Through the readings, listenings, and especially our class conversations, my understanding of the relatively niche topic that is Paris in the 1920’s and the themes present at the time grew from having almost no knowledge to a quite holistic comprehension. Through our assignments – most notably our papers – the themes of gender and sexuality, […]
When searching for primary source information about Symphony of Wind Instruments and other pieces that debuted on the same night, I got pretty stuck and couldn’t find much past the date and place it was performed. I was trying every trick I knew in catalyst, looking at the microfilm in the library, and searching for […]
The argument that Moore made about Poulenc is much more convincing than Dorf’s argument on the Princesse de Polignac. While gender and sexulity both played an important role in patronage and composition, Moore’s stance on how it impacted Poulenc’s life was much more thorough. Poulenc’s sexuality was an “open secret” of sorts. He confided in […]
Parisians felt a sense of wonder or “love” for marginalized music, but because their feelings were misguided and racist in motivation, further steps needed to be taken in order for the music to be properly respected. The “tokenization” of other culture’s music – where its purpose is to be included in short musical quotes in […]
One source that has been especially useful to me is the magazine article “The Evolution of Modern Music in Paris and in Vienna” that Milhaud himself wrote. Naturally, because this is a primary source of the figure I chose, there is a directness available to me that would not otherwise be there. I know that […]
Good question… The nationalistic obsession with French music is one that was logical for the time. In the late 18 and early 1900’s, after a devastating defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, the French people needed something “uniquely French” to cling to. However, what I find to be an unrelatable fact of the era to modern […]