execution by dismemberment on the wheel in 1757 after his failed assassination attempt that barely even wounded the King
But this piece of music from Rameau is so exquisite and refined and delicate and beautiful, even though it languished unperformed in 1764, who could have imagined that within 25 years after its composition and allusions to failed near miss assassinations, all of this palace music would be gone, instead, the guillotine
