the USHER of St. Gervais
Art Neuendorffer
<<Claude Debussy was buried on 28 March, 1918 (the eve of Good Friday)
when shells from the German gun 'Big Bertha' fell
on the Church of Saint GERVAIS.>>
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Twenty Years After - Dumas
<<"You have not forgotten St. GERVAIS, Athos, and the NAPKIN
which was converted into a banner?" and he then related to
Raoul the story of the bastion, and Raoul fancied he was
listening to one of those deeds of arms belonging to days
of chivalry, so gloriously recounted by Tasso and Ariosto.>>
<<"Yes," replied D'Artagnan, "let us still be musketeers, and
let us retain as our battle-standard that famous NAPKIN of
the bastion St. GERVAIS, on which the great cardinal
had three fleurs-de-lis embroidered.">>
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1851 MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE by Herman Melville
ETYMOLOGY
(Supplied by a Late Consumptive USHER to a Grammar School)
The pale USHER- threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see
him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with
a QUEER HANDKERCHIEF, mockingly embellished with all the
gay flags of all the known nations of the world. He loved to dust his
old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality.
"While you take in hand to school others, and to teach them by
what name a whale-fish is to be called in our tongue leaving out,
through ignorance, the letter H, which almost alone maketh the
signification of the word, you deliver that which is NOT TRUE."
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http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/metis.htm
<<The Prieure du Notre Dame du Sion, or Priory of Zion,
brought itself to light in 1956 under the subtitle
"Chivalry of Catholic Rules and Institutions of the Independent and
Traditionalist Union," which in French abbreviates to CIRCUIT -
- the name of the magazine distributed internally among members.
"Nautonnier" or Grand Master of the Order being, till 1963, Jean
Cocteau. While it is believed the head has been Pierre Plantard de
St.-Clair up until recent times, he claims to have left that post in
1984, so it is not clear who runs the organization at this time. But
whoever he is, he has had illustrious predecessors: Jacques DeMolay,
Leonardo de Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Claude Debussy, among others!>>
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the 'Debussy Chronology'
http://www.geocities.com/stephenvincent/debussychrono.htm
1886 Reads BAUDELAIRE, SHELLEY, & SHAKESPEARE.
Accepts order to write music for Vaucairc's adaptation of As You Like It.
1887 Reads MAETERLINCK's La Princesse Maleine.
Begins a symphony on POE's Fall of the House of USHER.
1916 1st performance of NoEl des enfants given, 9 April.
Final version of libretto of La Chute de la Maison USHER completed
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BAUDELAIRE born: Monday 9 April, 1821
Francois Rabelais dies: Sunday 9 April, 1553
ByrON mortally sick from rain: Sunday 9 April, 1826
BacON dies of being in snow: EASTER Sunday 9 April, 1626
Dante Gabriel Rossetti dies: EASTER Sunday 9 April, 1882
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Lee surrenders to Grant: PALM Sunday 9 April, 1865
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_POE & BAUDELAIRE: A Vast Ocean Apart_ by Amy Jo Roy
http://www.usna.edu/EnglishDept/poeperplex/baudp.htm
<<The relationship that Edgar Allan Poe & Charles Pierre Baudelaire
have is definitely one of interest due to its peculiar nature.>>
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WILLOW = VINCI = ORPHEUS = USHER
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_Secrets of E.A.Poe, DeChirico, apples, redemption, etc_
http://www.unverse.com/id-books-1582430357
<<Originally read as a lecture at the University of Toronto back in
1982, this book is a rich tapestry depicting the strange, wonderful,
recondite, unexpected weaving of literature and the time-honored
symbolism within the tradition of still-life paintings:
1) Apple and pear as the Fall and the Redemption, respectively;
4) Poe's "The Fall of the House of USHER" and its connection
to the underworld by way of ORPHEUS, whose name means
'WILLOW' as does the old french 'ussier', thus 'USHER';>>
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QUEEN GERTRUDE There is a WILLOW grows aslant a BROOK,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic GARLANDS did she come
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
CLAMBRING TO HANG, AN ENVIOUS SLIVER BROKE
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The History of Harps
http://www.harps.com/history_expanded.html
<<Legend has it that the Jews refused to play the harp
when they were exiled in Babylon. Instead the Harp of David
was hung upon the WILLOW trees. The harp of the Temple was
forever silenced and disappeared. Ancient Talmudic prophesy
says that harps will USHER in the coming of the Messiah.
The classic Greek lyre harps were called "Kithara"
which was a term used for describing all kinds of harps
and lyres. The modern word "guitar" came from the word Kithara.
According to Greek mythology, HERMES created the harp lyre from the
body of a large tortoise shell, which he covered with animal hide; antelope
horns formed the posts. So beautiful was the tone that he presented the
instrument as an offering to the God Apollo. The lyre harp became
regarded as the instrument of Apollo, the god of music and harmony.
Lyres came to be associated with the higher Apollonian virtues of
wisdom, serenity, clarity, moderation and communication. In contrast,
the music of the Dionysians was performed on raucous reed instruments
with wild abandon. Greek mythology portrays ORPHEUS, the divine harp
lyre player, who charmed the Lord of the Underworld Pluto in order to
bring back his wife from the dead. Orpeus played this lyre harp to
inspire Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece.
It was ORPHEUS' melodies that blocked out the brainwashing
sirens intent on inciting listeners to their destruction.>>
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[Coriolanus (Folio) 2.1]
Volum. These are the VSHERS of Martius:
Before him, hee carryes Noyse;
And behinde him, hee leaues Teares:
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USHER, n. [OE. ussher, uschere, OF. ussier, uisser, oissier, hussier,
huissier, fr. L. ostiarius a doorkeeper, fr. ostium a door, entrance,
fr. os mouth.] 1. An officer or servant who has the care of the door of
a court, hall, chamber, or the like; hence, an officer whose business
it is to introduce strangers, or to walk before a person of rank.
"The USHERs and the squires." --Chaucer.
"These are the USHERs of Marcius." --Shak.
2. An under teacher, or assistant master, in a school:
http://www.bb.com/looptestlive.cfm?bookid=533&startrow=1
<<Thomas Carlyle was born at Ecclefechan in the south of Scotland,
December 4, 1795. His father, a rigorous Calvinist belonging to the
seceding "Burgher Kirk," was a STONE-MASON, a man of stern & upright
character with a gift of fiery speech. Thomas began his education at
home, went next to the village school, thence to the grammar school
at Annan, and in 1809 walked to Edinburgh, a hundred miles away,
and entered the University with a view to preparing for the ministry.
He was appointed mathematical USHER at Annan. But he hated teaching:
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James USSHER (1581-1656), 'NE VILE VELIS'
Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
http://www.daveola.com/Pages/World_Birthday_Party/Ussher.html
<<Barr (1985) has noted that the belief that Herod died in 4 BC
was widely known after Scaliger's work appeared in 1583, that Bishop
USSHER's date for the creation in 4004 BC was calculated as exactly
4,000 years before that date, and that his chronology was printed
in Bibles after 1701.>>
<<[Archbishop James] USSHER worked within a substantial tradition of
research, a large community of intellectuals striving toward a common goal
under an accepted methodology. Today we rightly reject a cardinal premise
of that methodology - belief in biblical inerrancy. But what intellectual
phenomenon can be older, or more oft repeated, that the story of a large
research program that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
accepted by all practitioners?>> - Stephen Jay Gould
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"a play on the word VINCI, one meaning of which is WILLOW"
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http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/willow.html
<<Leonardo was responsible for the decoration of the ceiling and vault of
the Sala delle Asse (translation: 'room of the tower' or 'room of the wooden
boards') in Sforza's castle, Milan. He was presented with this room for his
own use; access being gained via a bridge & arcade he built over the moat.
Painted between 1495--1497, the fresco is made up of eighteen WILLOW trees,
two of which skillfully encircle two windows in the room . Where the boughs
meet towards the ceiling they intertwine, thought to be a symbol of the
marriage of Ludovico, Duke of Milan with BEATRICE d'Este. Emblazoned
throughout the branches is a fantastic golden rope made up of assorted
loops & knots. Appearing to be several ropes, if it is followed the viewer
discovers it is actually just the one cord which folds back on itself,
twisting and turning throughout the entire pattern. Gold rope was a
fashionable symbol of the day and appeared knotted on the clothing
of BEATRICE d'Este. Included in the work is the coat of arms of
the Sforza family (falcons & serpents) which is painted in
the very centre of the ceiling where the tree branches meet.
Much of the work on the 2,880 square foot canopy was carried out by
Leonardo's pupils, but he did the design and this is a play on the word
VINCI, one meaning of which is WILLOW. The search for any other
hidden significance among the designs still continues. The hall was
then used as a barracks and the paint deteriorated & flaked away.>>
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The Sidhé was a transcendent intellect, known to the Druids as the
Web of the Wise, while "druid" (druidhe) was itself a Celtic word
for "witch" - an English form of the Saxon verb wicca, meaning
"to bend" or "to yield" (as indeed do WILLOW and wicker).>>
-- Sir Laurence Gardner
Nexus Magazine, Volume 6, Number 5 (August-September 1999).
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Brigit as Triple Goddess, especially the Yellow-Green Enchantress
http://www.artesmagicae.com/TripleBrigit.htm
<<As patroness of cattle and fertility,
Brigit is clearly equated with Tara-Anna-Eithne, the Rorian
tradition's Abbess, Diviner, and healer of the springtime,
whose trees are WILLOW & furze,
whose animal is the cow or BULL,
and whose bird is the CRANE.>>
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Art Neuendorffer