December 25, 1763-January 23, 1805 Division 29
48° 51’32.59″ N 2° 23’42.76″ E
Look for a pile of rocks topped by what looks like the pieces of a child’s erector set and you’ve found Claude Chappe. Claude Chappe has the distinction of inventing what could loosely be called the first mechanical Internet (with apologies to various cultures who used smoke signals and other means to communicate messages). Chappe invented the first practical semaphore system A semaphore is a mechanical system of conveying messages using devices such as flags, paddles or blades. Chappe’s system used 2 ladder-like arms connected to a central ladder-like arm Various configurations of the arms resulted in 196 unique combinations. The Chappe semaphores, which had arms from 3 feet to 30 feet long, were placed atop towers 10 to 20 miles apart. Each tower had a telescope powerful enough to read a message. Then the semaphore signaler configured his semaphore and so on down the line. The first semaphore line was built in 1792, and in a few years it was in wide use throughout France and was spreading rapidly through the rest of Europe. Indeed, Napoleon used a semaphore line to relay messages to his army. Chappe originally called his invention a tachygraph (literally, fast writer), but a friend suggested telegraph (far writer) and the name stuck. Alas, Chappe’s telegraph was widely copied with no credit or compensation to him Depressed and ill, he committed suicide by throwing himself down a well at his hotel.
February 22 or March l,1810-0ctober 17, 1849 Division 11
48° 51′ 36.82″ N 2° 23′ 34.10″ E
One of the most visited graves at Pere-Lachaise is for a foreigner from Poland. Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was born at Zelazowa Wola, about 40 miles west of present-day Warsaw, Poland. His father, Nicolas Chopin, was a Frenchman who had emigrated to Poland at age 16, but the family was very infused with the Polish spirit, as well as an abundance of musical talent. Indeed, even when living in Paris, Chopin was described as being more Polish than Poland. At a very young age Frederic displayed an appreciation as well as a talent for music. At age 6 he was trying to mimic piano pieces he had heard his mother play, and by age 7 he had composed 2 Polonaises (a slow dance in 3/4 time). In the fall of 1826 Chopin began his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory and was immediately recognized as a musical genius.
He is now considered one of the great masters of what is called Romantic music. Romantic music is not limited to romantic love; rather it is meant to convey penetrating feelings and truths. Frederic Chopin moved to Paris in late 1831 during the first great wave of Polish emigration which took place during an uprising and subsequent war with Russia. Although he was a recognized genius as a composer and piano virtuoso he only gave 30 public performances from 1831 until his death in 1849. Rather, he preferred the salon atmosphere and supported himself by selling his compositions and giving piano lessons. The bulk of Chopin’s compositions are for solo piano, but he also composed a few chamber pieces, piano concertos and others.
Chopin had health problems for much of his life and things took a turn for the worse in late 1848. He soldiered on, but by summer 1849 it was clear he did not have long to live. Although the cause of his death has never been absolutely verified, it appears that tuberculosis was a major factor in his demise. Pursuant to his wishes, Chopin’s heart was removed and taken to Poland. It is sealed within a pillar in Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church. Frederic Chopin’s funeral was delayed almost 2 weeks since so many people from far away wanted to attend. It was finally held at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris on October 30,1849. Approximately three thousand people attended then took the long march to Pere-Lachaise, where he was laid to rest as the Funeral March from his Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35, was played. Chopin’s monument is topped with a statue of Euterpe, the Greek muse of music. She holds a broken lyre symbolizing a life ended. The monument was sculpted by Auguste Clesinger (1814-1883). Clesinger’s simple vault grave is a short distance away in Division 10.
Mesa Metro Map Photo Gallery
Along with his reliance on English history and law, Otis depended heavily on the sanctity of property to buffer his argument. He argued that liberty could not exist when property could be taken, through taxation, without some form of consent. Mesa Metro Map Taxing the colonies without any form of representation meant depriving them of one of their most essential rights, as freemen, and, if it continued unabated, it would lead to the deprivation of all civil rights and slavery. Otis also made a distinction between prohibitions of trade and taxation. Although liberty could still be enjoyed with prohibitions on trade, it could not survive under taxation without representation. Otis argued that once this barrier of liberty was destroyed, it would never be restored. In Otis’s estimation, the loss of other liberties was also occurring. The common law guarantee of a jury trial had succumbed in cases concerning the admiralty, hence, a colonist’s peculiar privilege of an Englishman and his property was left to the fate of one person.
