I started this thread as a new post under Birdie's Random Thoughts, but as I began typing away, it seemed that my random thoughts seemed to diverge quite a bit, so I thought they merited a separate thread ...

These are just random thoughts that I've had accumulating over the last couple of weeks -- the ones I still remember, anyway!

First ... Istvan! Wasn't able to post anything when he was on, but I didn't want to let his appearance go by unnoticed. I think it's really sad that the actor was never credited, I imagine because it wasn't a speaking role.  Rather ironic since he actually had as much to do as many other principal performances on the show. I saw this actor in another movie once where he also played the "heavy." If my name weren't already Vlad, I might have changed it to "Istvan." (We have the exact same build, too!)

This may be the time to mention "The Picture of Dorian Gray." There may be new viewers or forum members who haven't known -- the portrait of Quentin was inspired by this fantastic short novel by Oscar Wilde. Dan Curtis directed a production of this in the 1970s that's available on video from MPI.

The Rectory -- ah, one of my favorite sets, or at least it will be once we see more of it.  I'm glad to be back at this point of 1987 where Barnabas and Julia (and soon, Angelique) will have their base of operations in this parsonage. One thing I can't understand is why they never showed an exterior for this building. Surely they could have come up with a delightfully Gothic exterior slide!  It's also puzzling that they never explained anything about it other than the mention that it's "old" and located on Pine Road.  But then they didn't provide an exterior or background for Petofi's base either, the "abandoned mill."

Speaking of the devil, Barnabas told Julia that Count Petofi had threatened to destroy the entire Collins family.  Am I just not remembering this?  When did Petofi make such a threat?  Incidentally, there seemed to me more mangled and non-sensical lines in that scene in the rectory between Quentin, Julia (in shock on the bed), and Barnabas ...

David's "resurrection" ... in addition to the interesting theme of resurrection in these past few episodes ... it's lucky that they hadn't embalmed David ... 

About those light fixtures on the wall .. sconces, aren't they? Are those actually functional, or is the flame/light artificial? Are they gas lights/lamps?

Last but not least ... Quentin's room. This time round, I've been noticing a lot more of Quentin's room.  In fact I'm so entranced with it that I fantasize the possibility of recreating such a room some day when I'm rich, own a house, have a lot of time, etc. (I'm sure that day is just on the horizon  ).

Anyway, do any of you set decorators out there have any helpful descriptions or comments about Quentin's room, its furnishings, or its accessories? The wallpaper, of course, looks authentically Victorian, as I assume the scattered chairs and tables also are.

But that post that appeared in the center of the floor -- did that serve any function other than as something for Quentin to be manacled to? I rather doubt we'll be seeing that hitchin' post again ...

One thing I've been noticing is all the "black" sculptures -- they seem to be multiplying on all the sets. First Quentin had the handsome buck on the mantle of his fireplace, now there seems to be a racoon or some other animal made of the same material on a small table in the center of the room, and similar-appearing sculptures in the Rectory and elsewhere ...  Does anyone know if these are real or what they're made of?

Has anyone stopped to wonder where Quentin's bed is located in his room?  How many rooms does he have ... I have the feeling that this is a "suite" especially now that we're seeing more of the antechamber outside its room, which is handsomely appointed with its own fireplace, bookshelves, paintings, etc.

Victoria Winters, I can't tell you how excited I was to read your post! I do hope we don't get the plug pulled on us for straying so far off-topic  but I have several comments to make and some of them will relate directly back to DS -- if I can remember everything as I type this!

First, all of this information about opera and music can be seen as relating to Count Petofi, since we have seen that music is one of his passions.

I would agree from what you describe (and also from what Fuller's book on St.-Germain says) that the London production of "L'Inconstanza delusa" had become a pasticcio.

I don't mean to fault Overton-Fuller too much. Anyone interested in St.-Germain must be indebted to her dogged research (if they can plow through her idiosyncratic writing). The Philosophical Society, which published some of the sheet music (see my earlier post) did not provide any of this context.  In fact, they reprint six arias from what they incorrectly call "St. Germain's opera," but my further study of Overton indicates that St.-Germain only wrote three of these! See what I mean about the difficulties of finding accurate information about St.-Germain?

what i conjecture is that the count was in london, the production of this opera gets to london in 1745 along with brivio's extra arias quite possible along with a voice student of brivio's.

If you are suggesting that St.-Germain might have been a music student of Brivio's -- that is an absolutely brilliant deduction!

Fuller comments in her book that St.-Germain likely received his music education when he supposedly was brought up in the household of the Medicis in Italy. However, she is taking the Comte at his word -- others are more skeptical that he was "brought up in the household of the Medicis."

also, no TV, recordings or radio.  it was all live and no other way to hear music other then in your head.

Good point. We take the availability of music for granted, not thinking how what we today call "classical" music must have been the domain of the aristocracy and gentry ...

this could be re-worked into a really fantastic fan fict. story using the mystry of count st. germain along with varying ideals borrowed from music mythology. (i noticed our count petofi reading his music score very intently while "air" conducting in a recent epi.)  in mythology and greek ideals going back to plato, music has the ability to heal or even influence the gods, namely pluto of the underworld into releasing a dead person.  (see myth of orfeo, king david of the bible, etal.)

We are thinking on the same lines then. In a different thread (?) I recently referred to my unfinished Angelique story. To my thinking, Angelique (or Miranda duVal, rather), left the American colonies for Europe. France, specifically. Coincidentally, the time line happens to be during the reign of Louis XV -- whose court St.-Germain was then dazzling. Miranda changed her name to Angelique in France. In fact, I believe there may have been a French revolutionary with the last name of Angelique. I don't want to give more of my story away ... (Including my rather unique idea about Angelique's original nationality.)

...

Finally, I am in the process of translating a metaphysical poem by St.-Germain. I have about 80 percent of it translated but would like to ask the assistance of any interested party knowledgeable of the French language for assistance with half a dozen French words and phrases.  (The real difficulty is finding a way to express things in English, not the word-for-word translation, though it's the latter that I am requesting some help with.)

-Vlad

how fortunate that it's so readily available to you!  I recommend you check it out.

I suppose it's a little like living in Paris and never getting to the Eiffel Tower (does that ever really happen?) ...

I'm told that the "Mary Tyler Moore House" is within walking distance of where I live, yet I've never tracked that down either ... 

no wonder i couldn't find him right off.  i didn't understand what some of you were saying lol... musiquee rasionee is a type of french music style, not a name of a work and it's opera pasticco not opera pastische!  also the opera's name, L'incostanza delusa was written by Josef Haydn.   a not a very original guy if he's involved in pasticco (it means pie or patchwork, in other words his arias would be with someother more famous composer's work and it would end up on london as the last stop.)

VictoriaWinters,

Thank you for sharing your musical knowledge (and for your IM providing more details about conducting a music search on obscure works)!

After reading your comments here, I checked with the Overton-Fuller biography I mentioned. She has fairly detailed information on St.-Germain's music -- probably one of the better chapters in her book, though she writes more as an amateur researcher than a professional historian.

"Musique Raisonnee" may be a type of music, as you say, but sources indicate that this is the actual title of one of St.-Germain's compositions. The full title of the work is lengthy, but it begins:  "Musique Raisonnee selon le bon sens."  A copy of the original score is in a museum in Prague.

According to Overton-Fuller, "L'Inconstanza delusa" was an opera by Giuseppe Ferdinando Brivio. It was possibly at Brivio's invitation that St.-Germain composed several additional arias for the opera's London performances. English music historian of the time Burney designated it as a pasticcio, but this appellation is questioned by Overton-Fuller.

Other than the opera, it appears that the majority of St.-Germain's other music was performed in drawing rooms and salons.

........................

Since my original post, I came across an entry for St.-Germain in the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Their entry raises even more questions, concluding that St. Germain was a Porteguese Jew, not a Hungarian/Transylvanian Count brought up in the household of the Medicis.  Interestingly, they do not list the Overton-Fuller biography as a source -- but they do list Elizabeth Clare Prophet ... 

This entry also debunks St. Germain's great age, giving him a more reasonable death at age 70, as opposed to Overton-Fuller, who has him born about 25 years earlier (which is necessary to fit with her theory that he was the last scion of the House of Racozsy.

Does she have a very big role in "Satan in High Heels" (i.e., supporting, or is it smaller)?

I still haven't seen "Qui etes-vous, Polly Magoo?", which I've been told is archived at a modern art museum right next door to where I live!  I was told I could request a private screening, but I've never looked into this further.

A print feature?

How did you ever know my greatest desire?

 

Wiley, thank you for sharing your information.

I am familiar with some of the resources you list. I have a 1-volume edition of Casanova's memoirs published by some university press a few years ago, and I have the alchemy book (very outdated info on St-Germain, though). All of the sources are referred to in the Fuller biography. Some were published a couple hundred years ago and may not have been reprinted, so they might be a bit difficult to obtain (maybe inter-library loan could get them ). I also have the biography by Isabel Cooper-Oakley, an early Theosophist. Her biography quotes extensively from contemporary letters and documents, although as noted earlier, many of these have proved to be fakes.

Over the weekend I skimmed through the Fuller biography and was convinced the noble man really was of noble blood. Then I re-read Butler's study in "The Myth of the Magus," which interprets the same documentary sources but to a very different end, completely convincing me that he was a fraud. Butler's source is Volz, which I wish I could get my hands on but I don't read German and it dates from before WWII.

It's too bad St. Germain's music is not more readily available. I have a tape from "L'Incostanza Delusa," an opera pastiche that he composed for, which I obtained either from the PRA or the Theosophical Society a few years ago. Unfortunately the recording quality wasn't very good, and coupled with my not very high end equipment, the quality seemed to degenerate further after I played it a couple of times. The music reminded me vaguely of Mozart, although not so complex and rather repetitive. Also, the music had been re-transcribed for solo piano rather than the string orchestra original. Still, it was fascinating to catch a glimpse (?) of this music--pleasant, but not something that would normally have outlived the time period. It would be fascinating if any of St. Germain's paintings had survived ... like the original Josette's music box, someone out there must have one, somewhere! Here again, though, the debunking-believer Fuller doubts that the Comte executed any paintings himself.

-Vlad, last scion of the UMN (Upper Midwestern/Nordic) branch of the Rockefeller family