Sir Thomas Beecham conducts Messiah!

There are many recordings of Messiah by Georg Friedrich Haendel,  a man who spoke little English being German serving a British King George II who disliked the English and England, spoke next to no English being the Prince of Hannover. They probably spoke German to each other, though the King had learned French as a first language.

 King George II (1683-1760)

Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685-1759)

Sir Thomas gives us a rendition of the Messiah unlike any other, in my opinion the best one you can hear.
Unless our friend and music expert David N. can point me to a better rendition, will see what he has to say.

The recording in question is from 1959 with Jennifer Vyvyan, Soprano, Monica Sinclair, Mezzo-Soprano, the great Canadian Tenor John Vickers and equally great Bass, Giorgio Tozzi. Beecham gave this recording a tempo and he feels the words of the text which he manages to translate into a
dynamic recording.

I love hearing this recording while we are decorating the Christmas tree.

Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)

Phase one is polishing all the Christmas Tree balls, we have 30 of them and then we also have to polish the medallions of various seasonal flowers. Then put up the tree and select the ornaments to go on, there is quite the collection all very different and from various parts of the world we have visited.

What is terribly nice is that each ball has the word Christmas and the year and it always brings back memories of where we were on that year starting with 1979 in Ottawa, 1986 Mexico City, 1989 Cairo, 1993 Chicago, 1999 Warsaw, 2007 Rome.

This year the tree went up on 8 December the Immaculate Conception on the Catholic Calendar, a great spectacle we attended each year in Rome at Piazza di Spagna where the column to the Virgin stands, a column taken from a temple from antiquity and the statue itself is Venus. The Pope comes from the Vatican crosses the City in a great parade escorted by the Carabinieri and all the congregations gather in the Piazza in their various uniforms and banners. The clue of the spectacle is when the Rome Firemen (Vigili) get into their cherry picker to hoist the great garland of flowers blessed by the Holy Father to the arms of the Venus turned Virgin and Mother of God.

The monument is in front of the Royal Embassy of Spain to the Holy See on the Piazza and the Ambassador of His Most Catholic Majesty the King of Spain waives from the balcony.

We have also decided this year that for Christmas day we will go to the Café at the National Arts Centre, they have a very nice set menu. Christmas Eve will be quiet at home and have a nice dinner with our Xmas Dachshunds.

Here are some pictures.

This year Will decided to put up this paper cut model of St-Nick. We got this in Dresden or Munich many years ago but never used it, very traditional and European. I cannot remember being in Dresden for the Christmas Market, the one in Munich is fantastic.

our Nutcracker from East Germany c.1979, they do not make ones like this anymore.

The tree is up now remains to decorate it.

Here are some traditional Austrian lead decoration hand painted, a decorated tree and St-Nick on his horse made by the Wilhelm Schweizer company.

More of the W. Schweizer company work, very typical of what you see in Austria and Bavaria at Christmas time.

A fraction of what has to be polished before it is put up on the tree. Neiman Marcus still sells them.

Christmas 1979 always put at the top of the tree.

A Winter Bouquet for Will's Birthday, the white flowers are called Nerine, there is some Heather and Boronia.

L'Hiver et la froidure

On this 18 November the weather in Ottawa has taken a decidedly wintery look, the sidewalks are icy  and the snow is a light hard icy cover. Our Nicky is not happy, he hates the cold so does Nora but she is tougher and won't complain as much as him.

The air is crisp and there is a smell of wood burning in someone's fireplace. No wonder I am thinking of Christmas.  My friend Dr. Spo in Arizona says it is around 14C right now and he is thinking of making hot coco, I am also thinking at -7C of hot coco. The winter night sky is dark blue and we have been having strong cold winds or rafale de vent.

All this to say that it feels like the Christmas Season already. Which brings to mind our annual little trip to the Christmas Market in Munich or Bologna, two different countries but each have a fun market with lots of cold weather and good food.
This little video is of the Christmas Market in Munich, we were there at the time when this video was done. Love Munich at this time of year, so beautiful and so much fun.



I also downloaded my Advent Calendar and started to play with the different functions, like making snowflakes, I like this one and they are easy to make.  I can then insert them into the Advent calendar scene and they flutter down.

I also decorated the Xmas tree which goes into the scene of the calendar and it changes everyday as we get closer to Christmas. The Advent Calendar has lots of items to choose from and you can decorate the tree in many various fashions. This is what I did today.

Some music by Emile Waldteufel, Les patineurs Valse. Because soon if this cold weather keeps us we will be skating on the Rideau Canal.

photos of Ferragosto

From what I hear and messages I received from friends in Rome some people are leaving the Città for  the beginning of the Summer Holidays which in fact started as early as Monday 11 August and will continue until at least the 2 September for the very lucky and up to the 18 August for those not so fortunate in more ways than one. Italy has slipped back into a severe recession and the economy is not good, unemployment for young people (under 30) is hovering around 43% which is a disaster. This is due in large part to years of Right Wing Conservative Politics and negligence under Sylvio Berlusconi as Prime Minister.

As a tourist you are not likely to see anything and if you do not speak Italian you will not even be aware of the problems facing Italy.

Nonetheless now is time for the annual vacation and the 15 August which was instituted by the first Roman Emperor Octavian know as Augustus some 2000 years ago. When in the fourth century Christianity became an official religion in Rome the holiday meaning was gradually changed and became a major religious holiday dedicated to the Assumption into Heaven of the Blessed Virgin Mary,  nowadays it is the signal for summer vacation time.

Here are some favourite photos of Rome and Italy.

 The Church of St-Agnes in Agony on Piazza Navona, the church dates from the 8th century, the baroque facade from 1652 on the orders of Pope Innocent X of the Doria Pamphilij Family. 

 Our pool in our first home in Rome, Via Asmara 9. It was quite large, no we did not have to clean it.

The old garden area of the former estate on Via Asmara 9, never did discover who had built this garden but it was quite large and pleasant.

Another view of our pool on Via Asmara 9, never used it really.

 Our Reesie, he was a long hair Dachshund. Sitting quietly amongst the white roses in the garden

 The Oculus of the Pantheon in Rome, the opening is 27 feet in diameter or 8.2 meters

  Moon over Rome, if you look closely at the picture the middle dark part you can see the ruins of the Imperial Palaces on the Palatine Hill.

 Seen from the Market of Emperor Trajan a side view of the Italian Altar to the Nation also known as the Vittoriano on Piazza Venezia, the largest marble monument in the world. 

 The window of the French Ambassador's Office at the French Embassy in the Farnese Palace in Rome. The Coat of Arms above the window are those of the Farnese Pope Paul III.
Incidentally the first French Ambassador to rent out the palace as a residence was none other than the brother of Cardinal Richelieu who was Chief Minister of the King of France. Cardinal Alphonse Richelieu (yes it ran in the family) was the religiously inclined one compared to his politician brother.

Street parking in Rome with Olive trees

 Castle San Angelo originally built as the Mausoleum to Emperor Hadrian.

Carabinieri in gala uniform, they are the elite police corps in Italy 

 The famous fountain of the turtles near the old ghetto of Rome

Equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio Piazza in front of the City Hall of Rome on the Capitoline Hill. The original statue is 1900 years old and is inside in the museum to the left of the photo.

Ferragosto Season.

We arrived in late July in Rome in 2007 with a mountain of luggage I kid you not, we probably had 5 suitcases each plus a large dog kennel for our Reesie who in his old age and deaf had accompanied us to Rome. Arriving on the eve of the great vacation month of August has its challenges for North Americans who are not used to seeing an entire country come to a standstill because everyone is gone to the beach or the mountain.

Fiumicino airport, one of the departure-arrival pods. 

We were met at the airport by my colleague and a small van and an embassy driver. It was afternoon around 4pm and we drove from the seaside where the Rome Airport Fiumicino is located to la Città some 35 Km away. It is very green on the way into the city and there are lots of Mediterranean Pines those famous umbrella pines which gives Rome that special look. The driver took us along the highway and then just after the suburb of EUR we came into the city proper down the great avenue San Gregorio Magno to the Arch of Constantine and the Palatine Hill, around the Colosseum and then up the hill towards the Aurelian Walls. We were in awe, Rome looked majestic as it should. There was also surprisingly little traffic and the city had already assumed that look of summer holiday.

The Column of Trajan 

The Palatine Hill amongst the Pines

Via San Gregorio Magno, on the left the Arch of Constantine and on the right the Colosseum.

When we got home to our new digs which was down Via Nomentana outside the walls at Via Asmara the neighbourhood had the look of being deserted, everything was tranquil, all the stores where shuttered. My colleague explained that with Fer'Agosto approaching the only stores open would be on reduced hours and the rest would remain close, so if we wanted anything it would have to wait until September 7 when school starts again and everyone gradually returns to the City. It is the same tradition everywhere else in Italy.

Just 10 years prior another colleague who had been on posting in Rome explained how during this period if you wanted fresh milk and eggs or bread you had to make arrangements with farmers around Rome who supplied clients in the City. The philosophy of all this was that everyone deserves a vacation and why not in August, the only problem is that everyone in Italy is on vacation at the same time. Meaning crowded highways, beaches and country resorts, many also visit the family in the Paese (village) where they come from.

So our first summer in Rome was spent exploring a neighbourhood which was deserted and quiet. There was one restaurant opened near us I Limoncini on Via Del Giuba and it was pleasant to have dinner in the evening.
We started to discover Roman and Italian cuisine specialty, much of it being seafood, veal chop, young lamb chops and various pasta dishes unknown to us. Limoncini's specialty was spaghetti with a delicate lemon sauce. With time we became friendly with the owner, his wife and son Cristiano.

The shopping streets around us like Via Libia or Via Tripoli or Via Eritrea all the shops were closed, what a sad sight but when life came back in early September we were even more surprised to see so many shops. You can tell by the name of the streets that this neighbourhood was build between 1925 and 1936 during the prosperous years of the Fascist Era, the streets bear the names of the colonies of Italy in that period. The architecture is in the brutal modern style re-calling the Antique Roman style.

I would go to work, walking down Via Nomentana to Via Zara where my office was a good 15 minute walk but always pleasant, the streets are lined with tall old trees forming a green canopy. Since this street as always been outside the walls of the city it was lined with great suburban villas and parks, once owned by the wealthy families of Rome. Today many have been converted to other uses but the parks surrounding them are just as beautiful as always.
I passed a park in Villa Paganini and noticed that the grass was growing tall, indeed even city municipal services were cut back. It would be tended to in September when the city workers would come back.

This was 2007 by 2008 things had changed, the holiday period started around the 5 August instead of a week earlier. The economic situation in Italy was not good and people cut their vacation short.
Then in 2009 the date was pushed back to 10 August and the rumour was that many did not leave the city at all but hid in their apartment, the shame of having to admit to your neighbours that you could not afford to leave the city for 3 week vacation with the family. I am told that this year only those who can really afford a vacation leave the rest will take 8 days which is the period between 10 to the 18 August. Fewer shops close, many do not close at all but operate on reduced hours.
The economic situation is such that life has become difficult for the majority.

During our period in Italy, we travelled to the Adriatic to the province of Le Marche, to the birthplace of Rossini, the beach resort of Pesaro where each year at the time of Fer'Agosto there is a Festival dedicated to his operas.  It is along the lines of what you see in Salzburg but on a reduce scale but nonetheless of the highest quality, we are in Italy and Italians do not joke with opera, it's serious business.
The web site: http://www.rossinioperafestival.it

Pesaro is a easy drive from Rome on the highway A24 then E55 in 3:30 hrs. We would usually stop in Ancona for lunch and then complete the road trip passing Fano on the way following the coast line of the Adriatic.
As the years went by with the economic crisis, it was much easier to find hotel rooms for the week.
Pesaro is a small town, it was once at the time of Rossini part of the Grand Duchy of Urbino and then a Papal State. Rossini left early in his career he could not stand the suffocating atmosphere of being under the Papal thumb. He spent most of his long life in Paris becoming fabulously wealthy in the process.

My favourite house in Pesaro, pure Art Nouveau on Piazza della Vittoria.

Pesaro being a resort town its business as usual and you will find many expensive designer stores, there is obviously a lot of money in Pesaro. Like Rimini just a few minutes north it attracts many wealthy Europeans and the beautiful Art Deco Villas are rented or sold to catered to that crowd.
Strangely in winter the city is deserted and most hotels and businesses are closed. Those who do remain open offer room rates of 40 Euros a day while in the summer it would be around 120 Euros and up which usually includes breakfast and sometimes half board. There was one Hotel owner who had a monopoly on 5 hotels in town. We stayed in two of his hotels, they were typical Italian hotels, by this I mean they were decorated with the owner's own personal touch. One was the Alexander Museum Palace Hotel, art work everywhere even in the rooms and bathrooms, all very modern. It is not to everyone's taste.

The web site: http://www.alexandermuseum.it
The owner is an eccentric Italian aristocrat Count Alessandro Marcucci Pinoli di Valfesina or Nani for his friends, formerly an Italian Ambassador to Bolivia and now Honorary Consul of San Marino. He is pictured half submerged in a suit and tie in the endless pool, an eccentric marketing ploy which works well in Italy but would not work so well with North Americans who might think he was daft.

He owns other hotels like the Savoy http://www.hotelsavoypesaro.it/en and the
Hotel Gran Vittoria http://www.grandhotelvittoriapesaro.it we enjoyed this hotel for its old charm and central location.

Evening on Piazza del Popolo in Pesaro

One of our favourite bars in Pesaro for il aperitivo.

How much we enjoyed those summer holidays in Pesaro.
This year no Pesaro but Stratford Ontario, with friends, it will be just as much fun.

Here is a clip from one of my favourite movie about Ferragosto.

Buon Ferragosto a Tutti!







 

The Centennial of the Great War, August 1914-2014

Today on 1 August 1914 the Great War started for Canada, we entered the war on the side of Britain and the Empire. Canada sent 10% of its population to war, some 620,000 men, poorly equipped and trained. At the end of the war some 61,000 Canadian soldier will be dead and another 18,000 will be missing never to be found buried in the mud of the Western Front.

Rightly so the Canadian people would ask ''For What ?'' a question the Conservative government of Sir Robert Borden had no answer.

Look at this map of Europe in August 1918 and note how the old Continent looked then. Four great Empires would collapse, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Turk. Britain despite the armistice in November 1918 very nearly collapsed. This war would change the world and Canada.

In 1919 Europe would see new countries emerge which did not exist previously, created from nationalistic grievances. The Paris Conference would create many new problems and the final Treaty of Versailles will plant the seeds for a new war even more devastating some 20 years later.

Canada would emerge as a great power and would become an independent country, leading to renewed prosperity until the great economic depression of 1929.

Who knew that August one hundred years ago what was about to happen to the old order.

Europe today looks again very different since 1989 and the fall of the Iron Curtain and Communism.

The ceramic poppies planted around the Tower of London and on show now until November.

Some 888,000 poppies represent the sea of blood this war provoked, no one won, ending in an armistice, a war that cause much misery and no resolution.

Three Summers ago

We have now been living in Ottawa for 3 years, we lived here off and on since 1976, but with my postings there were long periods when I was away from the City.

Our return after many years abroad was not easy on many levels. Strange to say but there was culture shock when we returned and also a long period of adaptation. It is difficult to explain to anyone who has not lived abroad, physically out of Canada. Re-entering Canadian life can be very difficult, you forget so many things about life here, the attitudes, culture and the tempo of life in general. We had to re-learn a lot of things, life in Canadian Society has its peculiarities.

Going from a small office where you have real responsibilities to a giant one at HQ where you have no responsibilities and dozens of managers who are more of less incompetent is an adjustment. The first year back at HQ was difficult, nothing made sense and it felt like working with a bunch of chickens running around whose head had been cut off. More uncertainty, more lies and more hypocrisy about where we were going as a Government. Our Minister Jason Kenny could not bring himself to saying Good Morning to people, it was beyond his capacity, this is how much he loathe his own employees. Senior Management were shitting their pants so afraid they were for their jobs and all hoping they could retire before things got too ugly or out of hand. I certainly did not recognize HQ after a 7 year absence, too much had changed for the worst unfortunately. To many 20 something running around pretending they knew it all and had seen it all, they had a University diploma don't you know. To many experienced hands retiring or being pushed out because they were over 55. What is the point of staying anywhere if you are no longer wanted. Better to leave and forget the rest, and this is what I did, I can honestly say now that I have no contact with my former employer and frankly I do not miss any part of it.

We were lucky that we found a very nice apartment immediately, with good neighbours and were able to settle well in a pleasant surrounding. We also had our friends in Ottawa, they must have found us a little strange with our comparisons. We had to reason with ourselves and admit that there was no comparisons to be made and just stop looking at things in an odd fashion as if we could wake up from a bad dream. It is at this time that I started to remember old colleagues who had spent 20 or more years living abroad and never returning to Ottawa. When they finally returned near the end of their careers many simply could not live in Ottawa the cultural shock was too great.

Even today many colleagues retire elsewhere in Canada or abroad. We chose to retire to Ottawa for the time being.

I had the good fortune of having the presence of mind to start thinking about two years ago before my retirement of what I wanted to do once retired. I do not think I could have simply stayed at home and do a little reading and walk the dogs. Luckily I fell into a very good opportunity and it has worked out very well for me at the museums.

I also made a trip back to Rome in March of 2012 and this was a very good trip and was enormously helpful in focusing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It has not always been easy to go forward in the last three years but now I feel that we are settling in Ottawa and I have lots of interests in what is going on in the City and in the volunteer activities I am involved with.

Rome and Italy will always be with us and as we discovered anytime we go back and we have returned many times, it is like home. We are building a new life here and a more permanent one.
Renewing our lease for another 2 years also adds permanence and this is helpful to give us a feeling of belonging.

This painting by Giovanni Paolo Pannini of an art dealer's emporium in many ways reminds me of what I am now doing as a docent and how much I enjoy it and all the other activities connected to it.



  

Eleonara di Capena or Nora for her friends.

We had a few days ago our little story about our Nicky and now it is Nora's turn, our eternal little hunter. She cannot help it her mother was a National Hunting Champion in Italy and she has all those instincts. The lady in Capena who owned the kennel had a room full of trophies and ribbons to her champion dogs and she did offer to train Nora for hunting but we declined given that we lived in the Città and move to another City. Though in the city there are cats, squirrels and wild rabbits, badgers too. We live by the Rideau Canal and there is a lot of wildlife despite being in the centre of the city.

Nora is also an excellent guard dog, she has a very keen sense of hearing and smell, nothing escapes her. We are constantly surprised by the fact that she can hear the elevator door open some 20 meters from our front door or knows when someone who is downstairs, that is 4 floors down is coming up, she is able to differentiate the phone ring tones, though we cannot perceive with our human ear the subtle differences.

She is also very talkative and modulates her voice to attract our attention, every sound means something different and we have become accustomed to it all, though we are not always sure what she means. Her hunting howl makes her sound like the Hounds of the Baskerville and can wake up the whole neighbourhood, it is a booming howl for such a little dog it is surprising.
Dachshunds have that capacity which make them sound ferocious.

And like all Dachshunds she likes to hide and burrow, we often loose her in the apartment, though she always knows where we are at all times. Unlike Nicky she does not like to lie in the sunshine as much as he does, she gets too hot and moves off to a shady corner. She is also not shy about putting him in his place if he annoys her. He is often scared of her because she bosses him without mercy.
She is a week older than him maybe that is why.

Her favourite sofa in the house, she is in this picture but you cannot see her though she is looking at the camera, hiding behind the small cushion. The sofa is growling you say, look closer and you will see her. 

There she is wedging herself between cushions and falling asleep, she loves doing that, especially at night. If we let her she would probably sleep there all night.

the one nice thing about Nora is that she loves everybody and is quite affectionate unless you are a squirrel then you are dead meat.

  

It could happen to any of us.

This week is truly full of dreadful news and the recent downing of the Malaysian Airways jet MH 17 at the Eastern border of Ukraine and Russia by Pro-Russian militia with a BUK missile is an horrendous crime against humanity, 298 people died. One can only hope that they felt nothing and that their death was quick and painless.

The spectacle of the Pro-Russian militia and Russian agents looting the personal belongings of the dead is not only revolting but shows the level of barbarity of those so called Pro-Russian militias and the Russian government. As an ex-Foreign Service Officer I knew from my days in the service during the Cold War that the Soviets (Russians) had absolutely no scruples and no morals whatsoever. After all they supported Nazi Germany and had a secret pact to destroy Eastern Europe and its population. Then in 1941 Soviet Russia decides to switch sides and join the Allies because it was risking annihilation at the hands of Nazi Germany. So you can see that political calculation and hedging their bets is an old Russian way of doing business. They invoke the Raison d'Etat, you do what you have to do and morals or scruples do not enter into it. Something politicians are loath to admit to the electorate in Western Countries.

When MH17 was shot down, someone asked me if I thought there would be consequences or that President Putin would be made to pay. I answered that little if anything will be done, there will be no reprisal. There will be lots of angry words but not much else, just enough to occupy the Media and distract the public.

This is what has happened so far, France is still selling to Russia two war ships a deal worth 1.5 billion Euros, President Hollande of France said he did not see any reason to cancel the sale.
Germany is thinking about its gas supplies it receives from Russia and has no other source of heat for the coming winter, not to mention the important trade ties, despite German sympathies for the victims there is a limit to what they are willing to endure.

Britain has made lots of angry pronouncements but Russian money is still flooding the Financial markets in the City, where would the City be without all the oligarchs and their money?

Italy is against sanctions because it would damage its luxury goods market to Russia and given its fragile economy Italy needs all the export sales it can get.  As for The Netherlands who had the most dead in this tragedy, it has been strangely quiet.

Everyone in the EU is thinking Trade and Economics, do not jeopardize the economics and Putin knows that, he knows all too well that he is holding the strong cards. Even the USA is very reluctant to do anything because it does not want to be caught in a situation where Russia could manoeuvre between it and a divided Europe.  Also no one wants to go to war, not over Ukraine and not over a down passenger airliner, it is not worth it, too much is at stake in terms of trade, oil and gas and the politicians know it. But what does it say to Ukrainians about the EU? Not much really, Ukraine you are on your own.

So we have the public message of Western politicians to the people carefully crafted by the Spin experts and then we have the reality of trade and economics. Because if a Western politician in France, Germany, UK, Italy or USA took serious steps to sanctions and punish Russia political consequences would follow. For all of our wringing of hands and our words of sorrow over the dead civilians, none of us would like to suffer the consequences of a Russian angry response and yes Russia can sell its oil and gas elsewhere think China who has an unquenchable thirst in terms of energy demands.  This is where human nature comes in, the me first attitude despite the atrocious incidents.

Canada in all this, well PM Harper has sounded sharp and hostile against Russia. We are fairly insulated from any possible retaliation from Russia except for our Northern Border which is with Russia, unfortunately Canadians do not look at that border, no one thinks that the Russian would dare claim the Arctic. Surely the Americans would come and defend us, think again Canada, the USA will do nothing if it is not in their interests, we are very likely to find ourselves alone in having to deal with Russia. We have no Navy and no Armed Forces to defend the Arctic Border, so it is wide open for the taking by Russia or whoever wants to take it. Again short-sighted policies by the Harper Government despite all the talk.

So the tragedy of MH17 could happen to any one of us and do not count on your government to help you out, other priorities will take precedent over your life, that is what is call ''Real Politik''.

In the meantime, do you remember that Syria is gripped by a vicious Civil War, Gaza is being bombarded by the Israeli Army, Iraq is unstable and a violent Jihadist group is now emerging. Afghanistan is still no further ahead and the Taliban is a dangerous force. How about those 200 girls kidnapped a few months ago by Boko Aram, no more news about them. The Media has lost interests in those stories. The world goes on and on.

Changing religious art and Protestant Reformation

I was at the grocery store when turning a corner I came face to face with an ex-colleague I had not seen in a long time and we started talking about Italy and Rome and exchanging news. When I got home I started to think about how religious art in Italy started to change after the Council of Trent  (1545-1563) or Trento in the South Tyrol or Alto-Adige in Northern Italy which has a lovely castle and produces excellent wines. I had also seen an Italian site where there was talk about restoration of some of the works of Michelangelo (1475-1564), mostly of the marble statue of Christ in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the only Gothic church of Rome built over the temple of the goddess Minerva (Wisdom). The church is behind and next to the Pantheon of Rome and is famous for being the site of the trial of Galileo in 1633.

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome

Statue of Christ by Michelangelo, altered with a bronze loincloth by the Dominicans in 1600. 

Funny how ideas sometimes collide with each other based on conversations and reminiscing of things we saw or heard of and trigger memories. We were in Trento a few years ago on our way to Innsbruck and Salzburg for the music Festival at Pentecost. We visited the castle and the town and saw some wonderful art work and of course heard about the famous Council called to answer the Protestant Reformation.

The Reformation starts around 1517 and lasts as a movement until 1562. Martin Luther (1483-1546) who is a Catholic becomes a critic of the Pope, he sees the role of Pontifex becoming a substitute for God on Earth and Luther believes that the Papacy has become very corrupt. He becomes the head of the Reformation movement, there are others like John Calvin but Luther is the better known.

The Reformation and the opposition movement to Papal authority was nothing new. Originally the Pontifex of the Official Roman Religion which protected with its pantheon of Gods, Rome and its Empire was the first man in Rome, Julius Caesar was P.M. and then his Nephew Augustus. The Emperor assumed the role of Pontifex Maximus, when Constantine in the 4th Century made Christianity the new Official Religion of the Empire, not without major controversy and revolt amongst Romans, he named a bishop for Rome but he kept for himself the central role of Pontifex.

When Constantine moved the Capital to the new city of Constantinople
he named a bishop there also. But the bickering started immediately between the 2 bishops of the two Imperial cities. When Constantine died, the Bishop of Rome grabbed the title of Pontifex and claimed to be the successor of the Roman Emperor producing a fraudulent last will and testament to back up his claim. This and many other events led to the great schism between Rome and Constantinople a few centuries later.

When the Papacy returned to Rome from its long exile in Avignon, France around 1376 the Pope found the city devastated by centuries of neglect, the once great capital of the world was nothing more than a small village of about 10,000 people. The city had one million resident until 350 AD.

The old St-Peter's Basilica built in 318 AD and destroyed in 1460 to make way for the current basilica

The original Saint Peter Basilica which had been built by Emperor Constantine was in very poor shape and the whole structure was no longer safe to use. It was Pope Nicholas V, a humanist and a man of the Renaissance who started to rebuilt Rome the moment he became Pope in 1447.  Restoring the Aqueducts which could once again bring clean fresh water to the City, this can be seen today in the Fountain of Trevi fed by the Aqua Virgo. He also paved the main roads and started to re-build St-Peter Basilica. He declared 1450 a Jubilee Year and started on his great construction projects. He needed construction material and using 2522 cart loads of stone from the ancient Coliseum he used them as building material, he also turned the Roman Forum into a quarry, most of the original antique buildings had survived almost intact.

Facade of St-Peter's basilica today 

For 100 years every Pope worked on re-building the basilica we see today. This meant that a lot of money was needed and this is where the trouble started, many architects and artists and labourers worked year after year on this giant project. Popes needed to be creative to find new sources of revenues and one had the idea of selling indulgences and Holy relics of Saints to make a quick profit,
of course it was all for a good cause but that is a sure way to the road to Hell.

Martin Luther like many Europeans including Princes, Kings and Emperors were a little fed-up with the over the top ways of Bishops and Popes alike there was a lot of criticism and if it got to loud, Popes could excommunicate and even have critics put to death for heresy. Martin Luther studied closely the Bible and event translated it into German, a first, so that ordinary folk could understand the reading of the texts.

Luther challenged directly the authority of the Pontiff to collect taxes and sell indulgences which allowed the buyer a fast track to Paradise. Luther pointed out that this was nonsense since the Bible made no mention of any of this.

Furthermore Luther got the protection of the King of Saxony and was kept out of reach of the Papal agents and Police. Unable to shut him up, the Pope saw him as a dangerous enemy undermining his authority. The influence of Martin Luther extended all over Europe and the Reformation movement had real traction, Catholic churches were converted into new Protestant churches in many Kingdoms.

Luther rejected the worship of Saints and its calendar, the marketing and selling of Holy relics, he also challenged the Marian cult which had taken a great deal of importance in the Catholic Church.

Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus, by Gerard David 1490.

As a reply the Papacy called the Council of Trent to reclaim its authority and rebuke the Reformation.
In so doing it ordered that all religious art, there really was not much secular art anyway, should follow new guidelines in the representation of the Divine. Per example the Virgin Mary as Mother of Christ could no longer be represented as an ordinary mother with her child, breastfeeding images were common in the early part of the Renaissance. The Council of Trent gave her a new role, that of Queen of Heaven and images now had to present her in a regal role. Christ had also been represented naked on the cross, this could no longer do. Popes thought that it was a too humanist approach, so painting and sculptures where altered accordingly.

Christ by Michelangelo, original version intact of 1522 made for Metello Vari and now in the church of San Vincenzo Martire in Bassano Romano near the town of Viterbo.

 A very young Michelangelo created this Christ in 1492 for the Church of Santo-Spirito in Florence.

However it was acceptable to mix pagan gods with Christian images in frescos because it presented an artistic continuity from antiquity to today. Since the Catholic Church claimed direct link with Imperial Rome this made sense. Apostles who were all Jewish would now be depicted dressed as Roman Senators, this also goes for Moses or all other Prophets of the Old Testament, thus transforming them into Roman-Christians. Since the population was still largely illiterate and the story was told from the pulpit no one questioned what they were told.