What do we remember from these journeys? Not only the landscapes, the local cuisine and the museums we visited, but also the music from the particular country, written by the people born there and those who have chosen to stop over.
France
An influential cultural source thanks to its authors, philosophers, painters and musicians, but also a tourist’s dream destination, with its historic places, fine cuisine and haute couture, France continues to exercise a potent attraction. Whether it served as a homeland –
Chopin composed his most nuanced works there – or a meeting point for generations of composers, Paris has been witness to several upheavals, from the emergence of musical Impressionism according to
Claude Debussy, to the deliciously sardonic reinterpretations by
Erik Satie and the effervescence of
Jean Françaix.
Italy
Italy has always proved to be a fertile land for the emergence of artistic forms, whether they are in architecture, painting or music. In the baroque era already, this country ruled, due to the golden age of stringed instrument makers,
Vivaldi’s virtuosity and the rise of opera, a genre that would continue to attract fans two centuries later with
Verdi and
Puccini. Beyond styles, landscapes repeatedly inspired composers, who would transmit their tiniest details.
Tchaikovsky yielded to the charms of Florence,
Alain Lefèvre to those of Milan, whereas
Stravinskypassed on the delicate volutes of the serenade. Viva l’Italia!
Spain
Landscapes that take your breath away, flamenco that glides along the pavement, an overflowing creative vitality – these constitute the elements that have inspired yesterday’s and today’s composers, be they Spanish or not. Flamboyant like the
Malagueña by
Albeniz, tender like the ageless
Adagio from the
Concierto de Aranjuez, to the confluence of Europe and Africa in
Córdoba, distilled by
Kreisler and
Shostakovich, Spain reveals its treasures in color and sound. Olé!
© Lucie Renaud
Translation: Annie P. Prothin
