Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, dc

Mailing address

2000b South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

2,529th Concert

Philippe Entremont, pianist

Presented in honor of

Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre

March 27, 2005

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
For the convenience of concertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones, 

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Program

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

From Preludes Book I (1907-1910) and Book II (1910-1913)

Danseuses de Delphes

La serenade, interrompue

La cathedrale engloutie

Minstrels

Feux d’artifice

Debussy

Images Set I (1905)

Reflets dans I’eau

Hommage a Rameau

Mouvement

Debussy

Suite: Pour le piano (1894-1901)

Prelude

Sarabande

Toccata

INTERMISSION

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Sonatine (1903-1905)

Modere

Mouvement de menuet

Anime

Ravel

Pavane pour une infante defunte

Ravel

Gaspard de la nuit

Ondine

Le gibet

Scarbo
The Musician

Philippe Entremont is internationally renowned for his remarkable technique and flair, a reputation he has maintained throughout a career that

now spans fifty-five years. A pupil of Marguerite Long and Jean Doyen,

Entremont made his professional debut in 1950 at age sixteen. In 1953 his

first United States tour began with a recital at the National Gallery. He

traveled to New York the next day to play his American debut as a concerto

soloist with the National Orchestral Association under Leon Barzin. Since

then, Entremont’s career has included many appearances with major 

orchestras and recitals in all the world’s cultural capitals.

Concurrent with his accomplishments as a pianist, Entremont has made

his mark as an orchestral conductor. In the past two concert seasons, he 

has conducted the Seattle Symphony, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the 

Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Iceland Symphony, the Budapest National

Philharmonic, and the Czech National Orchestra, among others. In 2004

he was appointed principal guest conductor ofthe Munich Symphony

Orchestra, which he will bring to the United States on tour in autumn 2005.

Philippe Entremont’s recorded legacy, as both a pianist and a conductor,

is vast. In addition to the standard piano solo works and concertos of 

Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Saint-Saens, Chopin, Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, 

Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, he has recorded most ofthe piano works of

Debussy and Ravel. In addition to his busy schedule as a performer and 

conductor, Entremont has served as director ofthe Ravel Academy in Saint

Jean de Luz, France, and the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau,

France, which was founded by the legendary Nadia Boulanger. He appears 

at the National Gallery by arrangement with Columbia Artists Management, 

llc, of New York City.

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The Exhibition

Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre, which opened March 20 in the East

Building ofthe National Gallery, focuses on artists’ fascination with the

decadent spirit and glamour of bohemian life in the Parisian district 

of Montmartre at the turn ofthe twentieth century. More than 250 works,

primarily by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), are exhibited, including paintings, drawings, posters, prints, sculptures, zinc silhouettes from

the Chat Noir cabaret, and printed matter, such as illustrated invitations, 

song sheets, advertisements, and admission tickets. The exhibition ranges

from dance halls, cafes-concerts, and cabarets, with a section devoted to

the Chat Noir and its entertainment stars, including singers Aristide Bruant 

and Yvette Guilbert, and such song and dance performers as Jane Avril,

May Belfort, May Milton, Loie Fuller, and Marcelle Lender. The artist loved

the music and entertainment these performers provided and enjoyed a

close personal relationship with several ofthem.

Among the works by contemporaries ofToulouse-Lautrec that are included in the exhibition is Erik Satie (El bohemio; Poet ofMontmartre), 1891, by

Ramon Casas. In the early 1890s, the painting’s composer-subject, shown

dressed as a gentleman who is down at the heels and casting a quizzical sideways glance at the viewer, began frequenting Montmartre in the company of

his close friend, the poet Contamine de Latour. The two men took up lodgings

there, but neither could afford the gentlemanly lifestyle to which Satie was

accustomed. Eventually he exhausted his resources and to make ends meet

began to play regularly in the cafes-concerts, an uncomfortable fit for a

composer whose aspirations were formed in the Paris Conservatoire. Satie's

bohemian lifestyle continued until 1905, when French publishers and 

audiences, influenced to a great extent by Debussy and Ravel’s enthusiasm

for his work, were finally ready to accept his iconoclastic music.

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Program Notes

Claude Debussy, using techniques of clarity, balance, precision, and proportion, and avoiding musical cliche, revolutionized the music of his day and 

influenced almost all the composers who came after him. He was actually not

fond ofwriting for the piano, but his works for that instrument are among 

the most beautiful in the repertoire. He wrote twenty-four preludes for piano

as an homage to Chopin, who had produced the same number in his Preludes,

op. 28 Debussy took special care to place the title of each prelude at the end

ofthe piece and to enclose it in parentheses and quotation marks, perhaps 

to give the essence ofthe private, self-communing nature ofthe music, or

to prevent the musician from forming any preconceived notions ofinterpretation based on the title. At any rate, it is important to observe that Debussy

drew the title from the piece, rather than the piece from the title.

Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi) was inspired by an ancient

Greek reliefin the Louvre known as Danseuses Borghese. The languid and 

mysterious melody passes from archaic modality to diatonic, pentatonic, 

and eventually chromatic harmony. La serenade interrompue (The Interrupted

Serenade) is a miniature sketch of a nocturnal scene in which a Spanish 

suitor’s attempts to serenade his beloved are repeatedly interrupted. Over

the pianistic imitation of plucked strings and strummed chords, one hears a

plaintive Moorish melody as well as fragments from Debussy’s own Iberia.

Based on a legend from Brittany, La cathedrale engloutie (The Sunken

Cathedral) tells ofthe Cathedral of Ys, submerged beneath the sea in the 

fourth or fifth century as punishment for the sins of its inhabitants.

According to legend, the cathedral rises from the depths at each sunrise

as a warning and example to others before it returns to its oceanic slumber.

Three motifs come into play: an ascending chordal melody for the placid

sea, a chant treated as a medieval organum that symbolizes the cathedral,

6

and a rumbling configuration in the left hand, symbolizing the tide as it

surges with increasing strength to engulfthe cathedral once again. The 

music is punctuated throughout by the tolling of bells.

Minstrels depicts an American form of entertainment that gained popularity at the turn ofthe twentieth century in the dance halls and cabarets of

Montmartre. It was characterized by old songs from the American musical 

theater ofthe 1840s and the shuffling dance steps of black-faced minstrels.

In this prelude, which is actually a cakewalk, Debussy captured the shifting

moods ofthe characters, careening from bawdy comedy to heartfelt pathos

to jovial cavorting. The fifth and last prelude selected by Philippe Entremont, 

Feux d’artifice (Fireworks), pays tribute to the French tradition that the final

shot in a fireworks display should be the most powerful, colorful, and varied

ofthe evening. Indeed, this prelude is the crowning achievement, both artistically and aesthetically, ofthe Preludes.

The last two ofthe three pieces that comprise Debussy’s Images Set I

can be related to earlier works ofthe composer, but the first piece, Reflets

dans I’eau (Reflections in the Water), has no clear ancestry. It serves as a

perfect example ofimpressionism in music. The monotonous, hypnotic 

rhythms and sounds of water and even the feel of water are palpably present. Debussy used a large area ofthe keyboard and a quiet dynamic level,

constructing his material from short phrases. Luminous chords and flowing

arpeggios in succession provide a drowsy, flickering effect, suggesting

inverted images in a pool. The composer referred to Reflets as embodying

“the newest discoveries in harmonic chemistry.”

Hommage a Rameau, composed while Debussy was revising the score of

Rameau’s ballet opera Lesfetes de Polymnie (1753), can be interpreted not

only as a tribute to Rameau but also to the French genius in general. The 

French writer Andre Suares asserted: “With the Sunken Cathedral, Hommage

a Rameau is the most beautiful piece for the piano... since the last three

sonatas of Beethoven.” The third Image, Mouvement, is a piece in perpetual

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motion and can be related to Debussy’s Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in

the Rain) from Estampes (1903). Uninterrupted triplets stream forth until

a slower theme is introduced in the middle ofthe work. This theme in

octaves and fifths is exchanged from one hand to the other, concluding in 

a whole-tone scale ascending toward the end ofthe keyboard.

Debussy wrote his three-movement Suite: Pour le piano between 1894 and

1901. This music brings new life to the pattern evolved by the old masters

through its exotic tonal effects and rich harmonic canvas, completely personal

to Debussy. The whole-tone scale heard in the Prelude was novel for its time,

as was the succession of augmented triads. This piece is thought to be the

predecessor ofJardins sous la pluie. The Sarabande is a serene work similar

to Erik Satie’s composition ofthe same name. Both share an archaic aura,

due in part to the use of Aeolian modality and antiphonal sections. When it

was published in its earliest version in 1894 in the Grand Journal de Lundi,

another contributor to the journal described it as “[possessing] a slow, serious

elegance, rather like an old picture, or a memory ofthe Louvre.” The Toccata

requires brilliant and dexterous finger work. Exhilarating in its mood, it is a

fresh reminder ofyouthful vitality. It ends with a passage that is particularly 

emphatic for Debussy, whose great dread was appearing blatant. The music

stops far short, however, ofindulging in overemphasis.

Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, in the Basque region of France. 

When he was three months old, his family moved to Paris, which was 

his home for the rest of his life. At age fourteen he entered the Paris 

Conservatoire, where he continued his studies for the next fifteen years.

He was a star student and a consummate composer, but his somewhat

unorthodox style prevented him from winning the coveted Prix de Rome 

during that period, despite four attempts. His Sonatine is also a student

composition, one that seems embodied with classical musical forms primarily to mock the conservative Prix de Rome jury. The work demonstrates

the influence of Debussy, with its cascading arpeggios and whole-tone

modulations. The first movement (Modere), though built on a foundation

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of driving thirty-second notes, is endowed with lyricism and lilting flow,

in keeping with its dynamic marking “soft and expressive.” The gentle

Mouvement de menuet is traditional in its rhythm but certainly not stodgy.

It rises to a fortissimo just before an impassioned rallentando in the trio

section. The breathless third movement (Anime) is written in the form of

a toccata and recalls thematic material from the first movement. The alternation between contrasting meters gives the movement a constant sense

of acceleration and excitement—a musical rollercoaster.

It was a classmate and friend of Ravel, the pianist Ricardo Vines (1875—

1943), who first brought to his attention the book by Aloysius Bertrand entitled Gaspard de la nuit. The book contains a collection oftales spun out of

the colorful history of Dijon, the capital of Burgundy. According to the tales,

the devil, in the form of a poet fallen on hard times, gives a manuscript to a

fellow poet under the pen name Gaspard de la Nuit. Ravel was particularly

taken with three ofthe tales and produced a three-movement work based on

them. They can be paraphrased as follows:

Ondine (Water Sprite): I believed I heard a vague harmony haunting my

sleep and spreading like a murmur the intermittent songs of a sad and tender voice: “Listen, listen! It is I, Ondine, brushing these water drops against

the sounding diamond-panes of your window, gleaming in the moon’s wan

rays; and see how, in watered silk, the lady ofthe castle watches the starry

night and the lovely sleeping lake from her balcony. Each wave is a spirit

swimming on the streaming current, each current a path snaking to my 

palace, and my palace is built ofliquid, deep in the lake, in the triangle of

fire, of earth, and of air.” Having murmured her song, she begged me take

her ring upon my finger, to be the spouse of an Ondine, and to go to her

palace with her, to be the king ofthe lakes. When I told her that I loved a

mortal, sulky and spiteful, she wept a tear or two, then laughed out loud and

sped away in showers that trickled for a while down my long blue windows.

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Le gibet (The Gallows): Ah, what do I hear? Could it be the night-blast

yelping, or the hanged man heaving a sigh on the gallows’ fork? Could it be

a fly a-hunting, blowing round these dear ears his fanfare of tallyhos? Or

perhaps a spider weaving half a yard of muslin as an ascot for this strangled

neck? It’s the bell tolling at the city walls below the horizon; and the corpse 

of a hanged man, red in the setting sun.

Scarbo: Oh, how many times I’ve heard and seen him, Scarbo, when the 

midnight moon shines in heaven like a silver dollar on an azure banner

sewn with bees of gold! How many times I’ve heard his laughter buzzing in

the darkness of my nook, and his fingernail scratching the silk curtains of

the bed! How many times I’ve seen him coming down from the ceiling,

spinning on one foot, and rolling around the room like a bobbin dropped 

by a witch! And then I thought he’d gone? The dwarf grew huge between 

the moon and me, like the steeple of a Gothic church, tossing a golden bell

on his pointed hat! But soon his body paled, transparent as candle wax;

face whitened like the wax ofthe candle end, and suddenly snuffed out.

Program notes © Columbia Artists Management LLC

Used by permission

IO