T. S. Eliot's Parisian Year

7. Music of the Concert Hall

· 7 · Music of the Concert Hall The classical music scene in Paris in 1910–1911 was spectacular, featuring (as did the other Parisian arts) the works of both established masters and young aspiring composers . In this chapter, I re-create that scene, describing performances, the venues in which they were presented, and the specific composers whose works were most noteworthy. In exploring this amazingly rich Parisian cultural arena which has been largely overlooked in Eliot studies, I suggest those which seem likely to have attracted and influenced him based on his own personal interests and on evidence in his works. Arriving in Paris with some knowledge both of opera and music of the concert hall and finding two companions who were passionately devoted to music, attended performances on a regular basis, and discussed what they had heard, Eliot must have marveled at the wealth of opportunities to hear music of the concert hall. Verdenal’s letters variously reporting on his own responses to certain pieces of music and urging Eliot to hear the works of particular composers confirm their enthusiasm (Letters 24–5, 31). In the company of these friends or on his own, Eliot had the opportunity to attend numerous concerts in world-renowned halls during his stay. The most prestigious concert series and concert halls are described in some detail in Baedeker’s 1907 guidebook. Under the heading Théâtres. Concerts. Expositions artistiques in the section Renseignements pratiques, listed first are “the celebrated concerts featuring masterpieces of classical music” given at the Conservatoire de Musique from November to April on Saturdays from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and on Sundays from 1 to 2 p.m. Seats not used by season ticket holders were sold to the general public at prices ranging from four to fifteen francs, so that a student such as Eliot could afford them. Two other concert series presented both classical and modern music on Sundays during the winter: the Concerts Lamoureux at the Théâtre SarahBernhardt with prices from two to ten francs and the Concerts Colonne at the Théâtre du Châtelet with prices from one to eight francs. Also in the winter, three other halls offered concerts of chamber music, with details available on posters and in newspapers (39). 210 . T. S. Eliot’s Parisian Year As with the other arts, there was an astounding variety, with equal time given to young emerging musicians and to the long-established masters, revealing the richness for which the Parisian music world was so well-known. While the music of French and Russian composers was regularly featured—especially as regards contemporary figures—the composer whose works were performed most often in the concert hall during Eliot’s sojourn in Paris was Beethoven, for whom he developed a great admiration and whose works and experiments greatly influenced some of his poetry; indeed, his devotion to Beethoven may well have begun at this time. An Overview of the Concert Scene Soon after Eliot’s arrival, several concerts featuring the music of Russian composers could have attracted him because of his interest in Russian culture, fostered by his reading of the novels of Dostoevsky at the instigation of Alain-Fournier. In the October 24 issue of Le Figaro in his column Les Concerts, Brussel reviewed two concerts given the previous day: the Concerts Lamoureux featured Borodin’s First Symphony in E Flat, while the Concerts Colonne included in its program several “modern works that are little known” (such as “the prestigious ‘Cappricio Espagnole’ of Rimsky-Korsakov, performed with a verve and rhythm that were dazzling”), as well as Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony and Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto (4). The Concerts Colonne presented another concert of Russian music in late November, which concluded with Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from his opera Prince Igor. In a review in the January 1 issue of La Nouvelle Revue Française, Rivière commented that this music “touches what is most primitive in us and awakens in our depths the mysterious image of Asia” (“Les Scènes” 172). This review conveyed the emerging interest in the primitive and in the Orient in Paris at this time, an early probable influence on Eliot’s own fascination with both. On November 27 the first concert of a new music association presented SaintSa ëns’s Third Symphony, Stravinsky’s Fireworks, and “The Death of Isolde” from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, all of which, according to Brussel in an article in the...