Author: Thea Brenner

Drama! Intrigue! Passion! Sorrow! Music in Paris in the 1920’s had all of it, not to mention wide-sweeping sexism, racism, exoticism, and classism. So what is there to make of the chaotic, competitive, and altogether alluring mess that makes up this unique period of music making? In my opinion, it begins with surrealism. The significance […]

On May 9th, 1920 Le Bestiaire by Francis Poulenc was premiered at the Salle Gaveau concert hall in Paris.1 100 years and 10 days later here I am writing about it. This is a research blog. This is also a quarantine blog by default because today happens to be April 29th, marking my 6th week […]

Christopher Moore in his article about camp in Poulenc’s early ballets writes “Publicized as a “Materials Ball,” guests were invited to don evening apparel concocted from everyday items such as wax paper, wickerwork, leather, upholstery, and the like. Author Paul Morand came dressed in book covers, Valentine Hugo in table napkins, and the Baroness de […]

Sitting in Rolvaag Library at St. Olaf College in the year 2020, gazing down my nose at Parisian fascination with La Revue Nègre feels like an absurd task. My disconnect with the time and place in which Joséphine Baker began performing in France feels insurmountable. I wasn’t alive in 1920! I’ve only been to Paris […]

In her article “Nadia Boulanger and the Salon of the Princesse de Polignac,”1 Jeanice Brooks argues that separating salon and concert hall culture as two seperate spheres in the development of music in 20th century France fails to critically interrogate the work of patrons such as Winaretta Singer a.k.a. La princesse de Polignac.  Brooks is […]