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Pessimisissimo

@pessimisissimo

A librarian who posts on books, opera, Bollywood, and other indefensible obsessions.

exoticandirrational.blogspot.com/
Joined August 2014
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To my followers: Many thanks for your interest. I will not be logging in or posting for the foreseeable future. The last thing I want is for my time and attention to be making money for Twitter's current owner. Perhaps we'll meet again on another platform.
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Leonardo Vinci's #Astianatte was @Celine_Ricci's most ambitious staging yet, and was cast with superlative singers: Jasmine Johnson, Deborah Martinez Rosengaus, @NikaPrintz, & Aura Veruni. @ArsMinerva surpasses itself with every production: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Jasmine Johnson as Andromaca in Ars Minerva's production of Leonardo Vinci's Astianatte. Photo credit: Valentina Sadiul.

ALT Jasmine Johnson as Andromaca in Ars Minerva's production of Leonardo Vinci's Astianatte. Photo credit: Valentina Sadiul.

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Samanth Subramian writes in the @NewYorker about the pressure Hindu nationalists brought to bear on the series "Tandav." But manufactured political outrage over films is not new: ask @IamDeepaMehta about the attacks on her groundbreaking "Fire" (1996): exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Poster for Deepa Mehta's film Fire (1996). Image source: RogerEbert.com

ALT Poster for Deepa Mehta's film Fire (1996). Image source: RogerEbert.com

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"Excruciatingly tedious...and of no historical interest whatever." Dr. Phyllis Ramsden's assessment of the coded portions of #AnneLister's diaries has been contradicted by fearless scholars including @HelenaWhitbread, @JillLiddington, and @AnneChoma: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Anne Lister by John Horner, ca. 1830s. Image source: Calderdale Museums: Shibden Hall Paintings

ALT Anne Lister by John Horner, ca. 1830s. Image source: Calderdale Museums: Shibden Hall Paintings

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After a hotly contested election in Halifax, #AnneLister is attacked through a satirical wedding announcement for "Captain Tom Lister." #GentlemanJack #SaveGentlemanJack: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Leeds Mercury, Saturday 10 January 1835. Image source: British Newspaper Archive. Text: Same day, at the parish church, Halifax, Captain Tom Lister, of Shibden Hall, near Halifax, to Miss Ann Walker, late of Lidgate, near the same place.

ALT Leeds Mercury, Saturday 10 January 1835. Image source: British Newspaper Archive. Text: Same day, at the parish church, Halifax, Captain Tom Lister, of Shibden Hall, near Halifax, to Miss Ann Walker, late of Lidgate, near the same place.

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The first secret ballot in Britain wasn't held until 1872. Earlier, poll books recorded names & votes of electors. #AnneLister pressured her tenants, like John Bottomley, to vote for Tory candidate James Wortley (W. in the table heading). He won by 1 vote: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Page from the poll book for the 1835 general election in Halifax. Anne wrote in her diary that John Bottomley was "a good staunch blue plumper" (i.e., he voted for the "blue" candidate and denied his second vote to either of the opposing candidates, Whig Charles Wood or Radical Edward Protheroe). After Bottomley voted, Anne suddenly remembered to pay him six pounds for carting work he'd done for her. Image source: From Weaver to Web: Online Visual Archive of Calderdale History

ALT Page from the poll book for the 1835 general election in Halifax. Anne wrote in her diary that John Bottomley was "a good staunch blue plumper" (i.e., he voted for the "blue" candidate and denied his second vote to either of the opposing candidates, Whig Charles Wood or Radical Edward Protheroe). After Bottomley voted, Anne suddenly remembered to pay him six pounds for carting work he'd done for her. Image source: From Weaver to Web: Online Visual Archive of Calderdale History

Anne Lister part 4: Anne's plans for a "strategic marriage" are thwarted until she renews her acquaintance with local heiress Ann Walker. Only both of them wonder, "Who taught you to kiss?" #AnneLister #GentlemanJack #SaveGentlemanJack exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Ann Walker's Lydgate House. Image source: Lightcliffe and District Local History Society

ALT Ann Walker's Lydgate House. Image source: Lightcliffe and District Local History Society

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"I was now sure of the estate": In 1826 #AnneLister inherits #ShibdenHall, freeing her to travel with her married lover Mariana Lawton. Ultimately Anne will seek a younger, wealthier, more socially-connected (and unmarried) woman as a life companion: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Shibden Hall, Halifax. Image source: Calderdale Museums: Shibden Hall

ALT Shibden Hall, Halifax. Image source: Calderdale Museums: Shibden Hall

"It was all nature": #AnneLister broadens her horizons as she attends the first Yorkshire Music Festival and travels on her own to Paris, recalling her first affair as she searches for lifelong love and companionship #GentlemanJack #SaveGentlemanJack: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Place Vendôme, Paris, by Henry Parke, 1820. Image source: Sir John Soane's Museum

ALT Place Vendôme, Paris, by Henry Parke, 1820. Image source: Sir John Soane's Museum

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"I love, & only love, the fairer sex & thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any love but theirs." Before @GentIemanJackTV: the discovery of the coded diaries of #AnneLister, a 19th-century landowner in Halifax: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Anne Lister by John Horner, ca. 1830s, from the Shibden Hall paintings of the Calderdale Museums.

ALT Anne Lister by John Horner, ca. 1830s, from the Shibden Hall paintings of the Calderdale Museums.

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Brilliant #Belshazzar by @jthomasabs & @AmericanBach with superb soloists @SarahCoit, @MayaKherani, Eric Jurenas, Matthew Hill, & @mischabouvier, and excellent contributions by chorus & orchestra. It was a privilege to see this rare #Handel work performed with such commitment!
Soprano Maya Kherani, Nitocris in ABS's Belshazzar 2022-07-30

ALT Soprano Maya Kherani, Nitocris in ABS's Belshazzar 2022-07-30

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#AngelaCarter, Dido & Aeneas, The Lady Eve: among 10 favorite posts from the past 5 years in celebration of E&I's 15th anniversary: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Barbara Stanwyck tempts Henry Fonda in Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve (1941).

ALT Barbara Stanwyck tempts Henry Fonda in Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve (1941).

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Carl Friedrich Abel was a composer and virtuoso viola da gamba player in the generation between #Bach and #Mozart. A unique manuscript of his exquisite short solo pieces has survived. Forgotten for 200 years, they can now be heard on excellent recordings: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Karl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough, ca. 1765. Image source: National Portrait Gallery, London.

ALT Karl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough, ca. 1765. Image source: National Portrait Gallery, London.

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Why is the remarkable Vittoria Tesi, the first Black or biracial prima donna, not better known? Two possible explanations: politics and economics. But with Vinci's #Astianatte, once again @Celine_Ricci & @ArsMinerva will be redressing historical neglect: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Contralto Diana Vico, Vittoria Tesi's onstage partner in Astianatte. Caricature by Marco Ricci c. 1720-1730. Image source: Royal Collection Trust.

ALT Contralto Diana Vico, Vittoria Tesi's onstage partner in Astianatte. Caricature by Marco Ricci c. 1720-1730. Image source: Royal Collection Trust.

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Vittoria Tesi, the first Black or biracial prima donna, held the stage on terms of full equality with the most renowned singers of her time, such as the castrati Farinelli, Senesino, Carestini, Caffarelli, and more: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Carlo Broschi detto [known as] Farinelli, engraved by Joseph Wagner after Jacopo Amigoni, 1735 (detail). Image source: National Portrait Gallery, London

ALT Carlo Broschi detto [known as] Farinelli, engraved by Joseph Wagner after Jacopo Amigoni, 1735 (detail). Image source: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Vittoria Tesi, the first Black or biracial prima donna, sang during a "water-hunt" in Dresden in 1719. Tesi and other singers (as Diana's huntresses) performed from a boat just before the newlywed royal couple & guests slaughtered 400 deer in the river: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Arrival of Diana during the Festival of Diana on the Dresden Elbe meadows on 18 September 1719 on the occasion of the marriage of the Prince Elector Frederick Augustus II and Maria Josepha. Alcippe, sung by Vittoria Tesi, may be the figure seated in the shell at the right hand of Diana, the central figure holding the arrow, probably sung by Santa Stella Lotti. Image source: Deutsche Fotothek.

ALT Arrival of Diana during the Festival of Diana on the Dresden Elbe meadows on 18 September 1719 on the occasion of the marriage of the Prince Elector Frederick Augustus II and Maria Josepha. Alcippe, sung by Vittoria Tesi, may be the figure seated in the shell at the right hand of Diana, the central figure holding the arrow, probably sung by Santa Stella Lotti. Image source: Deutsche Fotothek.

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Vittoria Tesi was the first Black or biracial prima donna. One of the greatest singers of the 18th century, she sang with Farinelli, performed for Handel, created roles for Gluck, and was visited by the 6-year-old Mozart. Why is she not better known? exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Vittoria Tesi, caricature by Anton Maria Zanetti ca. 1736. Image source: Royal Collection Trust

ALT Vittoria Tesi, caricature by Anton Maria Zanetti ca. 1736. Image source: Royal Collection Trust

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Vittoria Tesi performed title roles in 35 productions over her career, including operas by Hasse, Vinci, Leo, Jommelli, Gluck and others. Dittersdorf wrote of her contralto voice, "I believed that nothing more beautiful could be heard on this earth": exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Vittoria Tesi performing the title role in De Majo's Il Sogno d' Olimpia (The Dream of Olympia, Naples, 1747). Image source: Internet Archive

ALT Vittoria Tesi performing the title role in De Majo's Il Sogno d' Olimpia (The Dream of Olympia, Naples, 1747). Image source: Internet Archive

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At 22 Vittoria Tesi sang for the Empress Elisabeth, mother of 5-year-old Maria Theresa. 32 years later Tesi gave her final performance before Maria Theresa, herself now Empress. In her last decades Tesi became a renowned teacher of singing and acting: exoticandirrational.blogspot…
Title page of Fiore's Argippo, in which Tesi performed the role of Zanaida before the Empress Elisabeth Christina, mother of the future Empress Maria Theresa, who may have been in the audience. Image source: Schatz Collection, Library of Congress

ALT Title page of Fiore's Argippo, in which Tesi performed the role of Zanaida before the Empress Elisabeth Christina, mother of the future Empress Maria Theresa, who may have been in the audience. Image source: Schatz Collection, Library of Congress

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