Archive for 2006
And the Word was made flesh. Got that?
Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre plenum gratiæ et veritatis. (John, i:14) Europe is summed up in these words. Confident in her values, yet open to all. Confident out of conviction that the dignity of man is to defended everywhere, at all times, [...]
Idomeneo: a lyrical turning-point
Idomeneo is a major turning-point, not just in Mozart’s music, but in the history of opera. Albert Einstein said of Idomeneo that it was “one of those works that even a genius of the highest rank like Mozart could only write once in his life.” And it’s unquestionably radically different from anything Mozart composed before [...]
When in France, don’t ever wear brown shoes after 6 pm
A la fin d’une première entrevue, on ne donne pas non plus sa main, si des relations mondaines ultérieures ne doivent pas s’établir entre les deux interlocuteurs. Toutefois il arrive qu’à première vue naisse une sympathie aussi vive que soudaine entre deux personnes. Alors on peut avancer sa main ; c’est la manifestation extérieure de [...]
Jonathan Littel is no match for Julien Green
I’ve just given in to a French friend who insisted that I must absolutely read Les Bienveillantes, the prize-winning novel by a Mr Jonathan Littel, whose mother-tongue, as you might have guessed, is English. I arrived in France at an age when most young people will already have read all of Balzac, Molière, Racine, Hugo [...]
Benjamin Millepied takes Paris by storm
The warning signs had been there for weeks: flattering articles in the press, from Danser to Le Monde or Le Figaro, and a generalised, well-managed buzz: it’s pretty obvious M Millepied pays close attention to his public relations. The first performance had sold out ages ago. Then all my New York friends called to say [...]
The French themselves don’t realise how beautifully French Les Troyens is
The Aeneid, with the Odyssey, must surely be the Western world’s literary cornerstone. Berlioz knew it off by heart and his dream was to turn it into a great opera. He composed Les Troyens, a musical splendor with very explicit hints at Gluck, between 1853 and 1858, writing the libretto himself. It was created in [...]
Chopin: such appropriate music for a ballet
A friend very kindly suggested going back to the Palais Garnier to take a break from the beastly, Singapore-like weather that we have been having in Paris since the end of the holidays. I jumped at the opportunity to have a second look La Dame aux camélias, by Neumeier, rightly described by the programme as [...]
Cheap Monday or how to be thin, poor and fashionable
I’ve finally found something to wear that’s rather nice and isn’t Dior. During the summer break, Parisian clothes shops, from the smartest to the shabbiest, stock up on new items in preparation for the rentrée. Because in Paris it’s an absolute rule that shops must make life for their customers as unpleasant as possible, they [...]
La Dame aux Camélias: crusty old fogeys, jumping for joy
Off to Palais Garnier with Greg to see Neumeier’s La Dame aux Camélias. Miraculously, the weather was nice and cool so I didn’t feel too hot in my dinner jacket. Just before the actual performance, about fifteen very distinguished people had gathered in a small salon for an investiture ceremony at which Madame Lily Safra [...]
C.R.A.Z.Y.: My favourite film this year
French-speaking Canada at the time of the Quiet Revolution has always fascinated me, for two reasons in particular: First, it should be recalled that Quebec is the equivalent, for the French, of the Old Commonwealth for the British. Is means the same, to them, or ought to anyway, as the United States, English-speaking Canada, Australia, [...]