France has a rich cultural history, not least in music: how much do you know of her composers and her performers?
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
The lai was a type of song; the others are all performers
|
Oratorio was more a Protestant development, so in Catholic France this was not a form that composers would try, though they certainly wrote sacred Cantatas
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arles is a venerable Gallo-Roman settlement in southern France; all the other settings are further afield (Spain, India, Scotland respectively)
|
There are 17 repetitions; the effect is supposed to be progressively mesmeric
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The pianists (with their less than perfect scales) appear in Part 11 of the work. Some people believe that an earlier reference to 'long-eared persons' represents music critics as donkeys!
|
Much of his music has angelic quality about it, but he could also be quite astringent. His influence on a long and rich period of French composition and music-making is almost incalculable
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
If you are not at least passingly familiar with his wonderful work, I strongly recommend that you discover some. You may be surprised to recognise pieces you already knew!
|
He also explored the soundscape of cultures beyond Europe, particularly the Far East
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
'Infernal' merely in the sense of the Underworld; though higher-browed music lovers may well roll their eyes and wonder 'how low can you go?'.
(Meanwhile, there is a very pleasant little Dance of the Nymphs by Montague Birch, from Bournemouth in 1923, which is altogether more quaint!) |
Apparently he had read the theme (from a Braille version) and selected his stops, then slumped forward unconscious with one foot on the pedalboard. What a way to go!
|