Lmst

To make a very long story short, I am forty-one and became interested in opera in February of this year. I had been listening to operetta for several years by this point, with special attention to the works of Ivor Novello and Franz Lehar, always preferring original cast recordings, or at least older ones, when possible. Even now, all of the opera singers I like were born prior to 1923. I am interested in learning how to sing for pleasure, and possibly for performance, though not in full operas, as I am totally blind and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. I would most likely be singing Neapolitan songs, Italian art songs, a few English parlour songs, and some arias that I enjoy. I am untrained and my voice type has not yet been designated. However, , this is a post that I made reguarding my own discoveries about my vocal range. To summarise, I am a woman, but I feel most comfortable singing in the tenor range and would prefer to stay there. I don't like how high composers force contraltos to sing.

reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1k…

I adore the tenore di grazia voice type and also enjoy lyric tenors. My favourite singer is Tito Schipa, and I wish to learn what he taught, or at least, what he learned. I have the ten exercises that he recorded, including short narrations for each. I wrote about them here, with a transcription of the Italian and an English translation. This way, you will know the school of thought that I am attempting to follow. The one thing I cannot find is the booklet that came with said exercises, which offers more guidance than the record.

reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1k…

Since Schipa left little behind, I began researching his teacher, Alceste Gerunda. It is true that he technically started with Giovanni Albani, but hardly anything is written about him at all in Schipa's biography, and it seems that Gerunda was the one who gave him all of the exercises in any case.

reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1k…

I learned that Gerunda was born in 1847, and that his teacher was Saverio Mercadante. Neither left books, exercises, or published notes. But I found the school where Gerunda taught prior to opening a private one in his home. It has since become a library. They have two books on him that I want and that may shed light on some of his teaching practices. These are "ALCESTE GERUNDA E LA SCUOLA LECCESE DI CANTO" by Silvia Mandurino (ITES 1969) and "IN MEMORIA DEL MAESTRO ALCESTE GERUNDA NE L'AVVIVERSARIO PRIMO DE LA SUA MORTE" by Giulia) Lucrezi (Palumbo.

biblioteche.regione.puglia.it/…

Perhaps, there are anecdotes within them that can help me. They may also have the books that he used to teach, assuming he used any. I have written to them asking if they could assist me, but haven't yet received a response.

In the meantime, I am trying to find information about the pedigogs of his time, so that I can at least learn the ideas and methods that he may have passed down to Schipa. But, of course, there were as many schools of thought as there were teachers. To make matters worse, Gerunda and Schipa themselves appeared to differ in their teaching style. While the former would tell the latter when he made mistakes in exercises, Schipa seemed to just give them and play the piano without giving much commentary. Ironically, Mercadante is said to have taught like that. From what I understand, if I did follow the regular bel canto style, I would need to work on notes, then scales and arpegios, then ornamentation, then songs/arias, all of this taking many years. It seems that Schipa didn't work on breath control, individual notes, tone, tamber, and so on with his students but went straight to vowels and scales. I don't know if this is from his own teacher or if it was his personal philosophy. I have definitely heard of the breath-first and larynx-first schools of thought, so it could stem from there.

People keep saying that i need to see a teacher, but most charge $100 or more per lesson, and at that rate, I can't afford more than two lessons per month. Plus, I want to find someone who knows the old ways, not modern ideas and terminology that I will need to unlearn. As it is, I am already studying harmony from "Harmony its theory and practice" by Ebenezer Prout, and Italian from "An Italian conversation grammar" by N Perini. It's just voice that is giving me a problem.

#AlcesteGerunda #BelCanto #Italy #Lecce #MusicTheory #NineteenthCentury #opera #SaverioMercadante #singing #TitoSchipa #VocalPedigogy

To make a very long story short, I am forty-one and became interested in opera in February of this year. I had been listening to operetta for several years by this point, with special attention to the works of Ivor Novello and Franz Lehar, always preferring original cast recordings, or at least older ones, when possible. Even now, all of the opera singers I like were born prior to 1923. I am interested in learning how to sing for pleasure, and possibly for performance, though not in full operas, as I am totally blind and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. I would most likely be singing Neapolitan songs, Italian art songs, a few English parlour songs, and some arias that I enjoy. I am untrained and my voice type has not yet been designated. However, , this is a post that I made reguarding my own discoveries about my vocal range. To summarise, I am a woman, but I feel most comfortable singing in the tenor range and would prefer to stay there. I don't like how high composers force contraltos to sing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1kic6cl/vocal_range/

I adore the tenore di grazia voice type and also enjoy lyric tenors. My favourite singer is Tito Schipa, and I wish to learn what he taught, or at least, what he learned. I have the ten exercises that he recorded, including short narrations for each. I wrote about them here, with a transcription of the Italian and an English translation. This way, you will know the school of thought that I am attempting to follow. The one thing I cannot find is the booklet that came with said exercises, which offers more guidance than the record.

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1ku0n6g/schipas_exercises_with_translated_explanations/

Since Schipa left little behind, I began researching his teacher, Alceste Gerunda. It is true that he technically started with Giovanni Albani, but hardly anything is written about him at all in Schipa's biography, and it seems that Gerunda was the one who gave him all of the exercises in any case.

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1ki4vkz/emilio_piccoli_frank_valentino_alceste_gerunda_etc/

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1kzobyv/making_progress_on_researching_teaching_method/

I learned that Gerunda was born in 1847, and that his teacher was Saverio Mercadante. Neither left books, exercises, or published notes. But I found the school where Gerunda taught prior to opening a private one in his home. It has since become a library. They have two books on him that I want and that may shed light on some of his teaching practices. These are "ALCESTE GERUNDA E LA SCUOLA LECCESE DI CANTO" by Silvia Mandurino (ITES 1969) and "IN MEMORIA DEL MAESTRO ALCESTE GERUNDA NE L'AVVIVERSARIO PRIMO DE LA SUA MORTE" by Giulia) Lucrezi (Palumbo.

https://biblioteche.regione.puglia.it/SebinaOpac/query/alceste%20gerunda?context=catalogo

Perhaps, there are anecdotes within them that can help me. They may also have the books that he used to teach, assuming he used any. I have written to them asking if they could assist me, but haven't yet received a response.

In the meantime, I am trying to find information about the pedigogs of his time, so that I can at least learn the ideas and methods that he may have passed down to Schipa. But, of course, there were as many schools of thought as there were teachers. To make matters worse, Gerunda and Schipa themselves appeared to differ in their teaching style. While the former would tell the latter when he made mistakes in exercises, Schipa seemed to just give them and play the piano without giving much commentary. Ironically, Mercadante is said to have taught like that. From what I understand, if I did follow the regular bel canto style, I would need to work on notes, then scales and arpegios, then ornamentation, then songs/arias, all of this taking many years. It seems that Schipa didn't work on breath control, individual notes, tone, tamber, and so on with his students but went straight to vowels and scales. I don't know if this is from his own teacher or if it was his personal philosophy. I have definitely heard of the breath-first and larynx-first schools of thought, so it could stem from there.

People keep saying that i need to see a teacher, but most charge $100 or more per lesson, and at that rate, I can't afford more than two lessons per month. Plus, I want to find someone who knows the old ways, not modern ideas and terminology that I will need to unlearn. As it is, I am already studying harmony from "Harmony its theory and practice" by Ebenezer Prout, and Italian from "An Italian conversation grammar" by N Perini. It's just voice that is giving me a problem.

#AlcesteGerunda #BelCanto #Italy #Lecce #MusicTheory #NineteenthCentury #opera #SaverioMercadante #singing #TitoSchipa #VocalPedigogy

Joyously in the #Archives today. In #Devon Heritage Hub to explore the #NineteenthCentury records of Tiverton #Sewage #Farm. #EnvHist #History (transcriptions in image Alt-text)

Black cloth book cover with cream label with fancy hand-written title ‘Sewage Farm’.

Sample of handwritten text. Reads ‘Broom asks for tool for drilling in with Mangold seed & the same was ordered.’

Presentation for #AWWE2025 this weekend is go.
This has got to be the closest I've ever finished putting together my paper and presentation ahead of a conference.

#WelshWritingInEnglish #RomanticFiction #NineteenthCentury #Literature #Wales #Tasmania

Presentation title slide. To the left: 'Excavating Bryntirion: Autobiographical elements in the writing of Thomas Richards', Rita Singer, Independent Researcher.

To the right, an early C19 engraving showing the Mawddach snaking its way through the valley. In the background mountains rise steeply from the floodplane. In the foreground peasants on a road winding its way past a small rural church.

#May is the month to sow your Mangel Wurtzels. I just have. Have you? #Autumn monsters to come. This variety is the classic Long Red Mammoth beloved of #NineteenthCentury #Sewage farmers. #Gardening #Roots #Vegetables

Overhead view of a seed tray with seed compost against a brick and weed background. Photo taken on the diagonal.

Happy Birthday Darius Wells—born in Kingsboro, Fulton County, New York, on this day April 26, 1800.
…………
Wells was the inventor of the routing machine — a lateral revolving cutting tool — which he used to produce the first machine cut wood types in the United States. His first workshop was at 161 Broadway (behind George Long’s book store). He published the first wood type specimen catalog in 1828. The company became D. Wells & Co in 1835, then Wells & Webb when he partnered with E.R. Webb in 1839. Wells retired from wood type manufacturing in 1856.

Wells was also an active abolitionist, and helped run a “station” on the underground railroad in Patterson, NJ helping enslaved humans make their way north to Canada to live as free human beings. Mr. Wells served as Postmaster of Paterson 1861–1874 appointed by Abraham Lincoln.
…………
Image is from _Specimen of Plain and Ornamental Wood Type, cut by machinery_ held in the ATF Library Collection at @columbia_rbml.
…………
#WoodType #router #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #OnThisDay #birthday #bibliography #archives #ArchivesOfInstagram #libraries #collections #excelsior

Type specimen showing HOE set in 24-line Gothic Condensed Back-slope, from 1840 Wells & Webb catalog in the ATF Library Collection, Columbia University Library.

Black and white portrait of Darius Wells, with pronounced halftone dot.

Type specimen showing Italian and Gothis Italian, from 1840 Wells & Webb catalog in the ATF Library Collection, Columbia University Library.

The Columbian Orator Taught Nineteenth-Century Americans How to Speak

https://www.neh.gov/article/columbian-orator-taught-nineteenth-century-americans-how-speak

#HackerNews #ColumbianOrator #NineteenthCentury #Speaking #Skills #AmericanHistory #PublicSpeaking #Communication

Happy Birthday Horatio Nelson Bill—born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on this day March 25, 1824.
——————
Horatio worked as a sign painter before he (and brother Jeremiah) cut wood type for Edwin Allen in Windham, Connecticut. The brothers formed their own wood type company, H & J Bill, in 1850 based in Lebanon. They moved the company six miles north to Willimantic in 1851. The company was known as Bill, Stark & Co 1853–1854. In late 1854 the company was shuttered and subsequently sold to William H. Page in 1856. Horatio was listed as Type Maker on his 1863 draft registration and listed variously as a sign painter, house painter, and fine arts painter in the 1870s and 1880s.
———
Image is of Tuscan Open as shown in the 1853 _Specimens of Machinery Cut Wood Type, Manufactured by Bill, Stark & Company, Willimantic, Connecticut._ (held in the ATF Library Collection at Columbia University, Rare Books & Manuscripts.
——
—
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #OnThisDay #birthday #bibliography #archives #libraries #collections

Ornate letter “F”, black ink on cream paper.

Ornate letter “I”, and “R”, black ink on cream paper.

Ornate letter “E” and exclamation point, black ink on cream paper.

Full page of type specimen catalog spelling ouy “Hartford” “LUSTER” and “FIRE!” in ornate type forms. Specimen Catalog held in the ATF Library Collection at Columbia University, Rare Books & Manuscripts.

Happy Birthday William Hamilton Page—born in Tilton, New Hampshire, March 14, 1829. Page lived nearly 40 years of his adult life in Norwich, Conn as a wood type manufacturer. Images shown here from 1878 specimen catalog, slightly repurposed from specimen catalog from 1867. Engraving likely created by Charles Tubbs. More text & images about Page’s life and work at www.woodtyperesearch.com/william-hamilton-page/
—————————————
Image of the engraved title page from _Specimens of Wood Type, Manufactured by Wm. H. Page Wood Type Co., Norwich, Conn._ (1878); held in the ATF Library Collection at Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Columbia University.

Image of the engraved title page from _Specimens of Wood Type, Borders, Rules, &c., Manufactured by Wm. H. Page & Co., Greenville, Conn._ (1867); held in the Kemble Collection, California Historical Society (currently being transferred to Stanford Special Collections)
——————————————
#WoodType #TypeSpecimen #TypeDesign #letterforms #typography #letterpress #type #design #GraphicDesign #NineteenthCentury #OnThisDay #birthday #bibliography #archives #libraries #collections #excelsior

Image of the black engraved title on light brown page from _Specimens of Wood Type, Manufactured by Wm. H. Page Wood Type Co., Norwich, Conn._ (1878); held in the ATF Library Collection at Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, Columbia University.

Interior of 1878 catalog showing three decorative wood type specimens, printed black ink on cream paper. Spelling out “cone” “mend” “Rome”.

Image of the multicolored engraved title page from _Specimens of Wood Type, Borders, Rules, &c., Manufactured by Wm. H. Page & Co., Greenville, Conn._ (1867); held in the Kemble Collection, California Historical Society (currently being transferred to Stanford Special Collections)

FWIW, this was the original image.

#photography #EastCoastKin #lowkey #GeneseeCountry Village #NineteenthCentury #19thCentury #LivingHistory #museum

Here's another low key experiment from Genesee Country Village, also where my photo of the spinner was taken. Always liked this shot and enjoyed taking some time to tweak it.

#photography #EastCoastKin #lowkey #GeneseeCountry Village #NineteenthCentury #19thCentury #LivingHistory #museum

A rough table loaded with preverves, in front of a stone hearth. Light is coming from an open door on the left and a small window in the right. The right side of the image is mostly in shadow.

#photography #EastCoastKin #monochrome #lowkey
#GeneseeCountryVillage #19thcentury #nineteenthcentury #SpinningWheel

Another a low key image, this time in color. The key seems to be a really steep curve in the highs to soften bright areas and darkening the shadows to taste.

#photography #EastCoastKin #monochrome #lowkey
#GeneseeCountryVillage #19thcentury #nineteenthcentury #MusicRoom

Another a low key image, shot dark. I boosted the shadows slightly on the tabletop to bring out the violin.

#photography #EastCoastKin #monochrome #lowkey
#GeneseeCountryVillage #19thcentury #nineteenthcentury #parlor

Trying a low key image, which works especially well in B&W. I'd shot this dark to preserve the details in the lace curtains, and it needed only small adjustments to the tone.

#CallForPapers: 2025 Conference of The Incredible #NineteenthCentury: #ScienceFiction, #Fantasy, and #Fairytale

This #OnlineConference is free to attend. #CFP #SFF #SpeculativeFiction #OnlineEvent

https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/23/2025-conference-of-the-incredible-nineteenth-century-science-fiction-fantasy-and

Almshouses, Winchcombe, #Gloucestershire. Today gorgeous blue skies and #sun on the glorious
honey-coloured #Cotswolds limestone. #NineteenthCentury #Charity. The #DoubleExposure is a fine ball finial on the bridge over the Beesmoor Brook on the Sudeley Castle estate just outside town.

A row of terraced cottages on left, with shared double door porches with triangular gables. Dormer windows and chimneys. Path in front and gardens to right. Textured with lichen covered limestone ball finial.

Amazing crowdsourcing project by Richard Ardagh @richardardagh documenting the phenominal Type Archive in London. Stunning, handsome, pretty, luxe, erudite…pick your adjectives! Typographers, historians, siblings-in-ink check it out, and definitely consider supporting the project so it can make it’s way into the world.

https://vol.co/collections/type-archived
______

#typography #letterpress #letterforms #archives #libraries #collections #bibliography #history #design #NineteenthCentury #19thCentury

I'm in awe right now, but I need some advice. For several years, I've been seeking the book that Beau Brummell used to learn Latin. I know it was Introduction to the Latin Tongue for the use of Youth. There were many different editions, including The famous, but later, Eton Latin Grammar. He attended Eton from 1786 to 1794. I have a digital copy of one published in 1795, wich fits the timeframe perfectly, but it's a mess when trying to read the "full text" with NVDA (my screen reader) or to convert the pdf to text. Likewise, I have one from about 1824-5 that is a reprint of 1795, and though it's a bit clearer, it's still full of errors. The hard copy reprints I've found are all pictures of the originals, not cleanly retyped. Just now, I found an original 1824 edition, and it's in clean condition! I'm quite afraid, because I am totally blind, and in order to read it, I must hold it and turn the pages so that my software can scan it! I can either use my ArX Vision, which I wear on my head, or my Pearl Document Scanning Camera with Openbook. Either way, I would be touching a book that's 200 years old! However, no one seems to have a modern copy that is retyped. All are just pictures of old editions, and when I try to convert the pdfs to txt, or to read the pre-made html versions (all at the Internet Archive), they are full of errors! This would be fine in English, but I'm using the book to learn Latin!

abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetai…

As a side note, here is my post in which I explain my search for a Latin tutor. I have not yet found one. If you think you can help me, please read said post before simply writing that you are a tutor. I am not using modern methods or pronunciation.

dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/768…

Finally, this is the syllabus for the pre-1868 Eton College curriculum that I created after a lot of research. It includes links to the books I plan to use, as well as extras.

dandylover1.dreamwidth.org/994…

#BeauBrummell #books #Brummell #classicaleducation #education #Eton #EtonCollege #Language #Latin #Learning #nineteenthcentury #syllabus #TraditionalEnglishPronunciation #teacher #tutor