Midday Muse: The Music of World War I A Time of Horror and Hope

Wednesday, October 28, 2015 - 12:30pm

Jewett Art Center Auditorium

This concert features performance faculty Lois Shapiro, Gabriela Diaz and David Russell presenting the works of Debussy, Faure, JanÁcek, and Ravel in an exploration of the music of The Great War. World War I provided many artists with inspiration as well as adversity. Ravel, Janacek, and Debussy were all profoundly impacted by the devastation and scale of this war, and wrote music that reflected their need for spiritual sustenance at a time when their personal as well as nationalistic identities were threatened.

A dedicated Czech nationalist intent on preserving his language through embedding speech rhythm into his music, Janacek drafted his violin sonata while the Moravian people awaited the arrival of the liberating Russian forces at the beginning of World War I. Ravel, like Debussy, turned to the golden age of French music in the 18th century, and, like Janacek, turned to his Basque cultural roots as a way of asserting musical independence from Wagner and German culture. Music was for each of them a means of “binding all of mankind into one spirit, one kind of happiness, one kind of bliss.” –Leos Janacek

http://www.wellesley.edu/events/node/68586