Home of La Belle Epoque, the French pavilion includes the mysterious beginnings of cinema in France, the bohemian Symbolist artists, Ravel and his gang Les Apaches, and the ever eccentric Erik Satie. And special guest Ken Young muses about coat-tailing Debussy for a day.
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Opening ceremony of the 1900 Paris World Fair
Poster: Tournee du Chat Noir
Claude Debussy
Erik Satie, self portrait as tombstone bust
Vincent van Gogh self-portrait (1889)
Fabergé Rose Trellis Egg. On April 22, 1907, Tsar Nicholas II presented this egg to his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, to commemorate the birth of the tsarevich, Alexei Nicholaievich, three years earlier. Because of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, no Imperial Easter eggs had been produced for two years. The egg contained as a surprise a diamond necklace and an ivory miniature portrait of the tsarevich framed in diamonds (now lost). Fabergé's invoice, dated April 21, 1907, listed the egg at 8,300 rubles. Photo: Walters Art Musem
Victor Hartmann
Alexander Scriabin
Borscht
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Photo: Bernard Gagnon http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bgag
Detail from Palau de la Musica, Barcelona. Photo: Mirari Erdoiza
Stained glass in the Palau de la musica, Barcelona. Photo: Paul Stevenson
Casa Batllo, Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudi. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aikijuanma/2663174753/
Certificate from a Catalan choral society, designed to be awarded to a member. The twirly floral motifs and medieval-looking illuminated letters hark back to the Modernista movement. Photo: Erica Challis
Certificate from a humanitarian society - it’s the 50th Anniversary (or Golden Wedding) anniversary of a society set up 50 years before, awarded to a man who is apparently a founding member. The dragon on the top left refers to the patron saint of Barcelona, St George. The Liceu auditorium had lanterns held out on dragon standards similar to this one. Photo: Erica Challis
Dvorak in the USA with his family, 1892.
Sheet music for Weeping Willows by Scott Joplin
Vernon and Irene Castle
Vernon and Irene Castle
Vernon and Irene Castle
James Reese Europe's Clef Club Band, 1914. Photo: R E Mercer
Arrigo Boïto and Giuseppe Verdi
Adelina Patti, the late 19th century's greatest operatic soprano, painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Tosca poster
Puccini with the conductor Toscanini, c1900
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founder of the Futurist movement
Giacomo Balla, Sculptural Construction of Noise and Speed (1914-1915, reconstructed 1968). Photo: joelogon on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelogon/105852361/
The Dynamism of a Cyclist (1913) by Umberto Boccioni
Enrico Caruso in 1910
Francesco Tamagno, creator of the role of Otello
First patent for the Espresso Machine, by Mr. Angelo Moriondo, dated May 16, 1884.
Aerial drawing of the exhibition buildings for the 1906 New Zealand International Exhibition , Hagley Park, Christchurch
Alfred Hill and orchestra at the opening ceremony of the New Zealand International Exhibition, Christchurch. Webb, Steffano, 1880?-1967 : Collection of negatives. Ref: 1/1-005291-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://beta.natlib.govt.nz/records/22334460
Sears, Frederick W, fl 1890s-1900s. Invitation to Mr and Mrs Charles Hall. Kelson, Cara, 1922- : Papers. Ref: fMS-Papers-6345-4. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://beta.natlib.govt.nz/records/23045248
Pianoforte: Stories and soundscapes from colonial New Zealand by Kirstine Moffat
Franz Lehár: The Merry Widow piano score cover, Vienna 1906
Photograph of an engraving showing women at the Onehunga local body elections of 1893. Making New Zealand:Negatives and prints from the Making New Zealand Centennial collection. Ref: MNZ-2834-1/4-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://beta.natlib.govt.nz/records/22630436
Danish painter Oluf Hartmann (1879-1910)
Henrik Ibsen (1906)
Æbleskiver is a traditional Danish dessert. If served in December, it is often accompanied by Gløgg (mulled wine)
Charles Koechlin
Edward Elgar
1907 production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers
Sarah Bernhardt by Jules Bastien Lepage
Illustration from Jemima Puddleduck by Beatrix Potter
Edward VII
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, by John Singer Sargent
Dame Nellie Melba
Queen Victoria in 1887
Rudyard Kipling
George Butterworth
Lillie Langtry
Franz Lehár
Anton Bruckner
Gustav Mahler
Arnold Schönberg
Johann Strauss
Johannes Brahms
Richard Strauss
The Wright Brothers' first flight, North Carolina, 17 December 1903.
Nikola Tesla's 'Egg of Columbus', 1893. It was used to demonstrate and explain the principles of the rotating magnetic field model and the induction motor.
The SS Dunedin, painted by Frederick Tudgay. In 1881 she took the first load of frozen meat from New Zealand to the United Kingdom.
Columbia model C ("Universal") Graphophone from 1903 of the collection of Salvador Velez. Photo: AlejandroLinaresGarcia on Wikimedia
Percy Grainer editing duo-art pianola music rolls, 1916
1910 Model T Ford, Salt Lake City, Utah
Tesla coil. Photo: Airarcs on Wikimedia
An original Edison light bulb from 1879 from Thomas Edison's shop in Menlo Park. Photo: terren in Virginia on Flickr
Emile Berliner with disc record gramophone, between 1910 and 1929
Japanese folkwoman playing shamishen, 1904 photo from collection of Christopher Wagner.
Double-sided embroidered silk crêpe; with landscape, floral & figure decoration & white tassel fringe. Chinese 1870-1920. Photo: Val_McG on Flickr
Gallery: Expo Belle Epoque - a visual tour of 1880-1914
“A thousand vague marvels in nature have at last found their interpreter.”Jean Cocteau on Debussy
“Eggs and lamb cutlets were the centre of these friendly occasions. But what eggs and what cutlets! I’m still licking my cheeks – on the inside as you can imagine. Debussy – who prepared these eggs and cutlets himself – had the secret (the innermost secret) of these preparations.” Erik Satie on Friday lunches with Debussy
Music
SAINT-SAENS: L'assassinat du duc de Guise
(Harmonia Mundi HMC 90 1472)
DEBUSSY: La cathédrale engloutie, from Preludes Bk 1
(Onyx 4004)
SATIE: Gymnopédie No 2
(Decca 470 290)
DEBUSSY: Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses, from Preludes Bk 2
(Onyx 4004)
PALESTRINA: Coenantibus illis
(Arcana A 358)
DEBUSSY: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
(DG 427 250)
DEBUSSY: String Quartet in G minor Op 10
(Harmonia Mundi HMI 98 7057)
RAVEL: Daphnis & Chloe
(London D 115520)
SATIE: Morceaux en forme de poire
(EMI Classics D 100380)
RAVEL: Menuet Antique
(Sony MH2K 63316)
DEBUSSY: Pelleas et Mélisande
(EMI CMS 5 67057)
RAVEL: Jeux d’Eaux
(London 433 515)
RAVEL: Shéhérazade
(EMI CDC 7 54204)
RAVEL: Miroirs
(Sony MH2K 63316)
DELAGE: Quatre poems hindous
(Elektra Nonesuch D 114883)
RAVEL: Daphnis & Chloe
(London D 115520)
RAVEL: Daphnis & Chloe
(BSO Classics 0801)
DEBUSSY: Cloche a travers les feuilles, from Images
(Warner 8573 83940)
DEBUSSY: Danses sacree et profane
(Telarc CD 80694)
DEBUSSY: Brouillards, from Preludes Bk 2
(Decca 452 022)
DEBUSSY: Iberia II. Les parfums de la nuit
(Naxos 8572296)
SATIE: Gymnopedie No 1
(Decca 470 290)
DEBUSSY: Nuages, from Nocturnes
(Naxos 8570993)
DEBUSSY: Pelleas et Melisande
(Naxos 8570993)
JAVANESE TRAD: Sampak
(ARC EUCD 1902)
DEBUSSY: Pagodes, from Estampes
(Decca 452 022)
DEBUSSY: Sirenes, from Nocturnes
(Naxos 8570993)
SATIE arr DEBUSSY: Gymnopedie No 1
(Decca 421 527)
DEBUSSY: Pour remercier la pluie au matin, from 6 Ancient Epigraphs
(Philips 454 471)
DEBUSSY: Prelude to Act II: La chamber jagique, from Le Martyre de St Sebastian
(Naxos 80572297)
DEBUSSY: Voiles, from Preludes Bk 1
(Decca 452 022)
SATIE: Je Te Veux
(Decca 470 290)
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring
(Sony SMK 64109)
1908 film Assassination of the Duke of Guise – music by Camille Saint-Saëns
“A thousand vague marvels in nature have at last found their interpreter.” Jean Cocteau on Debussy
