Ballet - "Tale of Beatrix Potter" Part 1

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• published: 19 Mar 2014
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Ballet - "Tale of Beatrix Potter" Starring Royal Ballet Music by John Lanchbery Directed by Reginald Mills Choreography by Frederic Ashton - - - A Short Biography Of Beatrix Potter - - - Beatrix Potter was born in 1866, and grew up in a well-to-do Victorian household. As such Beatrix was home-schooled by a governess whilst her younger brother Bertram went away to be schooled. Whilst Bertram (her bother) was away at school Beatrix didn't have many opportunities to mix with other children - her only companions were her pet animals, which she kept in the schoolroom. Every summer Beatrix's father rented a country home for the family to stay in, initially he rented in Scotland but changed the family's summer location to the Lake District. During these summers in the countryside Beatrix and Bertram took advantage of their summer location and explored their new surroundings learning about the local plants and animals through their own observations. The first story Beatrix Potter took to be published was 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit'; several publishing firms rejected this book until Beatrix found the publisher 'Frederick Warne'. 'Frederick Warne' published the first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902. After the publishing of her first book and until 1910 Beatrix published an average of 2 books per year. Beatrix's new found income gave her some independence from her parents, although she stilled lived in the family home. In 1905 Norman Warne (Beatrix's editor) proposed to Beatrix, and she accepted his marriage proposal. Beatrix's parents objected to the engagement, as Norman was a 'tradesman' - during Victorian times class divisions were prevalent and as a 'tradesman' Beatrix's parents insisted that he was of a class 'below' the Potter family and was therefore not approved of as an acceptable suitor for Beatrix. Tragically 2 weeks after the engagement of Norman Warne and Beatrix Potter, Norman died of 'pernicious anaemia' (which is caused by a B12 vitamin deficiency), doctors in Victorian times had a limited understanding of the human body, but today due to technological advances doctors are able to recognise and treat this condition. In the same year after Norman's death Beatrix bought her first property - 'Hill Top farm' in the village of Sawrey in the Lake District. Beatrix spent as much time as possible at Hill Top Farm, which was also the setting and influence of some of her work, many of her landscape illustrations show Lakeland scenes in the Lake District which remain unchanged to this day. At the age of 47, Beatrix married William Heelis (a local solicitor), and they made the village of Sawrey their permanent home. At this point in her life Beatrix's writing and paintings took second place; her first priorities were farming and the preservation of land. Beatrix bought deeds to surrounding lands and farms in the Lake District in order to conserve the landscape and to prevent development that would alter it. By the time of Beatrix's death in 1943 she had acquired over 4,000 acres of land and 15 farms -- which she left to the nation.