Guest of Anne Roumanoff's program "It feels good", Stéphane Bern reveals several crisp historical anecdotes of which he has the secret, taken from the new issue of the magazine "Secrets d'Histoire".
INTERVIEW
Stéphane Bern is publishing a new issue of his magazine
Secrets d'Histoire
, from the eponymous TV show.
The host of Europe 1 unveils at the microphone of Anne Roumanoff three unusual historical anecdotes, taken from the quarterly.
They prove that reality often exceeds the imagination of fiction writers ...
>> Find all of Anne Roumanoff's shows in replay and podcast here
The "Letter to Elise", written for another
His first story is a musical revelation: Ludwig Von Beethoven did not write the famous "Letter to Elise" for an Elise.
"The guy who found the score read 'Letter to ... himself', because there was a big ink stain," says Stéphane Bern.
He therefore imagined a female given name ending in "se".
And he chose Elise, because his own girlfriend was called Elise.é.
Before dirtying the score, Beethoven would in fact have called his composition "Letter to Thérèse".
"Beethoven's lover was in fact called Thérèse", explains the host.
"She was a very famous singer at the time".
It would therefore be a piece for Thérèse Malfatti, even if posterity has not retained her first name.
>> Find the shows of Matthieu Noël and Stéphane Bern in replay and podcast here
The love protocol of Ninon de l'Enclos
The presenter of Eurovision and
Secrets d'Histoire
then continues with another anecdote, also in love, but lighter.
It concerns Ninon de l'Enclos, inventor of "the pretty way of making love".
This 17th century courtesan made each suitor follow the same route: long conversation, date over dinner, then passage to the bedroom.
"She made the pleasure last," sums up Stéphane Bern.
A novelty for the French court at the time.
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Régis Mailhot to Stéphane Bern: "Long live the king!"
This love protocol is known today thanks in particular to the writings of the time.
"Many men have told it in their memories, there were enough of them", laughs the man from radio and TV.
"That's the problem when you open your room to well-born people, who had things to tell in a book at the end of their life."
From fistula to "God save the Queen"
Stéphane Bern also reveals that the British anthem,
God save the Queen
, was born from an anal fistula of the king of France Louis XIV.
"It's a story that has a lot of foundation, and which has entered the annals of history", he comments, not without double meaning.
Royal composer Jean-Baptiste Lully is said to have written a piece to celebrate the king's recovery from the operation for his fistula.
But, back then, copyright laws were not those of our time.
"Georg Friedrich Handel hears this melody and says to himself that it will be very good for the British anthem", says Stéphane Bern, before adding, in a laughing tone: "This melody is also the anthem of Liechtenstein, but apparently nobody cares! "