Extra Credit Questions

[Eva Elisabeth]

Steve, you are amazing. Kudos, that is correct!

John Nicolay's family history is amazing as well - I accidentally came to learn. I apologize in advance for a possibility lengthy "out of country history". My experience is that links quite often remain untouched, so I go with "if the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain", and summarize some Wiki info for you here:

The history of The Marquisal, Countal and Baronial House of Nicolay (de Nicolaÿ/Nicolaï, von Nicolay/Nicolai) is a journey through European nobility history (reads like the royal columns in the VIP magazines tabloids at the hairdresser...)

The meaning of name Nicolay also well fits into American history - its root being the Greek name Νικολαος (Nikolaos) which means "victory of the people" from Greek νικη (Nike, actually a Goddess) "victory" and λαος (Laos) "people".

However, it is a European noble family of the Ancien Régime with its roots in the south of France (associated with the French noble classes of the Nobles of the Robe and the Nobles of the Sword) at the early part of the 14th Century. There is evidence, however, to suggest that its origins stretch further back to the growth of the city state of Florence at the beginning of the Florentine Renaissance.

Fido would love the painted arms of the House, the description of which reads:
   
"This most ancient and illustrious Countal and Baronial House belongs to the first nobility of Germany and France and has at different times obtained the highest distinction in the Army, Navy and Diplomatic services".

Overall, family members became highly influential in the spheres of national government, law, the church, academia, military and diplomatic service, as well as the arts.

The earliest known reference to the family de Nicolay begins with Guglielmo, who was born close to Florence, and accompanied Pope Clement V in around 1305, when the Papacy was first established in Poitiers, a city on the Clain river in west-central France (and major university center).

Of the notable members of the German branch of the House of Nicolay, Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (1810-1849) is probably the best-known one. Born in Königsberg, Prussia (where my maternal family originates, too), he became a composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic, Hofkapellmeister (conductor) at the Berlin Staatsoper and member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts. Of his five operas and other compositions, "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is the most popular one.

Steve, you win this video of Vienna Philharmonic playing the overture of The Merry Wives of Windsor at one of the annual New Year's Concerts:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFZsz3Ioj8

The location (and home of the orchestra) is the Wiener Musikverein, a concert hall in Vienna
       
- more precisely the "Great Hall", also descriptively called "Golden Hall". Due to its highly regarded acoustics, it is considered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with Berlin's Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Boston's Symphony Hall. The Great Hall's lively acoustics until today remain a mystery (like the Stradivari violines' sound) as entirely based on the Danish architect Theophil Hansen's intuition.