Greetings!
The epitaph on Claude Debussy’s tombstone reads
Musicien Français—
so simple and yet loaded with meaning.
"The primary aim of French music," he wrote at the beginning of the 20th century, "is to give pleasure." Its sensuous quality inevitably comes to the fore in kaleidoscopic ways: plucked guitar, sobbing fountain, singing nightingale, whistling blackbird, rush-hour traffic, ceaseless rain, wooden-horse carousel, breathless anticipation, commedia dell'arte, seductive flute, green frogs, consummation, icy footsteps, dancing satyr, two ghosts in an old park, soft breezes, anguished cries, solemn prayer, chattering women... and these just from the piano!
Come hear this exquisite piano writing intermingled with colorful poetry and gorgeous singing.
Yours with a song,
Co-Artistic Director Laura Ward
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$10 student tickets are available at the door.
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In Debussy's words...
"Collect impressions. Don’t be in a hurry to write them down. Because that’s something music can do better than painting: it can centralise variations of colour and light within a single picture—a truth generally ignored, obvious as it is."
—from a 1906 letter to his pupil Raoul Bardac
"It's because of quotes like this," shares Lyric Fest's Composer-in-Residence Benjamin C.S. Boyle, "that many historians call Debussy an 'impressionist.' In the strictest sense of this word it may be true. However, as an artistic school of thought, he was far from it; in fact, Debussy himself hated the label, reluctantly preferring the term 'symbolist.' This aligns Debussy closer to a poetic rather than visual-arts movement, which is where his heart truly lay: in the poetry of Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Verlaine. In many ways, it is in a recital of Debussy's art songs where one can truly know the composer best."
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Co-Artistic Director Suzanne DuPlantis Reflects on Debussy's
Mandoline
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I’m torn. It’s hard to choose an angle from which to view Debussy’s exuberant song,
Mandoline
. Shall it be the commedia dell'arte characters who inspired the painter Antoine Watteau to capture on canvas this beautiful, nocturnal scene of masqueraders, poets and musicians in sweet poses, amid ancient ruins? Or shall it be that these paintings inspired symbolist poet Paul Verlaine to pursue these amorous, nocturnal liaisons in his tender, musical verse?
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CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Biography in Music
with Amy Burton, Suzanne DuPlantis, Thomas Meglioranza, Rebecca Myers and Laura Ward at the piano, and with commentary by
Benjamin C.S. Boyle
Saturday, February 10th at 4 PM
at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
Sunday, February 11th at 3 PM
at the Academy of Vocal Arts
The latest in our biography series, this program features the fascinating and tempestuous life and times of Claude Debussy. Narrating and reading from the composer’s letters will be Composer-in-Residence Benjamin C.S. Boyle.
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A CANDLELIT CABARET
TO SUPPORT LYRIC FEST
Rodgers and Hart
with Suzanne DuPlantis, Richard Troxell, Ron Kerber and Harold Evans at the piano
Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 7 PM
at the Academy of Vocal Arts
Join Lyric Fest for a sparkling evening with round-table seating, fine wines, appetizers, desserts... and the unforgettable songs of Rodgers and Hart!
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