"Princess vs. Countess: a topless duel over flowers" Topic

"In August of 1892, a duel took place in Liechtenstein. The two adversaries took the field armed with rapiers to take satisfaction in blood over an unpardonable outrage: a dispute over a flower arrangement.

The precise nature of the disagreement has been lost in the mists of time. All we know is that Princess Pauline Metternich, granddaughter of Napoleonic-era Austrian statesman Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and Countess Anastasia Kilmannsegg, wife of the Statthalter of Lower Austria, had conflicting visions of how the flowers should be arranged at the Viennese International Exhibition of Music and Theater of 1892. Both of the ladies were high society fixtures in Paris and Vienna of the late 19th century. Both of them volunteered for a number of charitable organizations and were active supporters of the arts.

The Internationale Musik und Theaterwesenausstellung was the artistic event of fin de siècle Vienna, and while little remembered today, its influence was enormous and has played a foundational role in the perception of musical culture extending to the present. Inspired by the madly popular trend for world fairs launched by the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851, the Viennese International Exhibition was a showcase of the greatest music Europe's most musical city could offer and the first large-scale marketing blitz to monetize and promote that artistic output. It was the first and only world's fair ever to focus exclusively on music and theater, and the very idea of "classical music," defined as European music from the mid-16th century through the end of the 19th, was birthed there on May 7th, 1892. By the time the exhibition ended on October 9th, the notion was firmly established, as was the image of Vienna as the capital of European music…."

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Amicalement
Armand

Unfortunately, the duelling incident would soon be forgotten when the flower exhibition itself was overrun by zombies.

And the kneeling woman is blogging it live

A cut to the nose and a slash to an arm – could have been much more serious…

Looks like there is a guy in the upper right corner (in the tree) watching them…

Where do you FIND this stuff, Tango?!?!

My soft porn for the day!

GdeP

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I saw a live recreation of this with three different matches around 12 or 13 years ago. It was pleasant.