Step into the world of Paris in the 1930s…
“Imagine a street in Montparnasse, Paris. Marcel Mule (1901-2001) French saxophonist, is sat at a table with his close friend and composer Paule Maurice and her husband Pierre Lantier. They drink coffee and reminisce about their trips to Provence, which would become the inspiration for Tableaux de Provence. Across the café they spot Claude Delvincourt, who later invited Marcel to re-start the saxophone class when he became the director of the Paris Conservatoire.”
Return to the vibrant café culture of 1930s Paris, a time and place where music, art, and intellectual pursuits intertwine to create an enchanting atmosphere; a world of creative expression.
I have had great fun planning this concert of music for saxophone and piano for a concert as part of the Swindon Recital Series, founded by Artistic Director, pianist Paul Turner. I am delving into the music of the 1930s featuring works by influential composers of the period, including Darius Milhaud, Jacques Ibert, Claude Delvincourt and Paule Maurice. I have also spent some time researching the music, both formal and informal, that artists would have heard at the time. The sounds of jazz, French chanson, tango, and classical music mingling, creating a harmonious backdrop to lively conversations and spirited debates.
Concert Programme
To open the concert and set the mood for our evening at Café La Rotonde in 1930s Montparnasse:
Café 1930 – Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Piazzolla visited Paris in 1954 when he received a scholarship from the French government to study composition with renowned composer Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger’s guidance had a profound influence on Piazzolla’s musical development, encouraging him to embrace his own musical language and incorporate elements of tango into his compositions.
Tango music would have been part of the café culture scene in the 1930s, and Piazzolla himself described the tango of the 1930s as beginning to be more romantic as people stopped dancing to it, preferring to listen. The harmonies became more melancholic.
Croquembouches – Claude Delvincourt (1888-1954)
Plum Pudding – British Christmas Pudding, play with British humour!
Puits D’Amour – Well of love, a desert with a hollow centre filled with jam
Noir et Blanc – a rich chocolate cake with thick whipped cream
Linzer Tart – traditional Austrian pastry with fruit jam and sliced nuts with a lattice top.
Grenadine – the syrup often used in cocktails.
Rahat Loukhoum – Turkish delight.
Sicilienne – Pierre Lantier (1910-1998)
Composed by Maurice’s husband and friend of Marcel Mule
Tableaux de Provence mvt 2 & 3 – Paule Maurice (1910-1967)
II Cansoun per ma mio (Song for my love)
III La Boumiano (Bohemian woman)
Chanson et Passepied – Jeanine Rueff (1922-1999)
Jeanine Rueff was the assistant in the saxophone class of Marcel Mule from 1950
Mack the Knife – Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
Kurt Weill was a German-Jewish composer. He fled to Paris in 1933, writing Threepenny opera in 1928 which premiered in Berlin and was first performed in Paris in October 1930 at the theatre Montparnasse.
INTERVAL
Scaramouche – Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)
III Brazileira
Milhaud was a member of the influencial group of French composers, Les Six.
Histoires – Jacques Ibert (1890 –1962)
La meneuse de tortues d’or – the leader of the golden tortoises
Le petit âne blanc – the little white donkey
Le vieux mendiant – the old beggar
Dans la maison triste – in the sad house
Le palais abondonné – the abandoned palace
Bajo la mesa – under the table
La cage de cristal – the crystal cage
La Marchande d’eau fraîche – the water seller
Sax-o-phun – Rudy Wiedoeft (1893-1940)
Reminiscent of the music hall genre. The virtuoso saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft was renowned for creating sounds never before heard on the saxophone. The use of slap tongue and note bends are used in this piece, the famous laughing saxophone.
A Gershwin Fantasy – George Gershwin arr. Ralph Martino
The influences of Paris in the mid 1920s led Gershwin to compose An American in Paris.