The Century That Made Us - a new season focusing on the 18th Century for 91Èȱ¬ FOUR
Programmes C-H
Please note: some programme titles may change closer to transmission.
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Castrato
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Castrati were the undisputed superstars of 18th century musical culture, driving crowds across Europe into literal frenzies with their intoxicatingly androgynous virtuoso voices.
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The mythical status of these "third sex" singers to the 18th
century world, their ascension from church pew to operatic stage, and their
sudden fall from grace at the turn of the century, make up music's great
untold story.
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Working with medical, vocal and acoustic experts, Nicholas Clapton, countertenor and castrato historian, analyses the anatomical mysteries of the castrato and the biological implications of castration.
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Clapton travels to Bologna, Italy's northern centre of castrato
singing - and the adopted home town of Farinelli, perhaps the most famous
castrato. Here he visits one of Europe's very few surviving 18th-century
opera houses, the Teatro Comunale, to hear the church music of Nicolo Porpora
- the greatest castrato teacher of the time and tutor to Farinelli.
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Clapton
explores the Farinelli collection in the state archives and visits
Farinelli's newly rediscovered grave, where he learns that the city plans
to open the grave later this spring.
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For first time in Britain the American male soprano, Michael Maniaci - a young Baroque opera singer whose voice uniquely and remarkably did not break at puberty - performs one of Mozart's best loved pieces of church music, Exultate jubilate, originally written for the castrato Rauzzini.
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Professor David Howard guides viewers through the science
of human singing, and the nature of these different voice types. With Nicholas
Clapton, Howard devises an experiment to recreate the sound of the 18th-century
operatic castrato.
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After discussing and rejecting various options (including
asking a tenor to sing in full chest voice after inhaling helium),
David proposes a synthesis whereby sophisticated audio technology will
allow him to 'place' an adult male's vocal tract on top of a boy's vocal
chords (or 'folds').
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The repertoire selected for this synthesis is Handel's
famous Largo, the aria Ombra mai fu from his opera Xerxes.
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Source recordings for this experiment are made in the anechoic room at York University, using choristers from York Minster and a young tenor with an extremely high range, Darren Abrahams.
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The film will conclude with a full musical presentation of
this synthesised sound.
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Producer: Francesca Kemp
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LS
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Gilbert White: The Nature Man
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Gilbert White is, by common consent, the founding father of the modern ecology
movement and the literature of nature; the spiritual father of every naturalist
from the 18th century to the modern day.
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In this programme Michael Wood tells
the story of one of the most remarkable and influential men of the 18th century.
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White was an English country vicar who wrote one of the all-time
British best sellers. His book The Natural History of Selborne (1788) is
the deceptively simple account of the comings and goings of wildlife through
the seasons in an 18th century Hampshire parish.
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Unlikely as it may
seem, until the advent of Harry Potter, it was the fourth most published
book in English and was likened by Virginia Woolf to an epic novel, -"only
with a vast cast of characters drawn from many species!"
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Exploring White's world Michael Wood travels to Industrial
Revolution Manchester, to Scientific Revolution Birmingham, and to the
halls of the Royal Society in London, to trace unseen documents and letters,
and to untangle White's extraordinary and poignant life story.
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Back in
Selborne White's incredibly vivid nature diaries inspire a quest in the
English countryside with naturalist and White biographer Richard Mabey.
"If White were alive today," says Mabey, "he'd be making TV wildlife films!"
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A bachelor thwarted in love, blocked in his chosen career,
White saw himself as a failure, marooned in a backwater. But it was this
chance which gave him the time to develop a new way of observing nature.
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White was a product of the 18th century Enlightenment, who
saw the Industrial Revolution on his horizon and global warming just over
it (White's 30 years of temperature observations have now been fed
into the data base of the Climate Research Institute at Bracknell).
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His
story is the tale of an 18th century pioneer who changed the way
we see the world.
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Producer: Rebecca Dobbs, Mayavision
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JA4/EF
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Hannah Glasse: The First Domestic Goddess
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A prolific businesswoman, mother of nine and author of perhaps the most celebrated cookery book ever written - The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy - Hannah Glasse was at the forefront of an 18th century culinary revolution.
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Presented by Clarissa Dickson-Wright, this programme offers a fascinating portrait of the women who made a key contribution to modern food.
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Using her detailed and beautifully laid out cookery books,
Clarissa will cook up a feast of flavours and colours, weaving together
the threads of 18th century life both in and out of the kitchen.
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From puddings boiled in the guts of slaughtered animals to West Indian turtle soup, this film will use the life of Hannah Glasse and the recipes of her famous cookbook to weave together the many threads of 18th century life.
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Utilising indomitable one-fat-lady and Glasse enthusiast
Clarissa Dickson-Wright's passion for 18th century cooking, it will paint
a fascinating portrait of a businesswoman who made a key contribution to
the creation of modern food.
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It was through financial necessity rather than an obsession with the culinary arts that Hannah decided to try her luck in the already overcrowded cookery book market.
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Her ever-growing family needed money to support it and John
Glasse had proven largely inept when it came to financial matters. In such
progressive times there was no reason why she couldn't be the one to bring
home the bacon.
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The Art of Cookery was published in 1747 and became a runaway
success. Equally popular with ladies of the house and domestic cooks
and servants, it would be reprinted in no less than 26 editions
and is still available today.
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Following the success of The Art of Cookery, Glasse decided to invest in further commercial ventures. Most notable was a fine clothes shop on Tavistock Street in Covent Garden, London. It was a huge gamble, and one that unfortunately for Hannah didn't pay off.
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Her failure outstripped her successes and she was declared
bankrupt in 1754, and forced to sell her only real asset: the copyright
for The Art of Cookery.
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Producer: Pat Llewelyn, Optomen Television
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EF/JA4
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The Harlot's Handbook
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Miss Cross, Bridges Street -
"A smart little black gipsy with a very endearing symmetry
of parts; has an odd way of wiggling herself about, and can communicate the most
exquisite sensations when she is well paid" (1764)
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Picture the predicament of many a Georgian gentleman at the end of a merry evening. He is drunk, in town and unsure where to locate a suitable strumpet to fulfil his particular carnal desires.
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But fortune has it that lurking in his pocket is the answer
to his quandary - Harris' list - a directory detailing the appearance,
place, sexual skills and prices of all the whores of London.
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This list was born from an unchaste and profitable alliance between John Harrison, a waiter-pimp, Samuel Derrick, a bankrupt poet, and Charlotte Ward, a Venus born in a brothel.
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Together they pooled local knowledge, tongue-in-cheek lyricism
and business acumen to create this 18th century bestseller, selling
an estimated 250,000 copies.
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The women listed were prostitutes of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds, from prepubescent orphans, aspiring actresses and seduced servants to the wives and daughters of clergymen and lawyers.
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Historian and writer Hallie Rubenhold unearths some of the stories behind the list and the tales of the prostitutes and their lovers.
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Through the story of the book we reveal the extraordinary
lives of these forgotten women and shine a light on a steamy underworld
of sex, scandal, class and money they inhabited.
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Producer: Helen Nixon
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EF/JA4
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How to be 18th Century
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Drawing on footage from across the decades, How to be 18th Century is the definitive guide, and some might say good old romp, through this uneven and sometimes really quite dangerous landscape.
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Whether it be the elegant work as witnessed by productions such as Aristocrats, Clarissa and Casanova, through various other favourites including Tom Jones, Poldark and Prince Regent, How to be 18th Century leaves no stone unturned (and no wig unpowdered) in its pursuit of period perfection.
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Set to a mix of both contemporary and period music and divided into numerous categories, How to be 18th Century is a must for anyone with real aspirations towards historic detail.
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Never again will one have to ask about the placement of that
all important beauty spot; or question just how to issue an insult or challenge
an adversary in polite society; and come to think of it, just how high
should one's bosom heave? All answers lie here.
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Producer: Caroline Wright
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JA4/EF
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