1. The Impact of the French Revolution on Art
Neo Classism

3. Parnassus - Anton Raphael Mengs
This painting was a sketch for Mengs's fresco of 1761 in the central part of the ceiling of the Villa Albani in Rome, commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Albani. We see an excellent example of how Mengs overcame Baroque traditions and turned increasingly towards the norms of Neoclassical art. The whole painting is redolent with the influence of Raphael's frescoes on the same theme in the Vatican apartment in Rome. In the centre is Apollo, or Apollo Musagetes, the Sun God, patron of the arts and leader of the Muses, with his attributes of a lyre, a laurel wreath upon his head and one in his hand. Seated to his left is Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses, and the Muses Thalia , Calliope , Polhymnia and Terpsichore . To his right the Muses Clio , Erato , Euterpe , Melpomene and Urania . Each Muse is depicted with her relevant attributes. Clio bears the features of Mengs's wife Margarita, while Mnemosyne is a likeness of Vittorucchia, daughter of Countess Ceroffini.
Parnassus - Anton Raphael Mengs

4. Treaty of Penn with Indians - Benjamin West

6. Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne - Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

7. The Oath of the Horatii -Jacques Louis David

8. 1791
Angelica Kauffman - Self-Portrait Hesitating Between the Arts of Music ...

9. Maria Luisa of Parma - Anton Raphael Mengs

10. Voltaire - Jean-Antoine Houdon

11. The British Museum - Robert Smirke

12. Equestrian portrait of Marie Antoinette in hunting attire –
Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun

13. Three Little Faces - Rembrandt Peale

14. Beethoven FIDELIO Chorus of Prisoners Philarmonia Orchestra, London
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, which began in 1789, was a massive upheaval in human history. The people who led it wanted to create a new kind of human society. They wanted to get rid of the aristocracy, and make all citizens equal before the law. They also wanted to abolish Christianity, and the old system of days of the week and numbering years from the birth of Christ. Instead they called for a new ‘religion of the supreme being’, and a new system of public holidays.
The revolutionary leaders took music seriously – they realised it is a very useful tool for changing the way people think and feel. In 1795 a school was set up to train bands for the new army, the National Guard. A new law was passed forcing audiences to sing republican hymns in theatres before operas were performed. Composers were encouraged to write revolutionary songs – and between 1789 and 1800 more than 1300 were written.
The most famous of these was called Le Marseillaise, which is still the French national anthem.
The revolutionary leaders built huge new parade grounds in the major cities, and organised massive musical ceremonies with names like Festival of the Supreme Being. Composers like Mehul, Gossec and Lesueur wrote marches and huge choral cantatas for these occasions. They used massive orchestras of wind instruments, which were more suitable for outdoor use.
A typical example of French revolutionary music is Gossec’s Hymn for Thermidor. This and other momentous pieces had a big influence on the French romantic composer Berlioz. He used similar massive forces in his big public works, like the Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale.
The revolutionary leaders also encouraged a new kind of opera, which told stories of heroes resisting oppressors. They were called ‘rescue’ operas, and they had an impact on the work of Beethoven. His only opera, Fidelio, is effectively a rescue opera.
In this excerpt, where the hero Florestan is about to be shot by the evil prison governor, listen out for the trumpet – which somehow suggests that Florestan will be rescued.

15. Hector Berlioz ( )
1. Marche funebre (beginning)
John Alldis Choir the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus conducted by Sir Colin Davis