[DOC] The Phantom of the Opera Songbook: Vocal Selections (Vocal Line with Piano Accompaniment) by Andrew Lloyd Webber in Arts-Photography

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Good overall but needed more original researchBy LostWorldsThis was a very well written book about a very interesting man; Jacques Le Moyne; the first European artist in the Americas who made the earliest depictions of Native Americans seen in the Old World. As such his art and journals provide a wealth of information about the Native American tribes as they existed at first contact with Europeans. The book also focuses more on the action-adventure story of the battle between the Spanish and French which culminated with the Spanish massacring most of the inhabitants at this first French settlement although Le Moyne managed to escape and get back to Europe. The only real issue I had with this book is that it tended to defer to modern academics about the location of Fort Caroline and the Indian tribes which the French interacted in. Had the author done even some basic research on his own he would realize that the descriptions dont match Florida at all but instead match tribes in Georgia. Although Fort Caroline may have been located in modern Jacksonville; Florida the May River was not the St.Johns in Florida but instead the Altamaha in Georgia. This river flows from the Appalachian Mountains just as Le Moyne described it. Perhaps the French were afraid their dispatches might be intercepted by the Spanish and purposefully gave confusing and conflicting facts about the location of the fort but the description of gold mining Indians in the Appalachian Mountains matches only one rivershed: the Oconee-Altamaha River system that does indeed flow through the gold territory of the Appalachian Mountains.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A French Painter reports on Florida Natives in 1564By LiselotteMuch of what we know about the Timucua Indians living in North Central Florida at the time the Spaniards arrived in the early 1500s is based on the sketches and descriptions by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues; as converted to engravings by Theodor de Bry. In this book; Miles Harvey describes the life of the painter; the first to have come to these shores with an assignment to record native American life in pictures and writing. He was a member of a group of about 300 French Huguenots; who set sail in 1564 to establish a colony in Florida and founded Fort Caroline; at the mouth of the St. Johns river. What follows is an incredible story of encounters with the Timucua; their support and politics; their chief Satiwa trying to get French help to defeat the tribes to the west led by Utina and Potano; promises to reach the gold and silver contents of the "apalatsi"mountains in the west; and trouble with supplies and food not coming from France as promised due to European politics and religious wars. There were attacks by pirates; mutinies; starvation; and finally destruction of the fort and murder of its inhabitants by the Spaniards led by Pedro Menendez in 1565; who saw the reformists as the devil who had to be killed. The supply ships commanded by Jack Ribault were caught further south and 300 huguenots were massacred in Matanzas; ending the French attempts at colonization. Miraculously; Jacques Le Moyne escaped together with his commander Rene Laudonniere and "an elderly carpenter" named Nicolas Le Challeux. All three of them kept records of their expeditions; useful to explain Le Moynes "water color drawings". When these drawings were produced is subject to much speculation. They were given to Theodor De Bry by Jacques Le Moynes widow after his death. He had been living in London and was in service to Sir Walter Raleigh. At that time; he was famous for his "Botanicals"; paintings of flowers; plants and herbs. De Bry published the American paintings as engravings on copper plates together with the translated narrative in 1590. It was a huge commercial success that continued under his successors for more than thirty years. Over the next 300 years; Fort Caroline; the Timucua and Jacques Le Moynes original manuscript all disappeared. It was not until 1946 that Stefan Lorant; "the father of photojournalism"; published "The New World: The First Pictures of America"; which included the De Bry engravings of le Moynes work and new translations of the chronicles of the three explorers. The book became an instant hit and sold thirty-five thousand copies. The saga continues with the legendary Charles E. Bennett; US Representative from Florida for over 40 years. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the Fort Caroline National Memorial in 1953; which was expended in 1988 to the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. Fort Caroline has not been found; but the search for the fort and the native American villages in its neighborhood keeps on going. The author of this book spins an adventure yarn that is based on careful research and imaginative new investigations; peopled with important characters of the 16th century and the last 70 years. It is a delight to read for any history buff interested in Native American and European history.7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Compelling dramatic saga of an accidental adventurerBy S. McGeeJacque le Moyne de Morgues; Miles Harvey ultimately concludes; may never have intended to lead quite as adventurous life as he did. Still; given just how dramatic that life proved to be -- he escaped death narrowly on countless occasions during his travels in the New World; only to flee his home country and settle in England to avoid religious persecution; churning out pioneering art work along the way -- its astonishing that le Moyne is so unknown outside a narrow circle of conoisseurs and collectors of his botanical prints.Even Harvey stumbled across le Moyne by accident; while promoting his previous book The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime (which tells an equally obscure but fascinating tale albeit in a more idiosyncratic way). In Florida; a chance encounter makes him aware of a real-life story that lies behind the early map of Florida that illustrated his first book: the saga of Frances efforts to found a permanent settlement in the New World -- Fort Caroline; now long since vanished -- and to the artist who accompanied them; Jacques Le Moyne. The handful of artistic works that he produced of Floridas native inhabitants as well as its flaura and fauna are not only the earliest record of region; but a tribute to a now-vanished civilization. Within decades of le Moynes capturing their images; the Spanish had converted them by force to Catholicism and many were dead of disease; leaving their traditions to vanish into thin air.Le Moyne; a botanic illustrator by trade; won a place on the French expedition to Florida and spent a turbulent year or so on the North American continent; details of which have been exhaustively researched by Harvey and are dramatically retold; blending the survivors own recollections whenever possible to portray the initial euphoria of the French explorers; followed by conflict with the local tribes; wintertime starvation; mutiny and ultimately; just as the fledgling colony was about to be relieved; an attack by Spanish forces. Le Moyne survived to bring back to Europe some of the earliest pictures of the North American continent.This was compelling enough; but I found Harveys later investigations into le Moyne and Fort Caroline and his quest for answers to long-standing historical questions to be just as intriguing. He is probably more frustrated than any reader will be at the lack of definitive answers; but some of the hypotheses -- did le Moyne have a family connection to the court of Mary; Queen of Scots; for instance? -- are just as dramatic and exciting in their own right as the artists own adventures.The only part of this otherwise superb narrative that I felt could have been stronger is some insight into why Harvey and others consider le Moyne to be worthy of such great attention as an artist. He was first on the scene in a few areas -- in portraying life in what Harvey describes in the title as a "savage land" and also in producing compendiums of flower paintings; known as florilegia; long before others followed. But being first doesnt always mean being of superior quality. Harvey notes the Mannerist tendency in le Moynes drawings of the Florida Indians; which romanticizes and distorts them; and English artists painting in the Carolinas only a few decades later produced what we would see today as far more lifelike renditions of life in the New World. And there is no substantive discussion of the ways in which his botanical illustrations were better than those of his peers or successors; earlier; yes; but better? True; le Moyne led a dramatic life that is probably too much overlooked by historians; but what was it that made it worthy of a book today; more than four centuries later?Perhaps its a tribute to Miles Harveys storytelling talents that even in the absence of an answer to that question; Id still rate this a solid four-and-a-half stars. It will be of greatest interest to those who have a fascination with the history of first encounters between Europeans and the North American native inhabitants; and of European exploration. But Harveys own narrative; as he stubbornly tries to find out more about le Moyne -- what he did before and after this dramatic adventure -- is an equally intriguing adventure saga in its own fashion.If youre interested in pursuing a more scholarly (and very hefty) tome about Frances New World explorations; one new narrative that is less dramatic in tone but equally intriguing in content is a new biography of Samuel de Champlain. Champlains Dream