Sappho, Louÿs, Barbier, Debussy & “Les Chansons de Bilitis”

04 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Literature, Music

Tags

Bilitis, Claude Debussy, Debussy, Domaine Musical, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Louÿs, Rueil-Malmaison, Songs of Bilitis

: Pierre Louÿs, by Henri Bataille*

*Félix-Henri Bataille (b. 4 April 1872 in Nîmes, France, d. 2 March 1922 in Rueil-Malmaison) was a French dramatist and poet. His works were extremely popular between 1900 and the start of World War I. (Wikipedia)

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Claude Debussy by Nadar* 1908

*Félix Nadar, the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1 April 1820, Paris – 23 March 1910), had many talents. For instance, he was a ballonist. However, he is remembered by most as a great photographer.

Claude-Achille Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) is, arguably, the most prominent French composer of the late nineteenth century. He was extremely innovative. According to Wikipedia, he was a “crucial figure in the transition to the modern era in Western music, [and] he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers.” (Wikipedia)

When I was researching Pierre Louÿs‘ Les Chansons de Bilitis, who may be the Greek poet Sappho, I discovered more than Barbier’s erotic illustrations. The famous Claude Debussy had written music for twelve of Bilitis’s songs.

The Story is as follows…

During the winter of 1900-1901, Claude Debussy was asked by writer Pierre Louÿs to compose music for a public reading of twelve of Louÿs’ Chansons de Bilitis. Debussy composed music to be performed by a rather unusual combination of instruments: two flutes, two harps and a celesta.

The score was not published at the time the music was composed. In fact, the music was played only once during the composer’s lifetime, on 7 February 1901. The autograph partition was then given to Pierre Louÿs, but the manuscript vanished.

However, there remained enough of the autograph partition for French composer, conductor and pianist Pierre Boulez to complete Debussy’s composition. Debussy’s work was therefore performed again on 10 April 1954 during a concert of the Domaine Musical, a concert society established by Pierre Boulez in Paris.

Yet, Debussy’s composition remained in manuscript form until a score, prepared by Arthur Hoérée (1897-1986), a Belgian composer, was published in 1971. Hoérée composed music for several films.

For lovers of Debussy’s music, hearing the following may prove a transcendental experience. Debussy is a giant.

As for this blogger, she is now leaving Barbier behind as dealing with his entourage is leading her away from the blogs she is working on: Quebec. There is more on Bilitis. Yet may I say that, although Bilitis knew Sappho and although the songs are attributed to Bilitis, Sappho was the greater poet. What if the Songs of Bilitis meant: the songs Bilitis sang? Well, it’s a mystery and mysteries can be convenient.

For more information on Bilitis, you may wish to visit Badaboomblog, a site operated by a French WordPress colleague.

I hope sincerely that you will enjoy Debussy’s / Hoérée’s music to accompany Les Chansons de Bilitis and wish you a lovely weekend.

August 4th, 2012

WordPress

Pierre Louÿs’ Songs of Bilitis

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, French Literature, Love

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Art Deco, George Barbier, Le Grand Cyrus, Lesbos, Madeleine de Scudéry, Pierre Louÿs, Sapho, Sappho, Shappic love, Songs of Bilitis

George_Barbier_Untitled_pochoir_from_1922_Corrard_edition_Chansons_de_Bilitis

Les Chansons de Bilitis, untitled pochoir by George Barbier (1882–1932), from the 1922 edition of Songs of Bilitis, edited by Pierre Corrard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bilitis is also a film

Pierre Louÿs

Pierre Louÿs (Dec. 10, 1870, Ghent, Belgium – June 4, 1925, Paris, France), was a “French novelist and poet whose merit and limitation were to express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection.”[i]

In 1894, Louÿs, who was born Pierre Louis, published Les Chansons de Bilitis (1894), prose poems about Sapphic love. According to Wikipedia, The Songs of Bilitis were written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis, a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho. As for Sappho, who could be Bilitis, she was an ancient Greek poet, a woman, born on the Island of Lesbos between 630 and 612. She was very gifted as a poet and was, therefore, included among the Nine Lyric Poets. Pierre Louÿs translated the mostly lost Sapphic, i. e. lesbian poems of Bilitis or, possibly, Sappho. So it would appear he invented many of them, showing talent, “stylistic perfection,” and providing himself and his readers with an opportunity to indulge in both exoticism and eroticism.

Exoticism and eroticism are very effective marketing tools, which may have motivated Louÿs to “fill in the blanks.” As we know, many of the “Bilitis” or Sappho’s poems, were Louÿs own poems. He was therefore able to deceive many readers, which is quite an accomplishment on Louÿs part, but somewhat humiliating for those readers who thought they were reading what my students would call “the real thing.” Given the artful eroticism that pervades “Les Chansons de Bilitis,” let us be a little forgiving with respect to those who were deceived. According to Britannica, Louÿs’s finest achievement is La Femme et le pantin (1898; Woman and Puppet), which is set in Spain. More exoticism!

Sapho: the seventeenth-century France

In seventeenth-century France, the famous salonnière (from Salon) and late précieuse Madeleine de Scudéry (15 November 1607 – 2 June 1701) nicknamed herself Sapho. Madeleine de Scudéry is the author of Le Grand Cyrus or Artamène, arguably the longest novel ever written. She is also the main cartographer of the Map of Tendre, a map of love included in Le Grand Cyrus. Madeleine de Scudéry was Georges de Scudéry‘s younger sister. So the memory of Sappho linguered in the mind of erudite salonnières. Not to mention that the Greek Sappho wrote love poems. But did they know that Shappic love was lesbian love?

The Daughters of Bilitist

The Daughters of Bilitist[iii] is a gay rights movement, active since the middle of the twentieth century. We have little information on Bilitist, who wrote in the manner of Sappho, but we know Sappho was born in Lesbos and, although she is purported to have given birth to a daughter, Leïs, Sappho’s mother’ name, even Ancient Greeks doubted Sappho’s heterosexuality. She may of course have been a lesbian, but this mattered little to the citizens of Ancient Greece. She may also have had an affair with Thracian courtesan Rhodopis, which is fascinating as Rhodopis would be Cinderella. This, however, I must investigate. I must also investigate the reason why Sappho was exiled to Sicily? It would have been a short exile as she lived in Lesbos for most of her life. She probably died around 570 BC.

Sappho as a Poet

Sappho was an extremely talented poet, one of the Nine Lyric Poets, not a trivial achievement. However, most of her poetry has been lost. What is left is mostly fragments. Moreover, Sappho wrote in Aeolian Greek, a lesser–known Ancient Greek dialect of which there were several. She therefore had fewer readers.

George Barbier

George Barbier illustrated Pierre Louÿs’ Chansons de Bilitis and did so discretely and tastefully. I have therefore included a video or his illustrations, hence the above information.

—ooo—

[i] “Pierre Louÿs.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 03 Aug. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/349430/Pierre-Louys>.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] “Daughters of Bilitis.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 03 Aug. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/152374/Daughters-of-Bilitis>.

[iv] “Sappho.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 03 Aug. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/523753/Sappho>.

Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918)

Chanson de Bilitis “La Chevelure”

Irène Joachim