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Micheline's Blog

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Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Hector Berlioz

Vive la France

14 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in France

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bastille Day, Eugène Delacroix, Hector Berlioz, La Marseillaise, The July Revolution 1830, The Tennis-Court Oath

640px-Eugène_Delacroix_-_La_liberté_guidant_le_peuple

La Liberté guidant le peuple par Eugène Delacroix, 1830 (Wiki2.org)

Eugène Delacroix‘ “Liberty Guiding the People,” is a symbol of France and, perhaps, its main pursuit: liberté. Delacroix, an illegitimate son of Talleyrand, chronicled the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire.

However, “Liberty Guiding the People” is associated with the July Revolution, when France toppled Charles X. The Revolution lasted three days. The new king would be Louis-Philippe, Duc d’Orléans. The Orléans were the cadet branch of the Bourbon kings. Louis-Philippe was the son of Philippe Égalité who espoused early objectives of the French Revolution: equality. He voted in favour of the execution, by guillotine, of Louis XVI, his cousin. Louis-Philippe II, duc d’Orléans, was guillotined on 6 November 1793.

On 14 July 1789, a crowd stormed the Bastille Prison. But the Revolution had begun on 20 June 1789. Delegates to the Estates General had found the door to the room where they met locked. They took refuge in an interior tennis court and vowed “not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established.” (See Tennis Court Oath, Le Serment du Jeu de Paume, Wiki2.org.)

RELATED ARTICLES 

  • Abbé Sieyès’ “Third Estate” (6 August 2018)
  • The Tennis Court Oath  (8 February 2014)

—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

Hector Berlioz‘s La Marseillaise

Earliest known picture of Jeu de Paume from a Book of Hours (c. 1300)

Earliest known picture of Jeu de Paume from a Book of Hours (c. 1300) (commons.wikimedia)

© Micheline Walker
14 July 2019
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France from 1792 to 1870: Moments

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in 19th-Century France, Art, France, Vignette

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Eugène Delacroix, Hector Berlioz, Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, La Marseillaise Hector Berlioz, le Duc de Morny, Liberté guidant le Peuple, Liberty Leading the People, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Rouget de l'Isle

40-11-02/54

La Liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People) by Eugène Delacroix, 1830 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On 14 July, I wanted to publish a post on Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863), one of two illegitimate sons fathered by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838) (2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838), but life took me to a second parking lot narrative. I am learning over and over again that planet Earth is not “the best of all possible worlds” (Voltaire’s Candide).

But let us first take a brief look at events, art, and life in 19th-century France.

The Duc de Morny and Eugène Delacroix: Half-Brothers

We have already met le duc de Morny (15–16 September 1811, Switzerland – 10 March 1865, Paris). He transformed the talented and beautiful Marie Duplessis (15 January 1824 – 3 February 1847) into Paris’ most prominent salonnière and courtesan. At that time in history, many marriages were arranged. In the aristocracy, lineage was a priority. Consequently, men took a mistress. The duc de Morny was born to Hortense de Beauharnais (10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837) and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord’s grandson. But Hortense, whose mother, Joséphine de Beauharnais, married Napoleon I, married Napoleon’s brother, Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland.

David, Delacroix, Ingres: Romanticism and Neoclassicism

Part of Delacroix’s story was told in a post entitled Eugène Delacroix’s “Mandarin Drake” (5 June 2014). Delacroix is associated with Romanticism and therefore differs from Jacques-Louis David (30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) who is presented to students of the fine arts for works such as his Oath of the Horatii, a painting in the neoclassical style. Yet David is also the artist who painted The Death of Marat (1793), a masterpiece one cannot easily subject to pigeonholing.

800px-Jacques-Louis_David_-_Marat_assassinated_-_Google_Art_Project_2

The Death of Marat (1793) by Jacques-Louis David (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jacques-Louis_David_-_Oath_of_the_Horatii_-_Google_Art_Project (1)

Oath of the Horatii (second version; 1786) by Jacques-Louis David (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) is also a very prominent painter. His Grande Odalisque (1814) is magnificent, despite its share of Orientalism:  Art is Art.

1024px-Jean_Auguste_Dominique_Ingres_-_The_Grand_Odalisque_-_WGA11841

Grande Odalisque, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1814 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Régimes from 1792 until the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871)

Between 1792 and 1871, France was a Republic, twice; a Monarchy, twice; an Empire, twice, and it suffered a Second French Revolution, which took place in 1848. The 1848 French Revolution echoed various uprisings occurring in several European countries, some rooted in decisions made at the Congress of Vienna (November 1814 to June 1815), which ended the Napoleonic Wars, others reflecting national disasters, such as the Greek War of Independence. The Greek War of Independence inspired Delacroix, and Lord Byron (2 January 1788 – 19 April 1824). Lord Byron had in fact, become a militant who died of a fever he contracted at Missolonghi.

800px-Eugène_Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_052

Étude d’Arabe assis, Eugène Delacroix, 1830s (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Love & Vive la France ♥

La Marseillaise, Rouget de l’Isle and Hector Berlioz
version intégrale, complete with lyrics, Alex Le Fou (YouTube)

800px-Le_Départ_des_Volontaires_(La_Marseillaise)_par_Rude,_Arc_de_Triomphe_Etoile_Paris

“The Departure of the volunteers of 1792” (a.k.a. La Marseillaise), sculpture by François Rude, Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile, Paris, France (Wikipedia)

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23 July 2018
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“Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Kathleen Battle

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Music

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Antoine Watteau, Hector Berlioz, Jean de Florian, Jean Paul Égide Martini, Kathleen Battle, Micheline Walker, Plaisir d'amour, Wikipedia, words and music

L’Embarquement pour Cythère, Antoine Watteau (1684 – 1721)

Wikipedia‘s entry on Plaisir d’amour is very informative.  For instance, it even contains the lyrics for the song.  I will therefore provide a point-form summary of the story of the song, using the Wikipedia entry.  There are several pop music settings of this song.  Nana Mouskouri ‘s interpretation is particularly delightful, but I have not been able to embed the video.

(please click on the picture to enlarge it)
La Surprise, by Antoine Watteau
 
 

 Plaisir d’amour

  • The words, or lyrics, based on a poem by Jean de Florian (1755–1794), were written in 1780;
  • The text was set to music by Jean Paul Égide Martini in 1784;
  • In 1859, Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), a Romantic composer, arranged the piece for orchestra

Words for Plaisir d’amour

 
Refrain:
Plaisir d’amour ne dure qu’un moment.
Chagrin d’amour dure toute la vie. 
The pleasure of love lasts only a moment.
The pain of love lasts a lifetime.
1)
J’ai tout quitté pour l’ingrate Sylvie.
Elle me quitte pour prendre un autre amant.
I left everything for the ungrateful Sylvia.
She is leaving me for another lover. 
Refrain  
2)
“Tant que cette eau coulera doucement,
Vers ce ruisseau qui borde la prairie,
Je t’aimerai”, me répétait Sylvie.
L’eau coule encore, elle a changé pourtant.
“As long as this water will run gently
Towards this brook which borders the meadow,
I will love you,” Sylvia told me repeatedly.
The water still runs, but she has changed 
Refrain
_________________________
© Micheline Walker
August 13, 2012
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s “Moon River” & the News

25 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Songs

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Anthem of Europe, Breakfast At Tiffany's, Hector Berlioz, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer, Moon River, Tiffany, Truman Capote

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Photobucket)
  

Scott Fitzgerald

 

“Moon River is a song composed by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Henry Mancini (music) in 1961, for whom it won that year’s Academy Award for Best Original Song.  It was originally sung in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Audrey Hepburn, although it has been covered by many other artists. The song also won the 1962 Grammy Award for Record of the Year.” (Wikipedia) Breakfast at Tiffany’s was based  on a story, a novella, written by Truman Capote, born Truman Streckfus Persons (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984), and entitled Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958).

(Photo credit: The Saturday Evening Post)

Johnny Mercer

As mentioned above, Johnny Mercer (18 November 1909 – 25 June 1976) wrote the lyrics to Moon River.  His hometown, near Savannah, Georgia was named Moon River in honor of him and this song.  But Mercer moved to New York in 1928.  He wrote the lyrics for approximately fifteen hundred songs.

Setting Words to Music in History

Students of musicology know that setting lyrics to a melody is an extremely difficult task.  Think of all the Masses, the numerous versions of the Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Ave Maria, etc.  In fact, liturgical music is art.  Moreover, think of Operas.  Mozart set to music the words of Lorenzo da Ponte, his librettist.  They worked marvels together. The same kind of relationship may have existed between Henry Mancini or Enrico Nicola “Henry” Mancini (16 April 1924 – 14 June 1994) and Johnny Mercer. In short, we have librettists (Operas), and lyricists (songs), etc.

Programmatic Music

I have read somewhere that so-called “programmatic music” had died.  Has it?  What about film music?  To my knowledge, the term “programmatic” was coined by Franz Liszt who distributed to the audience the program or story of Hector Berlioz‘s Symphonie fantastique (1830), the day it premièred.  Programmatic music is referential music as opposed to “absolute music,” which is non referential music.  A mere title, such as Lullaby, suffices to make a piece of music reverential.  As a result, Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony (1823) is programmatic music.  Its Choral movement, the fourth, is a setting of Friedrich Schiller‘s “Ode to Joy,” An die Freude, written in 1785 and revised in 1803.  An die Freude is now the Anthem of Europe.

Remembering “Moon River”

The version of Moon River I am featuring is performed by Andy Williams.  Moon River is an American song that crossed many borders and has been interpreted by many singers.  It is etched in the mind and the heart of millions of people.  My WordPress colleague CollTales brought it back to my memory.

P. S.  I may not be able to send links to the News anymore.  I see the word “remove” next to the sites I am using.  I must investigate.

English 
The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN
 
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/
 
French
Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/
La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
 
German
Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
 
© Micheline Walker
25 July 2012
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