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Absecon Light House Push here see more about this light house! -Push Historical

“Hvorfor, o sig, Gud, hvorfor!”

June 5, 2010 at 7:09 pm | Posted in Music, Opera, Television, youtube | Leave a Comment

At the Lighthouse Trivia: Teenage!Marie used to watch this clip over and over in her teenage room, while writing in her diary about boys she liked and how worried she was about her upcoming history exam:

It’s “Vissi d’arte” from an old Danish television version of Tosca which, sadly, has never been released on DVD. The clip was featured on TV once in the year 2000 or 2001, and I managed to record it on my VCR and, yes, almost wore out the tape subsequently from watching it.

I still think it’s a great “Vissi d’arte”, worthy of international recognition, if you can overlook the fact that it’s in Danish – back in the 1960s, it was still the norm in Denmark to perform all operas in translated versions. Lone Koppel is a beautiful Tosca with a powerful voice, I like her toned-down interpretation of the part, and we also get a glimpse of Ib Hansen who portrayed Scarpia in this version (teaching us that Scarpia is a 1 sugar cube/no creamer kind of guy at 1:37!).

And I have to say that I actually also kind of like the translation. Sure, the aria is translated a little too freely, and it seems kind of weird to me that they’ve failed to include Tosca’s declaration that she has “lived for art, lived for love”. And of course it’s a good thing that operas are now being produced in their original language – anything else would be ridiculous in the globalized world d’aujor d’hui. But there is something powerful about hearing this heartbreaking aria in my own native tongue, I can’t deny that. The “Hvorfor” (“Why”) seems especially moving to me, and I like it that it’s this word that Tosca gets to sing when she sings her high note, in stead of the usual “signor!”.

Here is a translated version of the translated aria:

Life generously brought me happiness
I let all things living into my heart
Whenever it was possible for me
I soothed people’s pain
Often I was driven to you, o Lord,
I laid flowers down at your feet,
Mercifully you heard my prayes,
You were always kind to me then.
My soul is sick to death
O save me, God, from this dread
Why, my God, have I deserved this punishment?
I will give everything I have to madonna’s honour
So that my pious songs may carry lost souls to heaven
In this hour of pain
Why, o tell me, God, why!
Why this punishment, my God? Why?

Eddystone Lighthouse

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Eddystone Lighthouse
An aerial view of the fourth lighthouse. (The stub of the third lighthouse can be seen in the background.)
Location:	Devon, England (offshore)
Coordinates	50°10.80′N 04°15.90′W / 50.18°N 4.265°W / 50.18; -4.265Coordinates: 50°10.80′N 04°15.90′W / 50.18°N 4.265°W / 50.18; -4.265
Year first lit:	1698 / 1705 / 1759 / 1882
Automated:	1982
Deactivated:	1703 / 1755 / 1877 / -
Construction:	wood / wood / masonry / masonry
Tower shape:	octagonal / dodecagonal / conical / conical / conical
Height:	? / ? / 18 metres / 49 metres
Range:	22 nautical miles (41 kilometres)
Characteristic:	white light flashes twice every 10 seconds

Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, 9 statute miles (14 kilometres) south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss.^[1]

The current structure is the fourth lighthouse to be built on the site. The first and second were destroyed. The third, also known as Smeaton's Tower, is the best known because of its influence on lighthouse design and its importance in the development of concrete for building. Its upper portions have been re-erected in Plymouth as a monument.^[2]

Contents [hide] 1 Winstanley's lighthouse 2 Rudyard's lighthouse 3 Smeaton's lighthouse 4 Douglass's lighthouse 5 References in literature and popular song 6 References in music and television 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Winstanley's lighthouse

The first lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley. Construction started in 1696 and the light was lit on 14 November 1698. During construction, a French privateer took Winstanley prisoner, causing Louis XIV to order his release with the words "France is at war with England, not with humanity".^[2]

The lighthouse survived its first winter but was in need of repair, and was subsequently changed to a dodecagonal (12 sided) stone clad exterior on a timber framed construction with an Octagonal top section as can be clearly seen in the later drawings or paintings, one of which is to the left. This gives rise to the claims that there have been five lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Winstanley's tower lasted until the Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace on 27 November. Winstanley was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him.^[3][4]

The cost of construction and five years' maintenance totalled £7,814 7s.6d, during which time dues totalling £4,721 19s.3d had been collected at one penny per ton from passing vessels.

[edit] Rudyard's lighthouse

Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, a Captain Lovett acquired the lease of the rock, and by Act of Parliament was allowed to charge passing ships a toll of one penny per ton. He commissioned John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) to design the new lighthouse, built as a conical wooden structure around a core of brick and concrete and first lit in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly 50 years.^[2]

On the night of 2 December 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The three keepers threw water upwards from a bucket but were driven onto the rock as the tower burnt down and were rescued by boat. Henry Hall, who was 84 or 94 at the time, died from lead poisoning because of the molten lead from the lantern roof he had ingested fighting the fire.^[2] A report on this case of lead poisoning was submitted to the Royal Society by the physician Dr. Edmund Spry, and the piece of lead is now in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland.^[5]

[edit] Smeaton's lighthouse

50°21′52.09″N 4°8′31.67″W / 50.3644694°N 4.1421306°W / 50.3644694; -4.1421306

The third lighthouse marked a major step forward in the design of such structures.

Recommended by the Royal Society, civil engineer John Smeaton modelled the shape on an oak tree, built of granite blocks. He pioneered 'hydraulic lime', a concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Construction started in 1756 at Millbay^[6] and the light was first lit on 16 October 1759.^[2]

Smeaton's lighthouse was 59 feet (18 m) high and had a diameter at the base of 26 feet (8 m) and at the top of 17 feet (5 m). It remained in use until 1877 when erosion to the rocks under the lighthouse caused it to shake from side to side whenever large waves hit. Smeaton's lighthouse was rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, in Plymouth, as a memorial.

The foundations and stub of the tower remain, close to the new and more solid foundations of the current lighthouse^[2] - the foundations proved too strong to be dismantled so the Victorians left them where they stood.

[edit] Douglass's lighthouse

The current, fourth, lighthouse was designed by James Douglass, using Robert Stevenson's developments of Smeaton's techniques. The light was lit in 1882 and is still in use. It is operated by Trinity House. It was automated in 1982, the first Trinity House 'Rock' (or offshore) lighthouse to be converted. The tower has been changed by construction of a helipad above the lantern, to allow maintenance crews access.^[2]

The tower is 49 metres (161 ft) high, and its white light flashes twice every 10 seconds. The light is visible to 22 nautical miles (41 kilometres), and is supplemented by a fog signal of 3 blasts every 60 seconds.^[2]

[edit] References in literature and popular song

• The lighthouse inspired a sea shanty, frequently recorded, that begins "My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light //And he slept with a mermaid one fine night//Out of this union there came three//A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me!"^[7] and has been used as a metaphor for stability.^[8]

• Eddystone lighthouse is mentioned in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: "See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than the Eddystone Lighthouse".

• It is also mentioned in C.S. Forester's "A Ship of the Line", Hornblower's adventures in Spain (1938).

• A novel based on the building of Smeaton's lighthouse, containing many details of the construction, was published in 2005.^[9]

[edit] References in music and television

• The lighthouse is celebrated in the opening and closing movements of Ron Goodwin's Drake 400 Suite. The movement's main theme was directly inspired by the lighthouse's unique light characteristic.

• The Adventures of Portland Bill, a British children's animation, features a character called Eddy Stone.

• The design and building of Douglass' lighthouse is documented in an episode of the TV series "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World".

• The history of the Eddystone lighthouse is summarised in an episode of the BBC TV series "Coast" with Neil Oliver. The episode features photo-realistic animations of the lighthouses.

• Law & Order: SVU, In the episode "Swing", Stabler's daughter was singing the poem while in the shower in a strangers' house.

[edit] References

1. ^ "Get A Map". Ordnance Survey. http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=SX3830333632. Retrieved September 6, 2006. View at 1:50000 scale
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Eddystone Lighthouse". Trinity House. http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/eddystone.html. Retrieved September 6, 2006.
3. ^ "Eddystone Lighthouse History". Eddystone Tatler Ltd. http://www.eddystoneeel.com/LIGHTHOUSE%20HISTORY.htm. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
4. ^ "The Great Storm of 1703". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/1703_storm.shtml. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
5. ^ Palmer, Mike (2005). Eddystone: the Finger of Light (2nd ed.). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Seafarer Books. ISBN 095470620X.
6. ^ Langley, Martin (1987). Millbay Docks (Port of Plymouth series). Exeter: Devon Books. pp. 2. ISBN 0861148061.
7. ^ "The Eddystone Light". http://ingeb.org/songs/mefather.html. Retrieved April 11, 2008.
8. ^ Thomas D'Arcy McGee commented that Canada's foundations were as "strong as the foundations of Eddystone" in The Globe, 31 October 1864, 4.
9. ^ Severn, Christopher (2005). Smeaton's Tower. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Seafarer Books. ISBN 0954275098.

Good Keith, I am trying to find things about this also. I have came upon some kind of the same.
but I need more information,

Australian lighthouses

Lighthouses - built as towers with lights - warn sailors, especially at night or in a storm, to straighten their position so they don't hit reefs and rocks on shore.

In Australia, lighthouses are built in harbours, on islands, coral reefs and beaches. In 1983, there were 367 lighthouses and navigational aids and today it is estimated that there over 350 'light houses' - all built in the last 200 years.

In early times, people set fires at the edge of the water to warn boats of dangerous rocks on shore. The Egyptians completed the tallest lighthouse ever built in 283. It stood 122 metres high on the island of Pharos in the harbour of Alexandria. The Pharos Lighthouse used a mirror, whose reflection was seen up to 50 kilometres away.

Australia's first colonial navigation beacon was lit on the South Head of Port Jackson, New South Wales (NSW) in 1793 when a bonfire was lit for the passenger ship Bellona. By 1794, a fire was lit in the metal basket suspended from a tripod each night.

It was at South Head Signal Station that the first lighthouse structure in Australia was started in 1816 and completed in 1818 at the command of Governor Macquarie. The work was undertaken by Francis Greenway, the famous convict architect.

The lighthouse still did not guarantee safe passage and, unfortunately, the Dunbar was tragically wrecked below the Signal Station in 1857. Despite the cries being heard through the night, there was only wreckage and one survivor (out of 121 passengers and crew) the next day.