by wayne | Nov 27, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
When I look back on this class, trying to figure out what exactly I have accomplished, I am always drawn back to one of the first assigned readings, Gumbrecht’s In 1926: Living at the Edge of Time. The book attempted to look at history as if through a...
by wayne | Nov 9, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
Both Dorf and Moore’s queer readings of Satie and Poulenc find that their music was informed by the lives that were carefully hidden from the public eye, claiming that the music itself contains a kind of hidden sexuality as well. Dorf looks at Satie’s...
by wayne | Oct 21, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
The Ballets Suédois was very popular in Paris when it existed from 1920 to 1925. It must have appealed to some concept of French-ness in music and art, though its ties are complicated, even contradictory to what I’ve learned so far. The French ideal in art is...
by wayne | Oct 9, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
1920’s Parisians loved African American culture in some way: a love called “Negrophilia.” All of the readings focused on Josephine Baker’s dancing and performance and the public’s fascination with her. To them, she represented their...
by wayne | Sep 28, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
Serge Koussevitzky, a conductor originally from Russia, had the height of his career in the United States, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. However, for a period in the 1920’s he conducted his Concerts Koussevitzky in Paris, where he commissioned...