ABOUT
Behind some of the most beautiful French songs ever written lies the story of a broken marriage, sexual confusion, and an alcohol-and-drug-infused romp across Europe.
This program (which can be viewed in its entirety below) for WQXR explored some of the most colorful characters of Paris’ La Belle Epoque in a special night of poetry and music in The Greene Space.
A literary and musical journey, the concert recounted the story of writer Paul Verlaine and his much younger lover, Arthur Rimbaud, the era’s quintessential enfant terrible through a script assembled by Phan combining excerpts from their correspondence and biographies about the two poets by Stefan Zweig and Edmund White.
The tale of their scandalous affair was told through song and readings, showcasing the poetry it inspired and how the songs of Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Faure helped bring those poems to the elite salons of Paris and beyond.
ARTISTS
Nicholas Phan, tenor | Miho Saegusa, violin | Grace Park, violin | Katy Ho, viola | Christine Lamprea, cello | Myra Huang, piano | David Ebershoff, narrator
PROGRAM
REYNALDO HAHN: selected songs
GABRIEL FAURÉ: La bonne chanson (sel.)
BENJAMIN BRITTEN: Les Illuminations (sel.)
LEO FERRÉ: selected songs (arr. Doug Peck)
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Ariettes oubliées