- Joined
- Thursday March 17, 2016
- Location
- Haslemere, Surrey
Its new to me despite being familiar with Dougie, I was led to it by this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Recollections-Emperor-Napoleon-During-Captivity/dp/1540825825
Whilst Napoleon was in exile on St. Helena, his friend Betsy Balcombe sang "Ye banks and braes" for him.
"When I finished, he said it was the prettiest English ayre he had ever heard. I replied it was a Scottish ballad, not English; and he remarked, he thought it too pretty to be English: ‘their music is vile—the worst in the world. …. He expressed a great dislike to French music, which, he said, was almost as bad as the English, and that the Italians were the only people who could produce an opera."
... He's not wrong, its indeed a lovely song.
Whilst Napoleon was in exile on St. Helena, his friend Betsy Balcombe sang "Ye banks and braes" for him.
"When I finished, he said it was the prettiest English ayre he had ever heard. I replied it was a Scottish ballad, not English; and he remarked, he thought it too pretty to be English: ‘their music is vile—the worst in the world. …. He expressed a great dislike to French music, which, he said, was almost as bad as the English, and that the Italians were the only people who could produce an opera."
... He's not wrong, its indeed a lovely song.
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