Welcome back Dear Readers,
Dear Friends.
Our
Tale of Two Charles' Part II.
starts a long time ago in Paris.
On August 7th 1934
a 67 year old composer
attended the cinema.
It was there that he first
caught a glimpse of
the very lovely actress
Lilian Harvey.
Charles Koechlin,
enamored of cinema and many of its' stars
had sought refuge from some of life's difficulties
in these
"unreal worlds".
Who knows
what he might have felt
seeing this beautiful, young actress
for the first time?
Was he in love?
Merely smitten?
We do know that Koechlin
went to see Harvey in that film again the same night.
Following the film,
he wrote the music of
Tout va bien.
"not without covering the paper with tears"
he later confessed.
Later he added another song
Keep that schoolgirl complexion
which was a pastiche of a Palmolive soap advertisement.
These two songs formed the basis of a cycle he called
L'Album de Lilian.
Koechlin had studied with Massenet
and with Faure who had a particularly strong influence
on him.
His music is as beautiful as Atget's Paris,
as lovely as Lilian.
L'Album de Lilian
is written primarily for piano, voice, and flute,
with parts for the exotic Ondes Martenot
and Clavecin.
I believe that this was my first introduction to Koechlin's works.
A very good place for anyone to start.
Koechlin wrote piano music.
I've enjoyed his L'Ancienne Maison de Campagne,
Quatre Nouvelles Sonatines, Paysages et Marines,
and
Les Heures Persanes.
His music for flute, including a version of L'Album de Lilian, is also quite nice.
He wrote songs, for the oboe, quartets, and symphonic works as well.
Koechlin's music is often dreamy but with a dash of chromatic
obliqueness.
That is to say... he throws in a thorn or two now and again.
Like Charles Tomlinson Griffes
who interpreted
The White Peacock,
Koechlin wrote a symphonic interpretation
of The Jungle Book.
And as further evidence of his obsession with Hollywood,
Koechlin wrote
The Seven Stars Symphony
with parts for
Douglas Fairbanks
Lilian Harvey
Garbo
Clara Bow
Marlene Dietrich
Emil Jannings
and the great
Charlie Chaplin.
I have loved the music of
Charles Tomlinson Griffes
and
Charles Koechlin,
my
Two Charles',
for many years.
There is much to love.
And I hope that you too will take the time explore their
varied and colorful works.
You'll be glad you did.
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