Thanks for another pleasurable read, Michael. I had no idea that Nureyev had also performed this ballet.
I especially enjoyed your evocation of Nijinsky, Diaghilev, and the heady atmosphere of artistic ferment that was Paris circa 1912, when groundbreaking artistic performances - in ballet, music, painting, or even literature - could provoke unfeigned outrage. It's so interesting to look back at that time from the vantage point of our jaded postmodern 21st-century culture.
What touches me most about this piece of music? I suppose it's the work's modernity - its apparent formlessness, and what you aptly describe as Debussy's "exacting approach to rhythm, sonority, and orchestral color." It's evocative to me of that exciting and risky period in modernist art and culture - stretching from the early 1900s through to the 1930s - which saw the emergence of so many formal innovations all across the arts.
Maurice Ravel is another favourite of mine from this period, and reading your account of the uproar caused by Nijinsky's performance put me in mind of the furore surrounding Ravel's ballet "Daphnis et Chloé." There's a wonderful minimalist novel titled Ravel by a writer named Jean Echenoz, which I think you'd enjoy as it also recreates this period in modern music.
I agree that the work's modernity — that sense of a new world being charted in every bar of this music — is enchanting. It's wild to think this is a relatively early work for Debussy, eight years before he turned opera upside-down with Pelleas and Melisande.
Daphnis and Chloe will certainly be making an appearance in this newsletter! Along with Mahler, Ravel is the composer I hold closest to my heart. (As a result, it's proving very difficult to choose which of his many melancholy works to feature first.) I recently read Echenoz's novel and loved every single sentence. Another title to check out is Benjamin Ivry's "Maurice Ravel: A Life." A beautifully written biography that does a brilliant job exploring Ravel's sexuality and the way his Basque heritage influenced his life and music.
Thanks so much for being here, and for your close reading! 😃
Jul 12, 2023·edited Jul 12, 2023Liked by Michael Cirigliano II
Michael, I love the musical and cultural conversation that your newsletter is opening up! I predict that it will ignite many such conversations and insights with other readers as you move forward with it.
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of opera, Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande is one of my favourites. I love its brooding, Wagnerian darkness and fatalism, as well as its inventiveness. Speaking of opera, one thing I'd be curious to read from you is a defence of opera. I confess that I often wonder what the aesthetic justification for opera is. I can find a justification for the operas of composers like Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, Ravel, Janacek, Schoenberg, and possibly even Wagner - where they seemed to be addressing larger aesthetic and intellectual questions rather than just telling sentimental saccharine stories with music. But other than these figures, I find myself a bit repelled by the over-the-top, overly decorous formality of opera. Please pardon my musical prejudice!
It's great that you've read Echenoz's novel. I was really impressed by its minimalism and formal control. Thanks for the recommendation of the Ivry biography. Ravel's sexuality is a fascinating mystery. Even though the Echenoz novel makes it clear that Ravel liked women, it kind of implies that for him, it was a choice between art or normal domesticity. Anyway, the Ivry biography is on my list.
Well, I'm looking forward to discover where you'll take us next in your exploration of melancholy music! :)
Oh man, I took one music appreciation class in college and this composition was a highlight. Unforgettable! I may have been Athens, GA's most enthusiastic Debussy fan in the late 90s. Never knew the bit of history about the Ballet Russes performance or the Queen reference! So cool.
Being "Athens, GA's most enthusiastic Debussy fan in the late 90s" is a badge you should wear proudly! Warms my heart that this piece brought new dimensions to a work you've adored for decades.
Debussy, Nijinsky, Mercury. Just so many artists lightyears ahead of their time packed into one piece here. I know this one so well but I hadn’t seen this performance before (paired with this Queen video? So brilliant!) There truly is something both innocent and a smidge debaucherous about this one. I hear and SEE it with so much more depth now!
I'm so glad this piece expanded your engagement with this music! I love the juxtaposition of innocence and debauchery you highlighted — so in line with what fascinates me about the work, how it invites both our conscious and subconscious minds to come out and play.
You're two-for-two now...your writing just immediately pulls me into a completely different world. It's like a little getaway from humdrum workaday life. THANK YOU for doing this!!
Thanks for another pleasurable read, Michael. I had no idea that Nureyev had also performed this ballet.
I especially enjoyed your evocation of Nijinsky, Diaghilev, and the heady atmosphere of artistic ferment that was Paris circa 1912, when groundbreaking artistic performances - in ballet, music, painting, or even literature - could provoke unfeigned outrage. It's so interesting to look back at that time from the vantage point of our jaded postmodern 21st-century culture.
What touches me most about this piece of music? I suppose it's the work's modernity - its apparent formlessness, and what you aptly describe as Debussy's "exacting approach to rhythm, sonority, and orchestral color." It's evocative to me of that exciting and risky period in modernist art and culture - stretching from the early 1900s through to the 1930s - which saw the emergence of so many formal innovations all across the arts.
Maurice Ravel is another favourite of mine from this period, and reading your account of the uproar caused by Nijinsky's performance put me in mind of the furore surrounding Ravel's ballet "Daphnis et Chloé." There's a wonderful minimalist novel titled Ravel by a writer named Jean Echenoz, which I think you'd enjoy as it also recreates this period in modern music.
So glad you enjoyed it, Dennis!
I agree that the work's modernity — that sense of a new world being charted in every bar of this music — is enchanting. It's wild to think this is a relatively early work for Debussy, eight years before he turned opera upside-down with Pelleas and Melisande.
Daphnis and Chloe will certainly be making an appearance in this newsletter! Along with Mahler, Ravel is the composer I hold closest to my heart. (As a result, it's proving very difficult to choose which of his many melancholy works to feature first.) I recently read Echenoz's novel and loved every single sentence. Another title to check out is Benjamin Ivry's "Maurice Ravel: A Life." A beautifully written biography that does a brilliant job exploring Ravel's sexuality and the way his Basque heritage influenced his life and music.
Thanks so much for being here, and for your close reading! 😃
Michael, I love the musical and cultural conversation that your newsletter is opening up! I predict that it will ignite many such conversations and insights with other readers as you move forward with it.
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of opera, Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande is one of my favourites. I love its brooding, Wagnerian darkness and fatalism, as well as its inventiveness. Speaking of opera, one thing I'd be curious to read from you is a defence of opera. I confess that I often wonder what the aesthetic justification for opera is. I can find a justification for the operas of composers like Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, Ravel, Janacek, Schoenberg, and possibly even Wagner - where they seemed to be addressing larger aesthetic and intellectual questions rather than just telling sentimental saccharine stories with music. But other than these figures, I find myself a bit repelled by the over-the-top, overly decorous formality of opera. Please pardon my musical prejudice!
It's great that you've read Echenoz's novel. I was really impressed by its minimalism and formal control. Thanks for the recommendation of the Ivry biography. Ravel's sexuality is a fascinating mystery. Even though the Echenoz novel makes it clear that Ravel liked women, it kind of implies that for him, it was a choice between art or normal domesticity. Anyway, the Ivry biography is on my list.
Well, I'm looking forward to discover where you'll take us next in your exploration of melancholy music! :)
Yes — these types of conversations are exactly what I hope this newsletter will spark in the comments! :)
Thanks, Michael! I'm looking forward to the next edition.
Oh man, I took one music appreciation class in college and this composition was a highlight. Unforgettable! I may have been Athens, GA's most enthusiastic Debussy fan in the late 90s. Never knew the bit of history about the Ballet Russes performance or the Queen reference! So cool.
Being "Athens, GA's most enthusiastic Debussy fan in the late 90s" is a badge you should wear proudly! Warms my heart that this piece brought new dimensions to a work you've adored for decades.
Debussy, Nijinsky, Mercury. Just so many artists lightyears ahead of their time packed into one piece here. I know this one so well but I hadn’t seen this performance before (paired with this Queen video? So brilliant!) There truly is something both innocent and a smidge debaucherous about this one. I hear and SEE it with so much more depth now!
I'm so glad this piece expanded your engagement with this music! I love the juxtaposition of innocence and debauchery you highlighted — so in line with what fascinates me about the work, how it invites both our conscious and subconscious minds to come out and play.
You're two-for-two now...your writing just immediately pulls me into a completely different world. It's like a little getaway from humdrum workaday life. THANK YOU for doing this!!
That means so much. Thank YOU for being here!