Archive for 'Music'
The Godfather of l’Opéra français Part 2 Posted by Hichem on Feb 4, 2011
Molière and Jean de la Fontaine: Two famous victims of the intrigues devised by le Parrain (the Godfather) of French Opera. As such, they join a long list of hommes de lettreswho were -it’s tempting to say- “lulled by Lully” * * * If le cardinal Mazarin were to be regarded as the “Overall Godfather“, the capo…
Jean-Baptiste Lully and l’Opéra français Part 1 Posted by Hichem on Feb 3, 2011
It seems that whenever people around the world think of the term opera, it is l’opéra italien that comes up first in their minds. But, all “chauvinistic” considerations aside (no doubt more suitable for the purpose of rehashing the “intricacies” of, say, some highly “theatrical” match finalde la Coupe du Monde de la FIFA), it is…
Tribute to a Celtic Tune: “La tribu de Dana” by Manau Posted by Hichem on Jan 30, 2011
With a tune hailing all the way from the proud shores of Bretagne (Brittany),Celtic group Manau sang this immensely successful chanson (song) in France: “La tribu de Dana” (“The tribe of Dana”)—about thirteen years ago already! “La tribu de Dana” is actually inspired from an old traditional Breton song called “Tri Martolod“, which means “The Three…
French poem: Sous le pont Mirabeau Posted by Hichem on Jan 22, 2011
““Sous le pont Mirabeau”: The poem dedicated to the mythical pont parisien (Parisian bridge) which has fascinated generations after generations of Frenchmen: From Guillaume Apollinaire, l’auteur du poème (the author of the poem) to Marc Lavoine, en passant par Léo Ferré! Le pont Mirabeau (The Mirabeau Bridge) * * * * * * Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine Under the…
Roméo et Juliette – Part Deux Posted by Hichem on Jan 12, 2011
Vous qui croyez avoir tout vu You, who think have seen it all Vous qui avez voyagé, qui avez lu You , who traveled, who have read Que plus rien jamais n’étonne Who nothing surprises you anymore Bienvenue à Vérone Welcome to Verona Vous qui trouvez que l’homme est bon You’ll find that man is…
“Aimer…” (To Love): “Roméo et Juliette” (1ère Partie) Posted by Hichem on Jan 12, 2011
When it comes to l’œuvre anglaise (the English work) of Shakespeare, Roméo et Juliette, some can be truly astonished to find out that the French stood in the front lines of les compositeurs de musique(music composers) who offered personalized adaptations, which very often earned immense success within the French borders and, at times, even beyond. On top of these…
Le Roi Soleil: “Être à la hauteur” (“To measure up”) Posted by Hichem on Jan 9, 2011
You have already discovered in the French Blog several “episodes” that make up l’histoire de France(the History of France), especially the history of the XVII siècle (the 17th century, of course!) Today, we’ll evoke the “central figure” of that century for France, namely Le Roi Soleil(the Sun King), but not from une perspective historique, but rather…