Author: Kristine Hughes

Mack the Knife

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it … ah … out of sight.
Ya know when that shark bites, with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there’s nevah, nevah a trace of red.
Now on the sidewalk … uuh, huh … whoo … sunny mornin’ … uuh, huh
Lies a body just oozin’ life … eeek!
And someone’s sneakin’ ‘round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

Don’t you love Mack the Knife? I do. I’ve added Bobby Darin’s version of the song to nearly every cd I’ve burned. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Mack the Knife has it’s roots in England . . . . .  The character of Macheath, later to become Mack the Knife, first appeared in The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (1685-1732). The Beggar’s Opera, a comic ballad opera, took London by storm with it’s portrayal of the lower-class criminals satirizing the government and upper-class society. The main character of The Beggar’s Opera is a swashbuckling thief called Macheath who is polite to the people he robs, shuns violence, and shows impeccable good manners while cheating on his wife. The character is usually understood as partly a satire of Sir Robert Walpole, a leading British politician of the time. The Beggar’s Opera was a success from its first production in 1728, and continued to be performed for many years. It was the first musical play produced in colonial New York and legend has it that George Washington enjoyed it very much.

The Beggar’s Opera by Hogarth

The play was so popular that it prompted Hogarth to fashion a painting upon it. Here is the description of the above painting from the Tate Britain website: “Between 1728 and 1731 Hogarth painted numerous versions of a climactic scene from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, the great theatrical sensation of the period. Hogarth concentrated on a scene set in Newgate prison in which the play’s leading character, a condemned highwayman called Captain Macheath, is shown at the centre of a tug-of-love. The characters of Lucy Lockit and Polly Peachum, both of whom believe themselves married to Macheath, plead with their fathers – respectively a corrupt prison-warden and a crooked lawyer – to set him free. In both versions of A Beggar’s Opera displayed here, Hogarth included the stage trappings and protagonists of the theatrical environment in which Gay’s work was first staged. An elaborate curtain hangs over the proceedings, and Hogarth paints recognisable portraits of such actors as Lavinia Fenton (dressed in white), who famously played Polly Peachum. Furthermore, Hogarth depicts the most fashionable members of the theatre audience sitting on the stage, as was commonplace at this time.”

But back to the song . . . . . the much covered popular tune (Armstrong, Fitzgerald, Darin, Sinatra, Buble, et al) was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera – based on The Beggar’s Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 and the song became a popular standard. “Mack the Knife” was introduced to the United States hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1956, but the song is most closely associated with Bobby Darin, who recorded the song in 1958 and won Record of the Year in 1959.

Aah … I said Jenny Diver … whoa … Sukey Tawdry
Look out to Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Yes, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town …

Kurt Weill’s widow, Lotte Lenya, was the star of both the original 1928 German production and the 1954 Blitzstein Broadway version and she happened to be present in the studio during Armstrong’s recording. He spontaneously added her name to the lyrics, which already named several of Macheath’s female victims. All the other women’s names, Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lucy Brown, etc., appear in the original German version.
 
You can watch a classic video of Bobby Darin singing Mack The Knife here.

Victoria (Magazine) at Holker Hall

I guess I have a “thing” about Victorias — writers, queens, magazines, whatever. I loved the first Victoria magazine, published from 1987 to 2003, and I love the new version, published since 2007.  When it arrives every other month, I put it aside until I have a couple of quiet hours in which to enjoy it uninterrupted.

So in this busy summer, it took me a long time to get around to the September-October issue, which arrived a few weeks ago. On pp. 40-45, I found a lovely photographic story about Holker Hall, a stately home in the English Lake District which I have visited.  How delightful to experience the house and its gardens all over again.  Here is a link to Victoria magazine and here is a link to the Hall’s website.

The Holker estate belongs to Lord and Lady Cavendish, a branch of the family of the present 12th Duke of Devonshire. It has been in the Cavendish-Devonshire family for many years, coming into their possession by marriage.  Largely  rebuilt in red sandstone after a fire in 1871,  its style is  neo-Elizabethan. one of the popular recreated architectural fashions of the Victorian Era.

The 7th Duke of Devonshire left Holker to a younger son (in 1908), and thus it passed out of the direct control of the dukes themselves.  That younger son was a grandfather of the present Lord Cavendish.


Of particular interest are the gardens, which have been designed carefully to bring out the best in seasonal plantings.  These spring time rhododendrons must be amazing.

 

The newer wing of the house, built in the 1870’s contains many outstanding features in woodworking, plaster designs, lighting and furnishings.  If you look at the pictures in the magazine article, it is almost possible to think of yourself sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs, waiting for tea or reading one of the 3,500 books in the library.  The cantilevered staircase pictured at left was carved by estate workers of local wood.

In the Blue Guide to Country Houses of England, Geoffrey Tyack writes of Holker Hall, “Few houses open to the public convey better than Holker the sense of late-Victorian aristocratic life and tastes.”
The estate is a busy commercial concern, including forestry, lumbering,  and slate cutting businesses as well as agricultural produce, tourism, hunting and fishing, and many special events such as festivals, concerts, and exhibitions.  The fallow deer herds are maintained for their traditional beauty as well as for their meat. 

By the way, in the September-October 2010 issue of Victoria magazine, there are also excellent articles on the Lake District and its benefactress, the late author Beatrix Potter, who created Peter Rabbit and all his friends.

I hope Peter is still at Mr. McGregor’s House and not stirring things up at beautiful Holker Hall.

Wolf Hall and The Tudors

Victoria here, still breathless after finishing Hilary Mantel’s novel Wolf Hall.  I admit I had a hard time getting into the novel at first, but soon I was hooked and hung on every word to the finish. I can understand why Wolf Hall won the Man Booker Prize.  It is exceptionaly well written and seems firmly based in fact.

The novel is set in the time of Henry VIII and the main character is Thomas Cromwell, a man of humble birth who is rising to prominence as an adviser to the king after serving Cardinal Wolsey.  Cromwell (later named Earl of Essex, as in the picture at left from the National Portrait Gallery in London, after a painting by Hans Holbein) is brilliant at accomplishing any task, large or small, for the king and the court. He is a skilled negotiator, creative in suggesting solutions to complicated problems and efficiently acquires power and influence.
The stories of Henry VIII, his wives and mistresses, his reign and those of his short-lived son and his two daughters have been popular in all sorts of media in the past few years.  Novels about ill-fated queens, from Katherine of Aragon to Mary, Queen of Scots, have been seen on television and the big screen.  I frankly wondered if I needed one more version of a Tudor story when I began Wolf Hall.  Though I thought Jonathan Rhys-Meyers made an interesting young Henry, despite the wrong build and wrong shade of hair, I thought it was ridiculous by the end of The Tudors. Wait — it was good drama but bad casting and veered from historical to completely faux by the end of the fourth and last season. In my opinion, of course.
But I digress.  This time of the English Renaissance is not really MY period at all, but I must say Ms. Mantel’s skill gave me a new appreciation for the politics and scheming associated with Henry’s break with Rome, the Dissolution of the Abbeys, and the establishment of a new church (left, Tintern Abbey by Turner).  The time of Henry VIII, Wolsey, Cromwell, More, and the Boleyns was a dreadful time of intrigue and bloody torture as well as a flowering of art and music.
Hilary Mantel was born in Derbyshire in 1952. She has written many novels, for which she has won awards, culminating in the 2009 Man Booker Prize, probably the world’s most prestigious. She also writes essays, reviews and has written a memoir as well as many short stories.  She is working on a sequel to Wolf Hall tentatively titled The Mirror and the Light.  I am eager to read it. In the meantime, the trade paperback has been recently released in the U.S. from Picador, an imprint of Macmillan.

Do You Know About Dr. Finlay?

Yes, yet another medical based British telly series to tell you about. Based on a novella entitled Country Doctor by author and doctor A.J. Cronin, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook was a television series that was broadcast on the BBC from 1962 until 1971. The storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s.  
The latest television series featuring Dr. Finlay is set in the post-WWII era, with the plot lines revolving around a small local medical practice in Scotland. One of the recurring themes is the transition to the National Health Service, instituted in Britain in 1948. Doctor Finlay supports the move, while other doctors resist the change. The show stars David Rintoul as Dr. Finlay, Ian Bannen as his semi-retired practice partner, Dr. Cameron, and Annette Crosbie as his housekeeper, Janet. Other central characters include Finlay’s assistant, Dr. Neil, played by Jason Flemyng and Finlay’s new partner, Dr. Napier, played by Jessica Turner. The series is a Scottish Television production (now known as STV Productions) that was filmed in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland. It aired in the U.S. on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre.

Life in post-war Scotland–or to be precise, post-war Tannochbrae–is not getting any easier for Dr. John Finlay. His workload is increasing now that former partner Dr. Cameron is semi-retired, his relationship with young Dr. Neil is strained, and he is also preparing the practice for the setting up of the National Health Service. Meanwhile the ever-reliable housekeeper Janet is preparing for her marriage to local pharmacist Angus Livingstone, though she is worried about her successor at Arden House.

The interactions between three generations of doctors adds extra depth and interest to the stories. Each fellow has his own quirks and weaknesses. We like them all, even when they are cantankerous (Cameron), humorless (Finlay), or cocky (Neil).

A look at the plot synopsis for the first episode, which aired on 9 May 1993, will give you the flavor of this character driven series: In 1946, Dr. John Finlay is finally demobilized and he returns to life in private practice in his native Scotland. His partner, Dr. Alexander Cameron, has stayed on passed his retirement age to keep the practice open pending his return but it is now far less prosperous that when he left it and is barely paying for itself. Dr. Cameron hires a new locum, Dr. David Neil, to join the practice but fails to consult Finlay before doing so. Finlay and Neil begin to question the elder member of the practice’s judgment when they suspect he had mis-prescribed medication to a pregnant woman.

For the remainder of the series, the private lives of the characters and concerns of the patients drive the plots and often tug at the heartstrings. Settle in with a cuppa and enjoy these dvds, which should be available through most public libraries.

Handel and Hendrix???

Here is a pair for you! 

Jimi Hendrix 1942-1970

George Frederic Handel 1685-1759

Yes, friends, Hendrix and Handel are together at last. Or, rather, at first!  In a wonderful coincidence, the two composer/performers lived in the almost the same building, separated by one wall and about 200 years. Here is the article that explains the new exhibition at London’s Handel House Museum.

Handel House Museum
25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London

For more about the Handel House Museum, click here.


For those of us who see little in common among the two, other than gender and profession, the article points out several things.  Both were immigrants to England, Hendrix from the U.S., Handel from Germany. Both were improvisers, Hendrix on the electric guitar and Handel on the harpsichord.


The actual Hendrix apartment is now used as office space for the museum, but they hope to restore it to the look Hendrix had in the 60’s.


I (Victoria) visited a couple of years ago when the exhhibition, in addition to the restored rooms of Handel’s time, concerned The Messiah and its performances, first in Dublin in 1742, and later, when the most familiar version was adapted as a benefit for the Foundling Museum in London in 1754.


The buildings used for museum have shops on the first floor. The access to the museum is from the rear, where new entrances with elevators have been added in a creative adaptive reuse, worth seeing in itself. I recommmend it as a nice respite from the large museums of London — or the tribulations of Mayfair shopping.


Last June 2010, when Kristine and I were in London, we attended a wonderful concert at St. Martin’s in the Fields off  Trafalgar Square. As we considered whether to go, Kristine said she wanted to hear Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music.  Guess what they played?? Yes, selections from the Royal Fireworks Music, as well as music by Bach, Mendelssohn, and others, including a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.  Not a note, however, from Jimi Hendrix.


The Handel-Hendrix exhibition runs through November 7, 2010.