Category Archives: Paris music

Reviving the charms of the concert-promenade

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Parisian Fields

If you are in Paris today, May 29, you might want to wander in the Jardin de Ranelagh between four and five in the afternoon, where you will be serenaded by a baroque ensemble in the kiosque à musique. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris music, Paris parks | Tagged Adolphe Alphand, Champs-Elysees, Concerts-promenades, Fête de la Musique, Jardin de Ranelagh, Kiosque a musique, Mary Ann Warrick, Productions chez Nous, Raoul Dufy, Square Maurice Kriegel Valrimont | 4 Comments

Madame Mozart dies in Paris

Posted on February 27, 2022 by Parisian Fields

When, a few weeks ago, a broadcaster mentioned that Mozart’s mother had died in Paris in 1778, my first thought was: I don’t even know her name! I knew about Wolfgang Amadeus, his hard-driving father Leopold, his gifted sister Nannerl, … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris music | Tagged Anna Maria Mozart, Empress Maria Theresa, Hôtel de Beauvais, Leopold Mozart, Nannerl Mozart, rue Bourg l’Abbé, rue du Sentier, St-Eustache, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | 12 Comments

Rondo Parisien

Posted on December 5, 2021 by Parisian Fields

For years, concerts “Chez Nous,” presented by Mary Ann Warrick in her home in the 16th, have been a highlight of our visits to Paris. Now we watch concerts in that familiar drawing room online. Recently, we saw a brilliant … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris music | Tagged Alexandre Dumas, Alicia Cannon Levin, Camille Moke, Camille Pleyel, Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Gerard de Nerval, Hector Berlioz, Henri Guillaume Moke, Jean-Jacques Moke, Lisa Yui, Marie Madeleine Segnitz, Marie Pleyel | 16 Comments

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 | 10 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 →