And in these spring days, what could be more inspiring for a musician than to hear the sounds of Nature, the songs of birds?
Patrick Souillot, famous conductor from Isère and founder of the Fabrique Opéra, talks about the composers from Isère who drew their inspiration from nature.
Berlioz and the Immense Nature
Everyone knows our famous Hector Berlioz, born in Coté St André in 1803. Nature inspired him a lot. We can of course speak of the Scène aux champs in the Symphonie Fantastique, but we can also speak of Immense nature excerpt from The Damnation of Faust.
What could be more normal than to find in Berlioz’s music his love for Nature which he enjoyed throughout his youth! Berlioz is the emblem of romantic music, even if he himself defined himself as a classical composer. And in romanticism, nature has an important place.
Stravinsky had a carnal relationship with Isère
The Russian composer stayed with his family in the Verronière residence in Montferrat from 1931 to 1934, when he obtained French nationality.
The Rite of Spring is one of the major works of this genius of the 20th century. Here again, nature has an important place, even if the work does not describe nature, it celebrates the telluric force of the elements, and its relationship to Man and his rites.
Strictly speaking, there is no Stravinsky house, like Berlioz’s house at Cote St André, but the building has become the media library… Igor Stravinsky
Olivier Messiaen and the birds
If there is a composer who was interested in birds, it is Messiaen. He was a true birdwatcher. The titles of his works speak for themselves:
The blackbird, exotic birds, alarm clock of birds, catalog of birds, the garden warbler, small sketches of birds, a stained glass window and birds..
This last title symbolizes his work quite well: someone very mystical, a believer, and passionate about birds.
Messiaen wandered around in nature, picked up the songs of the birds by ear and transcribed them with musical notes…a bit as if we had recorded these songs on a tape, that we had slowed down the playback of this tape to hear each variation of the chirps distinctly. A colossal and fascinating work.
The Messiaen Festival which takes place in the Pays de la Meije from July 20 to 31 looks promising, because in 2022; we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Olivier Messiaen’s death.