Beethoven and film music (3/7)

Posted on 19 June 2025 Federica Rusconi Castellani Our collections
It’s hard not to draw on the infinite wealth of classical music to further express one’s own intentions, projects or even emotions. Cinema is no exception, and a number of composers from the past have found their way into modern productions. Beethoven did not escape this fate, and his creations have been reused in many […]
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Beethoven tells Rossini: “Above all, my dear, do a lot of Barbier” (6/7)

Posted on 19 June 2025 Federica Rusconi Castellani Our collections
In the early 1800s, Beethoven was the youngest member of Viennese musical life. Even after the birth of the rising star Rossini, Beethoven’s primacy remained intact, especially in German culture. However, in 1822, when the Swan of Pesaro arrived in Vienna for the performance of his opera Zelmira, the Viennese people eagerly awaited him, and […]
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A happy mistake

Posted on 19 June 2025 Ramona Fritschi Our collections
A medieval manuscript from the convent of St. Francis of Assisi on our premises! In 1960, the auction of a 13th-century manuscript containing the Latin text of Solomon’s Book of Wisdom, with an inscription referring to the “conventus beati Francisci”, attracted the attention of the library’s directors. The inscription most likely indicates the convent of […]
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From Lausanne to Africa via Australia…

Posted on 19 June 2025 Chiara Gizzi Our collections
In the early 1980s, Jean-Marie Volet from the canton of Vaud, then a primary school teacher in St-Cergue, moved with his family to Australia. He decided to further his education by enrolling in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Western Australia in Perth. It was there, somewhat by chance, that he discovered French-speaking […]
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Correspondance. Fonds Jean-Marie Volet, BCU Lausanne.

Paul Juon fund

Posted on 19 June 2025 Verena Monnier Our collections
Acquisition of new autograph scores With over a hundred recordings of his music to date, several monographs, reissues of his compositions by leading publishers, and works featured in over 60 concerts around the world in the last two years, the Swiss composer Paul Juon (1872-1940), already a household name in his own lifetime, is enjoying […]
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Paul Juon (1872-1940), compositeur.
Fonds P. Juon, BCU Lausanne.

Racism and antiquity

Posted on 19 June 2025 Evelyne Barman Crotti Our collections
On May 25, 2020, Georges Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American citizen, died in Minneapolis, United States of America, as a result of severe police violence. In the popular and editorial turmoil that followed this tragic event, the Antiquipop website drew my attention to a distressing reality: the link between antiquity and racism, antiquity and fascism, the […]
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Aryballe janiforme, Skythès ? – Classe d’Epilycos, Vers 520 – 510 avant J.-C., musée du Louvre, CA 987