"Carmen" has an American version played by an all Negro cast. I think it is pretty good. I also think I have figured out pop culture. Its project is to invert all values as an indirect war against Christianity.
“ Challenging our inherent biases and organizational structural barriers in order to holistically diversify POP's stage performers, Board of Directors, volunteers, audiences, and administration.”
Here is Murray's "Human Accomplishment" list of French composers born before Appomattox, for those who want to explore what Americans have been missing. (Auber is #15.) Probably the only name Americans recognize before Debussy besides Bizet is Berlioz and maybe Saint-Saëns. Most probably have heard of Rousseau too but didn't know he wrote music. (Also, he's Swiss.)
Perhaps Gluck & Meyerbeer, though German, & worked primarily in France, ought to be included. Berlioz attributed much of his inspiration to Gluck. Fun list , though. Might read the book.
I agree that French music is its own thing. When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how that worked. I could see that Francois Couperin, who died in 1733, had started a lineage that led to the twentieth century French composers I so admired, but I didn't have a strong enough background in theory and composition to produce explanations for what was going on. I never got beyond, "Well, just listen to this, you'll hear the difference!"
I know this is not primarily a sports blog, but I enjoy those diversions when they come. I would enjoy a post about this year's MLB MVP vote where both leagues had a repeat winner for the first time ever
"This is true even though Bizet’s Carmen is the second most often staged opera in this country in this century"
In 1915, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille filmed Carmen, with superstar opera diva Geraldine Ferrar. DeMille included the famous fight in a factory, which, up to that point the Opera never had included. Due in no small part to the 1915 filmed version of Carmen, most or nearly all staged operatic productions of Carmen now include the fight scene.
So basically, Steve's point appears to be that what the French lack in composers they more than make up for in Art and Literature as well. From Jean Fouquet, LeBrun, to Monet and Manet; from
Moliere, Racine, to Balzac, Flaubert, France is definitely amply represented in the visual and verbal arts.
However in the Classical music age Marc-Antoine Charpentier being another example of artistic composers from France.
Ravel has always been my favorite French composer, largely because I was introduced to his music when it was played in the background while Bo Derek was taking off her clothes in Ten (and I was about ten).
"Carmen" has an American version played by an all Negro cast. I think it is pretty good. I also think I have figured out pop culture. Its project is to invert all values as an indirect war against Christianity.
Camille Saint-Saëns (b. 1835), Hector Berlioz (b. 1803)
Pacific Opera Project has jumped onto the DIE bandwagon:
https://www.pacificoperaproject.com/our-story
I got a laugh out of this line:
“ Challenging our inherent biases and organizational structural barriers in order to holistically diversify POP's stage performers, Board of Directors, volunteers, audiences, and administration.”
Here is Murray's "Human Accomplishment" list of French composers born before Appomattox, for those who want to explore what Americans have been missing. (Auber is #15.) Probably the only name Americans recognize before Debussy besides Bizet is Berlioz and maybe Saint-Saëns. Most probably have heard of Rousseau too but didn't know he wrote music. (Also, he's Swiss.)
name . . . birth year . . . index score
Debussy, Claude . . . 1862 . . . 45.36
Berlioz, Hector . . . 1803 . . . 40.60
Rameau, Jean . . . 1683 . . . 21.96
Josquin des Prez . . . 1440 . . . 16.98
Fauré, Gabriel . . . 1845 . . . 13.31
Gounod, Charles . . . 1818 . . . 13.01
Couperin, François . . . 1668 . . . 12.86
Saint-Saëns, Camille . . . 1835 . . . 12.67
Machaut, Guillaume de . . . 1300 . . . 11.79
Bizet, Georges . . . 1838 . . . 10.32
Indy, Vincent d’ . . . 1851 . . . 9.24
Massenet, Jules . . . 1842 . . . 8.53
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques . . . 1712 . . . 7.59
Pérotin . . . 1090 . . . 6.30
Auber, Daniel . . . 1782 . . . 5.32
Janequin, Clément . . . 1475 . . . 5.30
Méhul, Étienne . . . 1763 . . . 5.19
Chabrier, Alexis . . . 1841 . . . 5.01
Boieldieu, Adrien . . . 1775 . . . 4.92
Leoninus . . . 1070 . . . 4.91
Charpentier, Marc . . . 1643 . . . 4.26
Adam de la Halle . . . 1244 . . . 4.12
Lesueur, Jean . . . 1760 . . . 3.81
Goudimel, Claude . . . 1510 . . . 3.47
Philidor, François . . . 1726 . . . 3.31
Chambonnèires, Jacques de . . . 1601 . . . 3.28
Campra, André . . . 1660 . . . 3.25
Arcadelt, Jacques . . . 1505 . . . 3.24
Le Jeune, Claude . . . 1528 . . . 3.21
Chausson, Ernest . . . 1855 . . . 3.17
Thomas, Ambroise . . . 1811 . . . 3.14
Monsigny, Pierre . . . 1729 . . . 2.97
Duparc, Henri . . . 1848 . . . 2.95
Cambert, Robert . . . 1628 . . . 2.90
Verdelot, Philippe . . . 1495 . . . 2.80
Sermisy, Claudin de . . . 1490 . . . 2.69
Mouton, Jean . . . 1459 . . . 2.64
Couperin, Louis . . . 1626 . . . 2.54
Certon, Pierre . . . 1510 . . . 2.40
Delibes, Clément . . . 1836 . . . 2.39
Charpentier, Gustave . . . 1860 . . . 2.25
Hérold, Louis . . . 1791 . . . 2.08
Compère, Loyset . . . 1450 . . . 1.74
Mauduit, Jacques . . . 1557 . . . 1.66
Costelely, Guillaume . . . 1530 . . . 1.66
Bruneau, Alfred . . . 1857 . . . 1.64
Grenon, Nicolas . . . 1380 . . . 1.53
Benevoli, Orazio . . . 1605 . . . 1.52
Clérambault, Louis . . . 1676 . . . 1.48
David, Félicien . . . 1810 . . . 1.44
D’Anglebert, Jean . . . 1635 . . . 1.42
Berton, Henri . . . 1767 . . . 1.41
Dalayrac, Nicolas . . . 1753 . . . 1.39
Bourgeois, Loys . . . 1510 . . . 1.37
Reyer, Ernest . . . 1823 . . . 1.34
Gaveaux, Pierre . . . 1760 . . . 1.25
Boësset, Antoine de . . . 1586 . . . 1.19
Catel, Charles . . . 1773 . . . 1.18
Destouches, André . . . 1672 . . . 1.15
Du Caurroy, Eustache . . . 1549 . . . 1.06
Besard, Jean . . . 1567 . . . 1.00
Carpentras . . . 1470 . . . 1.00
Dandrieu, Jean . . . 1682 . . . 1.00
Daquin, Louis . . . 1694 . . . 1.00
Isouard, Nicolas . . . 1775 . . . 1.00
Lambert, Michel . . . 1610 . . . 1.00
Lecocq, Charles . . . 1832 . . . 1.00
Thibaut de Champagne . . . 1201 . . . 1.00
Titelouze, Jean . . . 1563 . . . 1.00
Perhaps Gluck & Meyerbeer, though German, & worked primarily in France, ought to be included. Berlioz attributed much of his inspiration to Gluck. Fun list , though. Might read the book.
I agree that French music is its own thing. When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how that worked. I could see that Francois Couperin, who died in 1733, had started a lineage that led to the twentieth century French composers I so admired, but I didn't have a strong enough background in theory and composition to produce explanations for what was going on. I never got beyond, "Well, just listen to this, you'll hear the difference!"
I know this is not primarily a sports blog, but I enjoy those diversions when they come. I would enjoy a post about this year's MLB MVP vote where both leagues had a repeat winner for the first time ever
Operas were the movies before movies.
"This is true even though Bizet’s Carmen is the second most often staged opera in this country in this century"
In 1915, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille filmed Carmen, with superstar opera diva Geraldine Ferrar. DeMille included the famous fight in a factory, which, up to that point the Opera never had included. Due in no small part to the 1915 filmed version of Carmen, most or nearly all staged operatic productions of Carmen now include the fight scene.
So basically, Steve's point appears to be that what the French lack in composers they more than make up for in Art and Literature as well. From Jean Fouquet, LeBrun, to Monet and Manet; from
Moliere, Racine, to Balzac, Flaubert, France is definitely amply represented in the visual and verbal arts.
However in the Classical music age Marc-Antoine Charpentier being another example of artistic composers from France.
Ravel has always been my favorite French composer, largely because I was introduced to his music when it was played in the background while Bo Derek was taking off her clothes in Ten (and I was about ten).