LTDM80J Episode 01:
London to Brindisi (Via Paris, Mont Cenis, Turin)
Inspired by the novel of Jules Verne "Around the world in 80 days" we will listen music from every station of the heroes route, following their journey. But how and why did this journey begin?
Certainly Phileas Fogg did not travel around the world to conquer it. Nor did he express any desire to discover it. After accepting a wager, he travelled around the world, just to return back home as quickly as possible. Jules Verne, going through some difficult times both financially and personally, but at the same time inspired by the technological innovations of the time, shakes up the repetitive and predictable daily life of his hero. But what had he really gained by this long journey?
Certainly Phileas Fogg did not travel around the world to conquer it. Nor did he express any desire to discover it. After accepting a wager, he travelled around the world, just to return back home as quickly as possible. Jules Verne, going through some difficult times both financially and personally, but at the same time inspired by the technological innovations of the time, shakes up the repetitive and predictable daily life of his hero. But what had he really gained by this long journey?
— “Had he travelled? It was likely, for no one seemed to know the world more familiarly.”
“He must have travelled every where, at least in the spirit.”
“It was at least certain that Phileas Fogg had not absented himself from London for many years. Those who were honored by a better acquaintance with him than the rest, declared that nobody could pretend to have ever seen him anywhere else.”
“He lived alone in his house on Saville Row, whither none penetrated.”
“At 8.45 the whistle screamed, and the train slowly glided out of the station.”
“The night was dark, and a fine, steady rain was falling. Phileas Fogg, snugly ensconced in his corner, did not open his lips.”
— “Reached Paris, Thursday, October 3rd, at 7.20 A.M.”
“He must have travelled every where, at least in the spirit.”
“It was at least certain that Phileas Fogg had not absented himself from London for many years. Those who were honored by a better acquaintance with him than the rest, declared that nobody could pretend to have ever seen him anywhere else.”
“He lived alone in his house on Saville Row, whither none penetrated.”
“At 8.45 the whistle screamed, and the train slowly glided out of the station.”
“The night was dark, and a fine, steady rain was falling. Phileas Fogg, snugly ensconced in his corner, did not open his lips.”
— “Reached Paris, Thursday, October 3rd, at 7.20 A.M.”
Embarking from London, we listened to Brian and Roger Eno, as well as the first recording of the sound of Big Ben. Continuing in France, excerpts from two operas that premiered in 1872 in Paris, the same year that the story takes place and the book was published. “La princesse jaune” by Saint Saens and “Djamileh” by Bizet. 14 years earlier, in 1958, Jules Verne travelled for the first time outside of France, to Scotland, with his friend, the composer Aristide Hignard. Jules Verne wrote several librettos for the compositions of Hignard, like the “Le Tankader”
— “Left Paris, Thursday at 8.40 A.M.”
Crossing the Alps by train, via the tunnel of Mont Cenis, the first mountain railway in the world that opened in 1871, the heroes arrive at the industrial Turin.
— “Reached Turin by Mont Cenis, Friday October 5th, at 6.35 A.M.”
— “Left Turin, Friday at 7.20 A.M.”
— “Arrived at Brindisi, Saturday, October 5th, at 4 P.M.”
— “Left Paris, Thursday at 8.40 A.M.”
Crossing the Alps by train, via the tunnel of Mont Cenis, the first mountain railway in the world that opened in 1871, the heroes arrive at the industrial Turin.
— “Reached Turin by Mont Cenis, Friday October 5th, at 6.35 A.M.”
— “Left Turin, Friday at 7.20 A.M.”
— “Arrived at Brindisi, Saturday, October 5th, at 4 P.M.”
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