 Musical SilhouettesbyBeryl Kenyon de Pascual
The term ‘silhouette’ is applied in a specific sense to a solid profile portrait cut out of black paper. It is extended to encompass painted or printed portraits producing the same effect. In order to achieve a good likeness the black silhouette reproduces the side view of the head, since the distinguishing features of an individual’s face—forehead, nose, mouth, etc.—would not appear on the entirely black surface of a frontal view. The technique of paper-cutting figures as a professional craft or as a hobby became fashionable in the eighteenth century. Indeed, it is suggested that the term originated with the French finance minister Étienne de Silhouette (d. 1767) whose hobby it was. Another famous eighteenth-century practitioner was the German writer Johann von Goethe. Paper-cutting in general is pursued in several central European countries but some Austrian cities have adopted silhouette portraiture as a typical craft that is exploited to produce tourist souvenirs. More or less recognizable silhouettes of famous Austrians of the past adorn all types of purchasable objects, while street artists will offer to snip, rather than sketch, your picture. My bookmark collection contains a number of items emblazoned with a silhouette. One reason for this is that a section of my collection is devoted to music and musicians, and Vienna was at one time or another home to some of the outstanding composers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The fame of Haydn (1732-1809), Mozart (1756-1791), Beethoven (1770-1827) and Schubert (1797-1828) is worldwide, while the name of Johann Strauss is well known to lovers of light music. Johann Strauss’s father was active in Vienna as a violinist, composer, and conductor during the first half of the nineteenth century. His son, the composer of the Blue Danube Waltz and the operetta Die Fledermaus, succeeded him. A current series of four bookmarks, two of which are shown below, is produced by Vienna World and contains silhouettes of Mozart, Beethoven and the younger Strauss, as well as the Prussian interloper J.S.Bach. These bookmarks all reproduce music by the relevant composer as a background to his silhouette. The Bach example shows bars from his A minor violin concerto, BWV 1041. In the case of Beethoven it has not been possible to identify the work.
Haydn and the younger Strauss are represented on earlier, twentieth-century examples. The Strauss bookmark, unfortunately, bears no indication of its date or origin, but the silhouette is signed F.H. The Haydn bookmark was issued after World War II by the Wiener Städtische Versicherung (Vienna City Insurance), a company that frequently produced attractive sets of bookmarks. According to the information on the back, it belongs to the Music Masters (Meister der Musik) set and its purpose was to protect books, probably to forestall dog-ears—or donkey’s ears (Eselsohren) as they are known in German. It was illustrated by the Austrian painter and graphic artist Hermann Kosel (1896-1983). The building that appears in the background is the Bergkirche church in Eisenstadt, which houses Haydn’s tomb. Haydn’s skeleton had an eventful history. When the composer died in Vienna in 1809 he was buried in the Hundsturm cemetery, now the Haydn Park in a Viennese suburb. Eleven years later, however, his patron, Prince Esterhazy, had the body exhumed and re-interred in the Bergkirche only to discover that the head had been stolen. It was replaced by another one falsely attributed to Haydn. The culprit turned out to be a courtier interested in phrenology. The true skull passed through various hands before being installed in the museum of the Gesellschaft für Musikfreunde in Vienna. In 1932 the current Prince Esterhazy had a marble tomb built for Haydn’s remains but it was not until 1954 that skull and body were reunited. It is said that the intruding skull was not removed, so that the tomb now contains two skulls.
The next example (above), with its somewhat humorous approach to its subject, is one of my favorite bookmarks featuring a composer. Although lacking any title or explanatory text, its subject is nevertheless explicit thanks to the three different elements of its design.
If one does not recognize the silhouetted head of Schubert, typified by his glasses and shock of curls, the few notes of music—almost as well-known to music-lovers as the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or the Ode to Joy from the latter’s Ninth Symphony—provide a second clue. This is reinforced by the shoal of five fish. It is not difficult to guess what sort of fish they represent. They are forellen, i.e., trout, and the music excerpt provided occurs not only in Schubert’s delightful ‘trout’ quintet but also in his song Die Forelle. Like the Haydn bookmark shown above, this one was illustrated by Klosel and issued by the Gemeinde Wien Städtische Versicherungsanstalt (Vienna City Insurance Company). It may be dated prior to 1947, the year in which the insurance company modified its name. The stated purpose of the bookmark was, again, to protect a book. Mozart is the subject of innumerable bookmarks of all types, from old chromolithographs and modern caricatures to metal and magnetic items. This may be attributed to the wide appeal of his music, boosted in 2006 by the celebration of the 25oth anniversary of his birth. Examples of bookmarks with Mozart’s silhouette are not lacking, as can be seen here. This group of three covers the period from the second quarter of the twentieth century to the present day.
The earliest of the three was distributed before 1947, also by the previously mentioned Vienna City Insurance Company and contains the same reference to book protection. The second example for this composer was acquired recently in his birthplace, Salzburg. It is a modern but genuine paper-cut, not a printed item. Prague also promotes Mozart as one its famous residents. The ‘pop’ example from this city may, with good will on the reader’s part, be considered a silhouette. I could not resist including it for its vivacity, expressing a characteristic of some of Mozart’s music. Furthermore a brief but useful English-Czech vocabulary, ‘Czech for you’, is printed on the back. The person responsible for the design is Jiri Votruba (b. 1946), a Czech painter and graphic artist whose output has included illustrations for many books on music for children and for CD covers. Silhouettes on bookmarks are more of a rarity outside the German-speaking area. Nevertheless more Mozart examples can be shown from Spain.
The bookmark with a silhouette on a background of yellow pyramids was distributed in the late twentieth century by the Madrid Universidad Autónoma bookshop. La Reina de la Nit on the next bookmark refers to the Queen of the Night who appears in the opera The Magic Flute. This is one of a set of four bookmarks presenting villains (canalles) from Mozart operas. The issue was one of the projects carried out by the municipal council of Hospitalet, a small town near Barcelona, to mark the Mozart anniversary in 2006. The other villains were Osmin from Il Seraglio, Don Alfonso from Cosi fan Tutti and Don Giovanni from the opera of the same name. In connection with Mozart’s operas, it is interesting to note that at some time after 1955 the Vienna City Insurance Company issued an attractive set of nine bookmarks featuring characters from Mozart operas. The designs incorporate the figure concerned and a couple of bars from a relevant aria but do not include a silhouette. Finally, the Spanish publishing house La Galera produced some children’s books for the 2006 Mozart year and a bookmark to advertise them. It must be admitted that without the text this last silhouette with its short, snub nose would be hard to recognize as that of Mozart, who is usually portrayed with a long, relatively straight nose. My musical gallery of silhouettes closes with a bookmark that neither refers to a German or Austrian musician nor was printed in Germany or Austria.
The figure portrayed, Vivaldi (1678-1741), was one of the most prolific Italian composers of instrumental music in the first half of the eighteenth century. His works, particularly The Four Seasons concertos, reappeared on concert programs and records in the twentieth century and now enjoy great popularity. The bookmark itself was actually produced by a French firm, Éditions Cartes d’Art (Paris). As regards the bookmark reproduced at the head of this article, it was issued some years ago by the Real Musical shop in Madrid as give-away publicity at Christmas. There is a calendar for 1996 on the back. Bookmark specifications: Novedad Bookmark specifications: Beethoven and Bach Bookmark specifications: Haydn Bookmark specifications: Strauss Bookmark specifications: Schubert and trout Bookmark specifications: Mozart statue Bookmark specifications: Mozart, hand-cut silhouette Bookmark specifications: Mozart dancing Bookmark specifications: Mozart, Universidad Autónoma Bookmark specifications: Mozart, La Reina de la Nit Bookmark specifications: Mozart, La Galera Bookmark specifications: Vivaldi
Beryl Kenyon de Pascual was born in England and worked for some years as an international linguist. Following her marriage she moved to Spain and switched to the field of music, studying at the Madrid Royal Conservatoire. She has published numerous articles on musicology but is also the author of articles on bookmarks in both English and Spanish. She has been collecting bookmarks since 1995 and has a special interest in (surprise, surprise!) bookmarks related to classical music and musical instruments of any kind.
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