Author Archive: Peter Jakobsen
Prince Goes Uptown
(photo by Jimi Hughes)
Vale Prince Rogers Nelson (7/6/1958 – 21/4/2016) Pardon the painful allusion, but a lot of his songs, technically superb as they are, were strictly elevator music. But there’s Pop Life, Let’s Go Crazy, 1999, Nothing Compares 2 U, Raspberry Beret, Kiss, Sexy M.F., Peach and Cream. Many of his songs had production touches frankly reminiscent of novelty songs, but he had je ne sais quoi – he had the power – he was virtually a cult. And now he’s gone uptown. Vale.
Continue Reading →Miguel de Cervantes
Cervantes (portrait attributed to Aguilar)
The creator of Don Quixote died 400 years ago today in Madrid, a day before Shakespeare (or perhaps the same day, or maybe 10 days before – it depends on your calendar). All Spain celebrates the Don’s anniversary publications of Part I and the much more laboured but somehow better Part II; we expect today will effectively be a National Holiday in Spain, although perhaps we won’t be able to tell. In October 1947 there were special celebrations to mark his 400th birthday – a nation that venerates its geniuses might have a deplorable GNP but still be worthwhile. We expect…
Continue Reading →Perpetual Rome
The digs of Octavian (Caesar Augustus) on Palatine Hill (if you look carefully, is that the cave of Romulus nearby? No?)
21 April, 753 BC – The traditional date for the founding of the Eternal City. That makes Rome 2769 years old, roughly. And on this same day in 43 BC, Marc Antony was spooked to a draw by Octavian at the Battle of Mutina, which eventually paved the way for the Roman Empire (not so eternal). Appian, in his The Civil Wars (Loeb edition) describes the game of chess the embryonic triumvirs played: Octavian and Antony composed their differences on a small, depressed islet in the river Lavinius, near the city of Mutina. Each had five legions of soldiers whom they stationed opposite each…
Continue Reading →Napoleon III For Me
'Joyeux 208e anniversaire, mon Roi' (Napoleon III by Franz Xaver Winterhalter)
Happy 208th birthday, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte! He was a true Frenchman – his instincts on things that matter (except the defence of the Empire) were sound. For example, he stood up for the artists against the salon. Modern governments bleat about public infrastructure – he just did it. Perhaps major infrastructure can’t be built anymore without an emperor. He also appointed an infrastructure guru, M. Haussmann, to rebuild Paris, which, overall, he did brilliantly. He was a fan of the arts! So what if he didn’t see the Prussians coming! He was a fan of the arts! He oversaw Paris’ Palais Garnier,…
Continue Reading →Assumption of Genius
500 years ago, the great Titian began his massive work, The Assumption, at the Church of the Frari in Venice. We recall this, having recently seen the very curiously intriguing documentary on Renoir, which spoke of the Frenchman’s sojourn in Italy, whereupon he commenced his ‘neo-classical’ phase, inspired by the work of Titian. O the cruel downside of inspiration! It can lead to humiliating comparisons. The Age of cultural relativism cannot combat the visceral power of aesthetic comparison, and short of some official arts guru with the instincts, puissance, and paranoia of, say, Stalin, it probably never shall.
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