Now that summer has just about arrived on the campus of Indiana University, the Ether Game Brain Trust is doing some travelling this month of May. It's a May-cation to different Musical Metropolises! Our first stop along the journey to different musical cities is the City of Lights, Paris! Grab your baguette, don your beret, and check out our Parisian playlist below:
https://youtu.be/bGcEYALnk8s?t=11m24s
- Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Suite Bergamasque: Clair de lune – Some of the finest artists and thinkers have called the city of Paris home, and this was especially true of the period in the late 19th and early 20th century known as the "Belle Époque." This is the period that birthed the impressionist movement, the Paris Opera, the Ballet Russes, and the "Universal Expositions" that brought international culture (and the Eiffel Tower) into the city. It was the time of great artists like Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Auguste Rodin; great writers like Émile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, Marcel Proust, and poet Paul Verlaine; and great composers like Camille Saint-Saens, Georges Bizet, and Claude Debussy. All of these artists didn't live in a vacuum, either. They collaborated and were influenced by one another. For instance, this famous piece "Clair de Lune" by Debussy, from the Suite Bergamasque was based on a Paul Verlaine poem of the same name.
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- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K. 297 "Paris" – Mozart's "Paris" Symphony was composed for the occasion of the "Concert Spirituel" that took place in the city in 1778. This concert series began in Paris in 1725, and was the first public concert series of its kind (most concerts of this scope were reserved for just royal patrons). The concert took place adjacent to royalty, though, at the Tuileries Palace on the right bank of the Seine, which was the home of the royal family in France. Mozart wrote this piece when he was only 22 years old, but at that point, he was no stranger to the city. He had first visited Paris in 1764, touring with his family as a child prodigy.  The family stayed for five months, except for a two-week excursion to Versailles, where the young Wolfgang played before Louis XV. During this first visit to Paris, Wolfgang published his first music-two keyboard sonatas.
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- Jules Massenet (1842–1912), "Meditation" from Thaïs – Jules Massenet lead a double life in Paris as both a professor at the Paris Conservatoire and a composer of opera. However, though Massenet was a highly respected and successful academic, the reception of his operas in Paris were more lukewarm. His opera Thaïs, which is now considered a masterpiece, did not receive positive reviews until its first revival, four years after it was premiered. Massenet based his opera on a novel of the same name by French author Anatole France. The lead character, Thaïs, is a beautiful courtesan and a priestess of Venus, living with a wealthy man in Alexandria. In one scene, A christian monk tells her of a different, more righteous path. Thaïs meditates, accompanied by this lovely intermezzo for violin and orchestra, and resolves to devote the rest of her life to God. This "Meditation" intermezzo has gone on to become one of the most beloved concert pieces for violinists.
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- George Gershwin (1898–1937), An American In Paris – Paris has always been a tourist destination. 1% of the entire population of the Earth visits France every year, and it's estimated that 4 out of every 5 people in Paris are tourists. Tourism is also the subject of this piece "An American In Paris" by George Gershwin, inspired by a European trip he took in 1928. It depicts an American walking through the busy streets of gay Paree, and feeling homesick for the jazz and blues music from back home. Jazz music soon took over the city, with the Hot Club de Paris opening in 1932, and its famous members Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli soon becoming stars. Parisian composers like Maurice Ravel were even incorporating jazz into their music at this time. Fun fact: Gershwin, hoping to expand his musical palette, asked Ravel for lessons. Ravel declined, saying "Why should you be a second-rate Ravel when you can be a first-rate Gershwin?"
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- Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687),Armide – Most royal courts in Europe completely embraced Italian opera in the Baroque era, but not Louis XIV's court in Paris. Though Italian operas were occasionally heard in France, Louis wanted musical dramas performed at his court that exemplified French artistic tastes and more importantly, glorified his reign. Ironically, he entrusted this mission to an Italian dancer who had already won his favor by the time he ascended the throne. Jean-Baptiste Lully (he changed his name from Giovanni Baptista) single-handedly developed a style of French opera while he was court music director that remained distinct from its Italian counterpart. One of his most successful tactics was setting the French language in recitative, when it had previously been thought that French could not convincingly be spoken in this operatic form. The last opera written by Lully, Armide was one of his finest. It set such a standard that almost eighty years later, composers were still being discussed in terms of how closely they hewed to the Lullian model.
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- Francis Poulenc (1899–1963), Mouvements Perpetuels – French music of the early to mid-20th century is an eclectic blend of many musical styles. One can hear elements of Romantic music as well as a sprinkling of jazz and maybe even a pinch of twelve-tone techniques à la Schoenberg. A group of French composers during this period started garnering recognition for their experimental work, and were given the nickname "Les Six." Their main claim to fame was writing music that was a reaction against the over-the-top romanticism of Wagner as well as branching away from the Impressionist mold created by Debussy and his contemporaries. One of the most notable members of Les Six was Francis Poulenc, who enjoyed a hugely successful international career in his lifetime. We just heard a movement from his most famous piece of music Mouvements Perpetuels, which was composed and successfully premiered while Poulenc was a student of another great Parisian composer, Erik Satie.
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- Pérotin (fl. c. 1200), Viderunt Omnes – For centuries, Paris has been a center of shifting artistic and cultural trends, but it was also the birthplace of one of classical music's most fundamental features: polyphony, the simultaneous combining of independent melodies. The largest collection of polyphonic music from the Middle Ages was born at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, from the so-called Notre Dame School. The music is characterized by lengthy polyphonic passages and repetitive rhythmic patterns. Many of these works were composed by two men, Masters Léonin and Pérotin. In fact, most of Perotin's compositions are lengthy substitute sections that were inserted into Leonin's works. Viderunt omnes, heard moments ago, is based on a chant for Christmas. Almost all we know about both composers is found in a single treatise, famously known as Anonymous IV.
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- Louis Vierne (1870–1937), Triptyque, Op. 58, "Stele pour un enfant défunt" – The grand Gothic cathedral known as Notre-Dame de Paris, as we heard in the last round, has been at the center of musical life in Paris dating back to the 13th century. By the time the 20th-century rolled around, you might imagine the job as the head organist at Notre Dame might be revered. That's what composer and organist Louis Vierne thought. It was not only his lifelong dream to serve this role, but it was his desire to die at the console of Notre Dame's great organ. Well, that's exactly what happened. On June 2, 1937, Vierne was giving his 1750th organ recital at Notre Dame with his pupil Maurice Duruflé at his side. Just after performing this piece, Vierne suffered a heart attack, fell off the bench, and died as his foot struck the low E pedal, ringing throughout the entire church. What a way to go!
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- Édith Piaf, "La Vie En Rose" – The story of Edith Piáf is one of rags to riches. Originally born Edith Giovanna Gassion, she spent much of her childhood being looked after by prostitutes. When she was twenty years old, she was persuaded to sing by Parisian club owner Louis Leplée despite her extreme nervousness. Being only four feet, eight inches in height, Leplée gave her the nickname of "La Môme Piaf," which means "the little sparrow." She eventually changed her name to Edith Piáf and continued on a remarkable career, starring in a play by Jean Cocteau and writing the words to her own songs. Her fame would eventually outgrow the boundaries of Europe and seep in to the United States where she gave performances at Carnegie Hall and on the Ed Sullivan show. Piáf's life was sadly cut short by liver cancer, and she died at the age of 47. She was buried and is often visited at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
