tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post1696661975791647177..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: EsterházianaDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-767555441797053012017-03-02T13:17:47.886+00:002017-03-02T13:17:47.886+00:00Good point. Looks more like a barracks than an adm...Good point. Looks more like a barracks than an administrative HQ in my opinion. I wish we'd had more time to explore the environs. Much admired the recreation of the 'Liszt Room' in the excellent regional museum, though. Not much to see in Haydn's house, but they had made an effort with a good exhibition, which is the most one can expect of most such house-museums.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-4750637628147090062017-03-02T13:05:48.245+00:002017-03-02T13:05:48.245+00:00It should be kept in mind that the Hauptsitzen of ...It should be kept in mind that the Hauptsitzen of some of these vast estates not only look like government offices but WERE government offices, as the family and great teams of executives and servants looked after the properties which were enormous and larger than many countries. The Potocki Palace in Poland is another example. Often the people living in these territories would say that they were people of the great family, rather than people of Poland or Hungary etc.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-82794004041219766792017-03-02T11:41:40.246+00:002017-03-02T11:41:40.246+00:00Well, as internet dating tells us, there is always...Well, as internet dating tells us, there is always a market for plump, deracine gentlemen...something for everyone. There is, or was, a London choir called the Esterhazy Singers. With typical choral wit (not), one of their members always called them the 'extra hazy singers'. Quinquin looks a bit like that in the portrait.<br /><br />Eisenstadt is interesting, but the palace is surprisingly ugly (IMO). We didn't have long enough there for a tour of the interior (or rather we could have done, but opted for white asparagus at an excellent lunch across the square).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-19368135732200321552017-03-02T11:33:57.451+00:002017-03-02T11:33:57.451+00:00I think that you are very unfair to Quinquin Esteh...I think that you are very unfair to Quinquin Estehazy in saying that in the picture he had passed his dapper bed hopping prime......well, dapperness may well have been left behind, but look at the expression in his eyes. Any woman in the room would know what he was thinking. Also the name Esterhazy would have been an attraction. <br /><br />The Esterhazy family were fortunate in that Eisenstadt was in Austria. They lost Esterhazy itself when the communists took over Hungary, but many in the family found such a remote palace inconvenient. And the last I heard was that the Palais Esterhazy in Vienna was a casino. David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-70190158136172079422017-03-02T08:29:35.549+00:002017-03-02T08:29:35.549+00:00You've hit the nail on the head there, Sue (an...You've hit the nail on the head there, Sue (and by the way, Celestial Harmonies goes into my top 10 alongside The Leopard). In a short Q&A at the back of the book, PE is asked about his favourite literary family sagas. He replies: 'The basis for all family books is [Thomas Mann's] Buddenbrooks. Still, my favourite is Lampedusa's The Leopard. In general, I wanted to make use of the energies of the family novel that -as far as I'm concerned - is still alive and well. There are no outdated genres'.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-8878166279633611622017-03-01T22:59:26.092+00:002017-03-01T22:59:26.092+00:00This reminds me so much of Don Fabrizio in The Leo...This reminds me so much of Don Fabrizio in The Leopard: "More importantly - or, if there's such a thing as tragedy, then more tragically - I have lost my solidarity with Hungarian society. Who is there to sympathise with? The dishonest bourgeoisie? The greedy and brutally selfish peasantry? The uneducated working class? As for my own class, there's no class any more, just a couple of individuals as far as I'm concerned." Your post is enticing not least because you'd mentioned it earlier, so I ordered and have just received it from interlibrary loan (a couple days ago). Now the trick is to set all else aside and settle down to it.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.com