On the whole the French don’t really celebrate Halloween (too American), but if you find one who does, don’t say “trick or treat.” Rather, demand “Des bonbons ou un sort!” – candy or a spell.
While France might not be down with the whole Halloween thing, many of the country’s great artists, writers, and composers could totally conjure a Halloween vibe. Think Odilon Redon’s “The Smiling Spider,” Charles Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du mal,” or Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse macabre.”
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll have three pieces of French music totally suitable for the season.
Maurice Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit” (“Gaspard of the Night”) – musical responses to the weird and sinister poetry of Aloysius Bertrand – is a suite of creepy impressions of (1) a flirtatious water spirit, (2) a hanged man at sunset against the backdrop of a tolling bell, and (3) a vampiric dwarf named Scarbo. Gina Bachauer will be the pianist, and Sir John Gielgud will preface each of the movements with recitations of the Bertrand poems.
Claude Debussy was enthralled by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, which he knew through Baudelaire’s translations. At the time of his death, he left incomplete sketches for two operas after Poe stories – “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Devil in the Belfry.” We’ll hear fragments of the former, conducted by Georges Prêtre.
Finally, we’ll listen to the third of the “Etudes in Minor Keys,” subtitled “Scherzo Diabolico,” by Charles-Valentin Alkan. Alkan, a sometimes neighbor of Chopin and Georges Sand, shared a home with his illegitimate son, two apes, and a hundred cockatoos. Franz Liszt is alleged to have commented, “Alkan had the finest technique I had ever known, but preferred the life of a recluse.”
Best known is the story surrounding the circumstances of his death: while reaching for a copy of the Talmud, situated on a high shelf of a heavy bookcase, the case let go and crushed Alkan beneath it. It’s been suggested that the composer actually collapsed while in the kitchen – but when the legend becomes fact, print the legend. Tonight’s performance will be by the late Michael Ponti.
I hope you’ll join me for “Jacques o’ Lanterns” – lurid music by French composers for Halloween – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
If you enjoy either of my weekly shows (or both!), or any of the other music you hear on The Classical Network, please consider making a contribution today. We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary on the air and online, right now. If you’re in a position to do so, why not leave us a Halloween treat at wwfm.org. Thank you in advance for your generosity and for your continued support of WWFM The Classical Network!
