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—Return to classical ideals: reason, balance, clarity, economy of means.
Il pleure dans mon coeur
II. One of the principal factors in creating a truly idiomatic French style was the intimate connections between composers and poets of the late 19th and 20th centuries.
“To name an object is to destroy it; but to suggest it, that is my dream.”
—Stéphane Mallarmé
"De la musique avant toute chose...De la musique encore et toujours!"
—Paul Verlaine
Symbolism vs. Impressionism. Evocative, understated, hints at what is to be said. “I’ve had more power over an audience with a silence than I ever had with a note!”
—Mary Garden
Claude Debussy
Paul Verlaine
Francis Poulenc
Guillaume Apollinaire
III. Looking elsewhere for inspiration.
SPAIN
España
Emmanuel Chabrier
"Andalusian bottoms writhing like snakes in the mating season."
Carmen 1873
Georges Bizet
Iberia
La sérénade interrompue
La puerta del Vino
Soirée dans Grenade
Claude Debussy
Rapsodie espagnole
Alborada del grazioso
Bolero
Maurice Ravel
Violin Sonata mvt ii
Francis Poulenc
La puerta del Vino at the Alhambra in Granados, Spain
AMERICAN JAZZ
Violin-Piano Sonata "Blues" mvt ii Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Violin-Piano Sonata "Blues" mvt ii Janine Jensen
Piano Concerto in G Major
Maurice Ravel
Sydney Bechet (1897-1959), clarinetist, was next to Josephine Baker the most beloved Black American performer in France during the 1920's onward. He died in France on his birthday, May 14, in 1959.
He met Baker for the first time in 1925, when he sailed to France as part of the troupe of La Revue Nègre, which opened on October 2, 1925 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
His signature sound, a throbbing vibrato on a soprano saxophone, the "skinny saxophone" resonates throughout his iconic recordings such as:
Summertime recorded in 1939 with guitarist Teddy Bunn, a most expressive rendition (which Gershwin sadly never heard, having died in July 1937).
Sidney Bechet & Mistinguett, 1951. Sidney's wedding in Antibes. (Mistinguett was Maurice Chevalier's wife and beloved music-hall performer).
Josephine Baker and the cast of La Revue Nègre. Sidney Bechet is in the back row, wearing a hat, visible just to the left of Baker. He was the star musician of the show; she was the star dancer.
The first great soprano saxophone soloist, the "skinny saxophone," Sydney Bechet was way ahead of his time. Photo of his band in 1923.
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) made her debut at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, and immediately seduced the French. Self-taught, defying conventions, she was the first Western dancer to appear bare-foot without tights on stage. She danced in Paris all through the 1920's.
"Dance is the movement of the universe concentrated in an individual."
—Isadora Duncan
Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) danced at the Folies Bergères as early as 1892, at the age of 22. Mallarmé described her in 1893 as “an artistic intoxication.”
Joséphine Baker (1906-1975): "I shall dance all my life... I would like to die breathless, spent, at the end of a dance."
Beautiful documentary, her life, her castle, her rainbow family.
RUSSIA and THE ORIENT's gamelan orchestras
Pagodes from "Estampes"
Cloches à travers les feuilles from "Images II" - to follow the score -
Claude Debussy
IV. Bridging the divide between popular music and "classical" through music halls and popular institutions:
Cabaret Artistique, Café-Concert, Circus, Fairs, Cinema, Music Hall
Le Chat Noir (Cabaret Artistique)
Les Folies-Bergère (Music -Hall)
Olympia (Music Hall)
Casino de Paris (Music Hall)
Le Bateau-Lavoir, an old building in Montmartre was cheaply divided into small studios and squatted by artists as early as 1889. No heating and only one point of water. In 1903 Picasso moved in with his lover at the time, Fernande Olivier, as did Modigliani, Matisse, Apollinaire, Marie Laurencin, André Derain, Max Jacob etc... throughout 1900-1913, forming a thriving art community. Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was painted there in 1906, as was his portrait of Gertrude Stein.
"Nous retournerons tous au Bateau-Lavoir, nous n'aurons vraiment été heureux que là." —Pablo Picasso, 1945
"We will all go back to the Bateau-Lavoir, it's the only place we were ever happy." —Pablo Picasso, 1945
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