Marrying Cultures

Queens Consort and European Identities 1500-1800

News

A public concert on June 11th in the Augusteerhalle in Wolfenbüttel involved the ensembles Bella Discordia and The Schoole of Night, with a variety of pieces connected or dedicated to various European consorts from the first half of the 17th century.

Queens Consort, Cultural Transfer and European Politics, c.1500-1800

We are delighted to share the cover picture and contents of the project’s forthcoming volume, which is being published by Routledge and will be available from September 2016.

'Cultural Transfer and the Eighteenth-Century Queen Consort' Article

Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly’s article ‘Cultural Transfer and the Eighteenth-Century Queen Consort’ appeared in June 2016’s edition of German History (Vol. 34 No. 2).

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Music for Consorts

The historical music ensemble Bella Discordia, featuring Marrying Cultures project member Maria Skiba, have released a CD of the music of Italian composer Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677).

La Virtuosissima includes Donna Di Maestà which was written for the marriage of Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua (1630-1686) to Ferdinand III (1608-1657), Holy Roman Emperor, and is believed to be the second ever performance of the piece.

Bella Discordia have kindly allowed us to include Donna Di Maestà; and their CD is available to buy from asinamusic.com.

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About Marrying Cultures

Marrying Cultures is a three-year research project funded by HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) focusing on the foreign consort as agent of cultural transfer. The case studies to be investigated are the Polish princesses Katarzyna Jagiellonka, Duchess of Finland and Queen of Sweden (1526-83), and Zofia Jagiellonka, Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1464-1512); Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden (1636-1715), and Charlotte Amalie of Hessen-Kassel, Queen of Denmark (1650-1714); the Portuguese princess Catarina of Braganza, Queen of Great Britain (1638-1705); Maria Amalia of Saxony, Queen of the Two Sicilies and Queen of Spain (1724-1760); and Luise Ulrike of Prussia, Queen of Sweden (1720-82) .

Working with colleagues in historic palaces, museums and libraries (including Kensington Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Royal Armoury, Stockholm, and the Duke August Library, Wolfenbüttel) the project members will also consider how it is that certain consorts become embedded in national cultural memory and others do not.

Leaflet from the marriage of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza