From Bach to Pirosmani: Curious Stories of How Advertising Became a Part of the World's Cultural Heritage

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Advertising is often perceived as a boring and ineradicable part of life, a source for philistine quotes and jokes. However, some advertising products began to take on a separate life and became, without understatement, part of the world's cultural heritage. Let's talk about the most striking examples.

Coffee cantata. Bach, Zimmermann, Pikander and the coffee lovers

The 18th century in Western Europe was, among other things, the century of coffee. Austrian and German cafes were often a kind of music salons, where visitors could enjoy live music and even theatrical performances. But the addiction to a new drink for Europe fought against prejudices: many Germans considered coffee dangerous and unhealthy. In addition, the word "visitors" meant men. In Germany, a popular movement was to ban coffee for women: it allegedly contributed to infertility.

At that moment, Zimmermann, the owner of a coffee shop in Leipzig, commissioned the director of the Musical College, a respected person in the city, an advertisement that could improve coffee business and attract not only the townspeople, but also the townspeople. This musician was Johann Sebastian Bach. With the libretto, the great composer was helped by his friend, poet and generalist Pikander (Christian Friedrich Henrici). He wrote both "shameful verses" - erotic poems that had great success, and fiery religious poems, and also translated from Latin. Thus was born Coffee Cantata, a small comic opera.

There are only three characters in this work: Lieschen, a young coffee lover, Schlendrian (literally translated from German - "routine", "inertia"), her father and the Narrator. And an ensemble: flute, two violins, viola, harpsichord and cello.

Without three daily cups of vivacity, the girl feels like a "shriveled, overcooked piece of goat meat", while coffee for her is "sweeter than nutmeg and tastes better than a thousand kisses." And the father forbids this joy and threatens to lock his daughter at home, deprive her of new dresses and leave her as an old maid. Well, Lizhen agrees on one condition: Shlendrian must find her a husband that evening. But in the marriage contract, she will write down those same cherished three cups every day!

Zimmermann's coffee house flourished for over two hundred years and was destroyed during World War II. And now a memorial plaque and a musical masterpiece are all that remain of it.

The engine of progress: the story of the Neapolitan song "Funiculi, funicula"

Many opera fans have heard or even hummed the Neapolitan song "Funiculì funiculà". The bravura motive is well remembered, but the meaning eludes those who do not speak Italian. Let's go deeper into history.

In 1880, the Hungarian engineer and entrepreneur Ernesto Emanuele Oblicht built a funicular to lift tourists to the Vesuvius crater. Those wishing to admire the view of the Gulf of Naples usually walked. And the two trailers were expected to be a success. The contractors promised local residents a tax per passenger and 900 lira per year in favor of the mayor's office for agreeing to the construction.

However, after the construction of the miracle of technology, it turned out that operating costs are high, and there are fewer passengers than we would like. The power of music came to the rescue. Roman journalist and poet Giuseppe (better known as Peppino) Turco, contributor to the satirical newspaper Captain Fracasse and Neapolitan composer Luigi Denza have teamed up to write a song that celebrates the novelty.

Tarantella, so similar to infectious folk melodies, not only brought fame to the sight, but survived it for many years: the funicular, having worked triumphantly for 20 years, did not survive the eruption of Vesuvius. And for 120 years, "Funiculì funiculà" has been performed by Luciano Pavarotti, Mario Lanza, Beniamino Gigli and many others at different times and in different countries. And, apparently, celebrities and students of conservatories will sing for a long time: "We are rushing up on the funicular!"

Toulouse-Lautrec and the red mill

You can hardly find a reading person who has not heard anything about the Moulin Rouge. But not everyone knows that Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec made a huge contribution to the popularity of this cabaret. A poster celebrating the opening of a new season brought both the artist and the establishment to fame at the same time. This is "Moulin Rouge, La Gulyu".

In the yellow light, we see the cancan dancer Louise Weber, nicknamed Glutton, La Gulya. In the foreground is her partner, known to Parisians as Valentin Beskostny. The frankness, sharpness and conciseness of the image made a huge impression on the public. During the day, the posters were torn down and stolen by collectors.

Niko Pirosmani: signboards for dukhans and art museums

The Georgian primitivist painter Nikolai Aslanovich Pirosmanashvili is known to the world as Niko Pirosmani. An orphan from a poor family, a weird dreamer who talked about seeing saints, but could not be a good conductor or milkman, he constantly drew and at first just gave away pictures. From his native Kakheti, a rural self-taught person came to Tiflis: there you could earn a living with a brush. Signs for dukhans - poor inns, where wine was also sold, became Niko's bread. Since neither the artist nor the dukhanniks had money for canvases, the material was black or white oilcloths, which covered the tables.

Thanks to the efforts of the Zdanevich brothers, Pirosmani's paintings were exhibited in Moscow at an exhibition of futurists. However, despite the relative recognition, the artist died, as he lived - in need.

Today Pirosmani's work is the topic of books and songs, films and articles. They were exhibited at the Louvre and adorn museums in Russia and Georgia. From the Tretyakov Gallery to the National Museum of Art of Georgia, visitors look at fishermen, dukhanists, actresses and talk about the “Caucasian Giotto”.

The anthology of advertising also includes an interesting history of trading cards: what advertising was like in the 19th century and how it was collected.