Giving SOUNDS and POEMS to MANET'S ART

Our February 19th gathering was very special, thanks to the attendees & our guest cellist Janice.
HAPPY SPRING HOLIDAYS! As of April 13th 2020, there are over 1,9 million COVID-19 infected people around the World (over 586,000 in US). Little did we know back in February 2020 that we would not enjoy another music session together for many months throughout  2020/2021.
In order to CONNECT, I have CREATED a CURATED list of virtual music gems for you to enjoy.
Explore some of the following grand places: Library of Congress, LAPHIL, KUSC, WRTI, mymodernmet.com and let me know if you have some specially meaningful web sites for you so I can add for all of us to enjoy. 
                               STAY HEALTHY, BEST WISHES, STAY CONNECTED

Alma-Tadema: SPRING (1894)
from the J. P. Getty Museum collection

From left: Rochelle, Zorana, Caroline, Mireya, Susan, Olga, Mary Ann, Janice Foy

Janice (cello performer) and Zorana (chair, hostess, & presenter)

Inspired by the J. P. Getty's exhibition "Manet and the Modern Beauty," the group pondered aspects of New Order as expressed in the music vocabulary of the time, poems (from Les Fleurs du Mal), and Manet's paintings.

Rochelle reads a poem SWAN, Act II by Bodelaire

Paris may change; my melancholy is fixed.
New palaces, and scaffoldings, and blocks,
and suburbs old, and symbols all to me
Whose memories are as heavy as a stone.
And so, before the Louvre, to vex my soul,
The image came of my majestic swan
With his mad gestures, foolish and sublime,
As of an exile whom one great desire
Gnaws with no truce.
And then I thought of you,
Andromache! torn from your hero's arms;
Beneath the hand of Pyrrhus in his pride;
Bent o'er an empty tomb in ecstasy;
Widow of Hector -- wife of Helenus!
And of the negress, wan and phthisical,
Tramping the mud, and with her haggard eyes
Seeking beyond the mighty walls of fog
The absent palm-trees of proud Africa;
Of all who lose ghat which they never find;
Of all who drink of tears; all whom grey grief
Gives suck to as the kindly wolf gave suck;
Of meagre orphans who like blossoms fade...

We listened to selected pieces by Manet's contemporaries, composers. 
Examples of the pieces we heard at the February 2020 gathering:

~ Frederick Chopin, 1810-1849

~ Franz Liszt, 1811-1886

~ George Bizet, 1838-1875

~ Emmanuel Chabrier, 1841-1894

~ Edouard Lalo, 1823-1892

~ Jules Massenet, 1842-1912

~ Camille St Seans, 1835-1921

~ Hector Berlioz, 1803-1869

Zorana with Janice and beautiful pot of tulips

Our guest artist, cellist JANICE, performing for us

Charles Bodelaire -- title page from the Getty Research Institute Special Collection

The J. Paul Getty Museum was impressed with our work in the Music in Cultural Contexts Section! They published an a Feature Article in their Fall issue of 2020 Getty Magazine. In case you want a digital copy, here is the PDF: https://www.getty.edu/about/whatwedo/getty_magazine/gettymag_fall2020.pdf 

ENJOY

See you at our next Music Section gathering