Category Archives: Paris music

Cloches et clochers

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Parisian Fields

On April 15 of this year, as Paris remained in lockdown, one of Notre Dame’s bells rang out to mark a year since the fire that largely destroyed the cathedral’s interior. The bell’s name was Emmanuel, and a grainy still … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris churches, Paris history, Paris music | Tagged angelus, Bells, Belltowers, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, Glockenfriedhof, Louis Vierne, Napoleon Bonaparte, Notre Dame Cathedral, Notre-Dame-de-Jouy, Regis Singer, Sacre Coeur, Saint-Severin, Sainte-Odile, Savoyarde, Second World War, St-Germain-l’Auxerrois, St-Merri, St-Philippe-du-Roule, St-Yves, Stephen J. Thorne | 9 Comments

My life in France (Part 3)

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Parisian Fields

Paris was exhilarating; Paris was exhausting. By Easter, especially with all the extra services the choir had to attend, I felt in need of a break. One problem: no money. Then someone at St. George’s Church told me that a … Continue reading →

Posted in Angers, French language, Paris churches, Paris music | Tagged Arcueil, Bec Hellouin, Benedictines, Caen, Evreux, Maison des Examens, Marie-Claire Alain, Monastère Ste-Françoise Romaine, Salle Pleyel, Sorbonne, William Goodenough House | 10 Comments

The Nuns’ Tale

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Parisian Fields

A few months ago, I was working at my desk while the radio played in the background. All of a sudden, I heard something extraordinary. I had been vaguely aware of some orchestral music that suggested foreboding and sorrow, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris history, Paris music | Tagged Canadian Opera Company, Compiegne, Constance of Saint Denis, Dialogues des Carmelites, Francois Poulenc, French Revolution, Georges Bernanos, Gertrud von le Fort, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Madame de Croissy, Madame Lidoine, Martyrs of Compiegne, Paris in the Terror, Place de la Nation, Robert Carsen, Robespierre, Song at the Scaffold, Stanley Loomis, William Bush | 22 Comments

One thing leads to another

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Parisian Fields

We both like to listen to Web radio while we work. We were particularly pleased to discover that Radio Classique, which we listen to in Paris (at call number 101.1) is available on the Internet. (Go to the site, click … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris film, Paris music | Tagged A Little Romance, Claude Klotz, Crime aux Champs-Elysées, Diane Lane, e = mc2 mon amour, François Truffaut, Georges Delerue, Geroge Roy Hill, Laurence Olivier, Le Mépris, Patrick Cauvin, Pissenlits par la Racine, Thelonious Bernard | 19 Comments

The genius of the opera-ballet

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Parisian Fields

On July 10, 2011, the world of dance lost Roland Petit, a brilliant and original French choreographer. His best-known works were not the pretty-pretty ballets of fairies and swans in white fluffy tutus, but human dramas of passion, violence, elation, … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris dance, Paris music | Tagged Ballet, Carmen, Frederick Wiseman, Gaston Leroux, La Danse: Le ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, Le fantôme de l’Opéra, Le jeune homme et la mort, Marcel Landowski, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Notre Dame de Paris, Opéra Garnier, Paris Opera, Roland Petit, Zizi Jeanmaire | 4 Comments

A Rudolf-free Noel

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Parisian Fields

We’ve been asked many times why we decided to spend Christmas in Paris this year, and we have all kinds of answers. “We didn’t want to do another turkey.” “We thought it would be fun to spend Christmas just the … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris food, Paris hospitals, Paris music, Paris popular culture | Tagged Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville, Bon Marche, boudin blanc, Champs Elysees, Christmas decorations in Paris, Christmastime in Paris, Hopital Cochin, Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature, Place des Vosges | 1 Comment

The Parisian Fields playlist

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Parisian Fields

The pile of CDs beside the CD player is threatening to topple. No, we aren’t iPod people with everything neatly packaged in a little white contraption – at least not yet. We have CDs and we listen to the radio, … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris music | Tagged Hotel Bristol, Hotel Fouquet's Barriere, Hotel Raphael, Hotel Ritz, Hotel Square, Irving Berling, Jane Birkin, Le Papillon, Lynda Lemay, Madeleine Peyroux, Martha Argerich, Maurice Ravel, Michel Fugain, Nicolas Errera, Putumayo, Serge Gainsbourg, Thomas Fersen | 3 Comments

The sounds of Paris

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Parisian Fields

Blogs about the sights of Paris abound, and people write in swooning terms about the tastes of its food, but what about its sounds? How to convey the sounds of a city that is noisy, but is somehow less noisy … Continue reading →