Symphony Hall Folklore ~ Theatre~Ballroom
The Theatre-Ballroom at Symphony Center was the Temple Auditorium also
called The Grotto, of the former Masonic Temple. The only original surface left
in the room is the oval painting at the top center of the stage front.
click on picture to see larger version
The scene, Castle Chillon on Lake Geneva is preserved
as part of Masonic lore in honor of Lord Byron, who was a lodge member and
did some of his writing on the shores of Lake Geneva. (In fact, Lord Byron wrote
his name on a pillar that you can still see today.) Among the most famous being
"The Prisoner of Chillon". Read it
here
In the summer of 1816, the English poet, Lord Byron, his personal physician
John Polidori, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, and her husband-to-be Percy Shelley,
staying at the Villa Diodati, a house Byron rented by the lake, sailed around
Lake Leman (Lake Geneva). While on their way they stopped at the Chateau of Chillon,
and deep in the dungeons, below the water-line of the lake, they visited the place
where François de Bonnivard was imprisoned for four years (1532-1536).
During those years, Bonnivard had worn an imprint in the stone floor from his pacing
of the confined area. Byron was so impressed with the event, he composed
'A Sonnet on Chillon'. But, after learning more of the facts about Bonnivard,
Byron expanded on this by writing the poem 'The Prisoner of Chillon'.
It is very interesting that these events occurred in 1816. Known as
'The Year without a Summer', because of the volcanic eruptions of
Mount Tambora, April 5 thru 15, 1815, on the island of Sumbawa in
the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) which ejected immense
amounts of volcanic dust into the upper atmosphere, estimated to
have been 100 to 150 times more than Mt. St. Helens.
This resulted in a worldwide change in climate during 1816, especially
in the northern Hemisphere, accross Europe and North America.
Crop failures, famine and related cholera and typhus epidemics swept Europe,
and places in the USA had major snow storms in July.
The famine was so serious that the Swiss government declared a state of emergency.
It also issued information on how to distinguish poisonous plants from edible ones
to prevent people from indiscriminately consuming any plant that they found.
During the “Year without Summer”, the starving Swiss people resorted to eating moss.
In general it was a dreary time with almost no change of seasons, from 1815,
on thru the winter of 1816 into 1817.
Ireland
experienced persistent cold rain for 142 of the 153 summer days.
These moist conditions were later blamed for the European typhus epidemic of 1816-1819.
Ireland suffered her first ever famine in the “Year without Summer”, when the cold weather
destroyed her wheat, oat and potato crops. ->more<-
If you want to read a great detail analysis of the weather accounts of these events, read this article
"Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death" on the Weather Doctor
It was in that dreary setting that Byron spent time with Mary Shelley and the
others on the shores of Lake Geneva. One dark and stormy night, the four friends
gathered in the stately living room by a glowing hearth, engaged in entertaining
one another with German ghost stories. Finally, Lord Byron challenged the members
of the group to conjure up a story of horror. "We will each write a ghost story," he stated.
From that night, Mary started work on her story, "A Modern Day Prometheus",
its original title what we now know as "Frankenstein". The work was done within a year,
and published in 1818.
Lesser known from that night as well, John Polidori used a
fragment of a story discarded by Byron, and developed the novel "The Vampyre".
Rather than use the crude, bestial vampire of folklore as a basis for his story,
Polidori based his character on Byron. The work created the beginning of what
we know as modern vampire lore and later inspired Bram Stoker’s "Dracula".
Polidori named the character "Lord Ruthven" as a joke. The name was originally used
in Lady Caroline Lamb's novel Glenarvon, in which a thinly-disguised Byron figure
was also named Lord Ruthven.
Byron went on to write the Poem "Darkness", inspired by the dark and dreary time
they were living through in that 'Year without a Summer'. Read an interesting
article on
Wikipedia
The Chillon Castle is two miles south of Montreux, which rises like an amphitheater
from the shores of Lake Leman (Geneva). It's an Edwardian town with a French accent.
There is a popular annual Jazz Festival by the lake. The mountains in the background
protect the resort from the winds of winter. Along the shore are walnut trees,
fruit trees,
cypresses, magnolias, bay trees, almonds and even palm trees. Montreux's climate is the
mildest on the north side of the Alps. It's the most impressive moated castle in Switzerland
and considered one of the best preserved medieval castles of Europe.
excerpt references ~
Discovery Channel ~
Mary Shelley ~
Wikipedia ~ Year Without a Summer ~
'John Polidori' ~
'Lord Byron'
Another interseting story out of Montreux ~ On December 4th, 1971,
during a concert by Frank Zappa a fire occured. Zappa shouted "FIRE" but the
audience thaught it was a part of the gig. Someone had lit the ceiling with a flare-gun
and the casino burned down. At the concert were also the band Deep Purple who had
in mind to make their 1972 LP "Machine Head" at the entertainment complex
part of the Montreux Casino, using a mobile recording studio rented from the Rolling Stones
After the fire, the group set up in a local theatre called The Pavilion,
but soon after the band began recording, the nearby neighbours took offence at
the noise, and the band was only able to lay down backing tracks for one song
(based on Ritchie's riff and temporarily named Title nº1), before the local
police shut them down.
Finally, after about a week of searching, the band rented out the nearly-empty
Montreux Grand Hotel and converted its hallways and stairwells into a makeshift
recording studio, where they laid down most of the tracks for what would become
their most commercially successful album, Machine Head.
Ironically, the only song from Machine Head not recorded in the Grand Hotel was
"Smoke on the water" itself, which had been recorded during the aborted Pavilion
session; only the lyrics were composed later, and the vocals were laid down in
the Grand Hotel. ~ Here are the opening lyrics to their now famous song:
We all came out to Montreux, On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile, We didnt have much time.
Frank Zappa and the Mothers, Were at the best place around,
But some stupid with a flare gun, Burned the place to the ground ~
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky
Read the whole 'Smoke on the Water' story at
Wikipedia
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