Letters, manuscripts, scores...

There is a rather discrete Paris museum (one of 140), more or less hidden behind this entrance (222, boulevard Saint-Germain), the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts.

Hundreds of original documents are visible, others hidden, but multimedia points all over the place allow further access and explanations. As photos without flash were allowed, I took a few. (Not always easy - glass covered documents, reflections...)

The top picture is part of Einstein’s calculations of relativity (… or the God’s equation?)

There are of course some French Royal documents, including these ones by François I and Catherine de Medici.

There is some kind of “testament” that Louis XVI wrote the day before he tried the escape which was stopped at Varennes and a letter by Marie Antoinette where she defends herself from the “Affair of the Necklace”.

… and a letter by Doctor Guillotin, the man indirectly responsible for their beheading….

… a letter from the future Napoleon, addressed to Josephine, with a  lot of erasures, signed by his initials, Napoleon Bonaparte.

You find a number of documents by more recent statesmen, e.g. Georges Clemenceau…

… Charles de Gaulle.

Some “souvenirs” from WWII, like letters written and sent from Auschwitz, a decoding (Enigma) machine, a telegram signed Rommel…

.. a letter by Churchill, and the by Eisenhower signed telegram that “The mission of the Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7^th, 1945.”

Two Italian letters: One by Casanova, one by Vasari, Renaissance painter, but better known as maybe the world’s first art historian and critic.

You will of course find a lot of scientific documents. Here are two volumes (of the total of 17) of the those days’ controversial “Encyclopedia”, which was published by Diderot and D’Alembert between 1751 and 1772, part of the “Enlightenment”, which led to… a lot.

Here are some documents where we can see how Newton made his divisions, how Montgolfier planned his balloon, how Linnaeus (Linné) classified flowers…

… some drawings by Edison…

… and again some Einstein documents.

Do we classify Freud among the scientists?

Of course authors are very present, here some samples by Molière, Racine, La Fontaine…

… Chateaubriand, de Maupassant…

… Victor Hugo…

… Verlaine, Proust, Saint-Exupéry… 

 … a Hemingway manuscript, letters by Jack London and Mark Twain (his real name was Samuel Langhorn Clemens).

There was a temporary exhibition on Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and the original manuscript scroll could be seen. 

  

Of course one finds also documents linked to art - letters by Rubens, van Gogh…

… Monet, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rodin…

… and a letter by Frida Kahlo – with some kisses - where she aks for a delay of a Diego Rivera exhibition.

Among composers, we can find letters and scores by Bach, Mozart…

… Beethoven (definitely in need of deciphering), Schubert…

… Verdi, Liszt.

There is the storyboard by Hitchcock for the film “Stage Fright”.

Several documents referred to “Titanic” including a telegram from the White Star Line to a US senator, where they – immediately after the accident – assured that all passengers were safe...  with the possible idea of a last minute change of the insurance value.

... and there is a lot more! :-)

How to take photos of a little pond?

How to illustrate a pond in a park, a park which is only partly finished, when you pass a dull and cloudy weekday afternoon? This is one way.

We are in the Clichy-Batignolles - Martin Luther King Park, where the Paris Olympic Village would have been situated, if the 2012 Games hadn't gone to London. (I already posted about the park here.)

It took some time to decide about a replacement program - what to do with this previous rail shunt yard. Apartment and office buildings are now sprouting. Everything is supposed to be ecological; we can see that one almost ready building has a roof of solar cells.

At the extreme end of the park, a new Palace of Justice will be ready in 2017, designed by Renzo Piano (who also designed the Centre Pompidou, see previous post).

Part of what later, when the park is ready, will be a larger pond (not quite a lake) is ready. 

So, the other way to illustrate it is perhaps (?) to zoom and frame, trying to make it look more attractive.

So, some water lilies, some other flowers, some birds including what I suppose to be heron which obviously liked to be portrayed - I could get very close....
Does anybody know what the very little blue blade-eating insect is? (Thérèse gave the answer - a damselfly. Thanks!!)

Play me I'm yours!

There was a surprise the other day when I went to “my” park - there was a piano… and a sign said: “Play me – I’m yours”. I might have, but without my scores, I’m lost (bad excuse).

… and a further surprise, in front of the main entrance stood another one!

Well, launched in 2008 by a British artist (Luke Jerram), pianos like these have been installed in parks, train stations… in a number of cities around the world - until now some 600 pianos. Linked to the “Fête de la Musique” (see previous post) the French Ministry of Culture now launched it in Paris. Altogether some 40 pianos have been placed at different spots in Paris and they will remain there until July 8. Then, they will be lent to different associations until a new campaign next year. They are of course old pianos but quite OK to play, in general decorated by some street artist. 

During a Saturday afternoon, after a timid start (great thanks to the young kids), more and more people played and attracted a little crowd.

I checked a bit also the following days. Amazing, the number of people who can play. Here is a man playing jazz, a lady who brought her scores and played Chopin, a charming Cuban-born lady who played Bach...

Unfortunately, and as one could fear, all the pianos are not as well treated as the ones in "my" park. I found this one on Place de Clichy.

Talking about vandalism. You may have noticed that I'm quite in favour of good street art, urban art (see a number of posts), but I'm also against wild tagging. The City of Paris offers cleaning, free of charge, of such tagging. Here you can see one of the city agents in action.


















Added June 30:
... and one week after my first pciture, the pianos in "my" park are still there. The "concerts" go on. I only regret that I didn't bring my camera more often.

Added July 1:
   

Fête de la Musique again

Since a start in France in 1982, the "Fête de la Musique" seems now, each year, June the 21st, the soltice day, to be celbrated in some 100 countries!

I already made posts about it, as well on this blog as on my previous one.

This day is of course also linked to different originally pagan traditions. In Sweden, the Midsummer, or the Midsummer’s Eve, is a great day of festivities. This is the reason why the Swedish Institute in the Marais (see previous post) for a couple of years has taken the opportunity to combine both, Midsummer celebration and the Fête de la Musique, making use of the vast garden behind their fantastic 16^th century building.

It all starts with some children friendly folkloric singing and dancing around the “Midsommarstång”  (Maypole), later followed by some more “adult” music.

Thunderstorms were announced, but the sky stayed quite clear during the evening hours. On my way home, I listened to other groups – they are “everywhere”, passing by Rue de Rivoli, the Centre Pompidou… ending up at the Palais Royal ….

… before taking the last metro home, where we also got some nice entertainment.