Help please from classical music buffs and artists!

[CTyankee]

I am putting together a slide show on the brief art movement called Les Nabis from the late 19th-early 20th century and I need suitable music. Elgar, Saint-Saens, Schubert, Barber, Faure, Mascagni and Puccini come to mind.

I'd like to hear what you think!

[Harker]

1. You might find a spot for Erik Satie.

Or the like.

[CTyankee]

3. Geez, how could I forget the gymnopedie?

Back in the day (IIRC) this piece was considered highly appropriate for lovemaking. Nothing wrong with that but it might be a bit of a distraction...

Am I crazy to think of that?

[Harker]

7. I can't recall any Satie in the sack...

but I'd be floating dreamily down a stream of reverie.

Something a little more up tempo, maybe.

[panader0]

12. My girlfriend at the time thought 'Light my Fire' was appropriate for lovemaking.

It had just been released.
As a youngster, I had Ravel and Saint-Saens records. We lived in Morocco in the 50's and that was
all I could get. I had many other classical records, but none that would fit in with what you're subject is.

[Ocelot II]

2. Debussy, Ravel, Henri Duparc, Erik Satie, Lili Boulanger.

Those were French composers who were active at the time and whose music reflected the same influences as Les Nabis. Maybe Saint-Saëns or Puccini, definitely not Elgar or Schubert.

[CTyankee]

4. Speaking of Puccini, his aria "O mio babbio caro" was theme music for "A Room With a View" which

is one of my favorite films.

[Ocelot II]

5. If you want a heart-rending Puccini aria, go with this one:

[CTyankee]

14. here is an instrumental collection of Puccini arias. What do you think?

[Ocelot II]

16. Nice, but one of the great things about Puccini is how he employs the voice.

He often doubles a vocal line at the octave, which enhances the voice in a uniquely beautiful way. I think something is lost in an instrumental arrangement.

[CTyankee]

18. Yes, I agree.I didn't know that detail you cite and I am not a musician, but I'm now eager to play

his arias with new ears!

[GumboYaYa]

6. You have to include Claude Terrasse.

He was Bonnard's brother-in-law.

[Ocelot II]

8. Debussy was into symbolism, like Les Nabis.

Check out Pelléas et Mélisande.

[Donkees]

9. ''MUSIC, SYMBOLISM, AND LES NABIS''

Excerpts:

Between November 2019 and January 2020, Phillips Music presented three concerts exploring the interrelationships between music and art in the period of the Nabis as part of the exhibition Bonnard to Vuillard: The Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life—The Nabi Collection of Vicki and Roger Sant...

The spirit of the program is embodied—to some degree—by a single, revolutionary figure: Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe. Ysaÿe was a prominent musician in the cultural milieu of the late 19th century and the pre-eminent virtuoso of his age. A champion of new music, Ysaÿe was aligned with the Franck school, and he regularly toured music by Franck, D’Indy, Chausson as well as Debussy (frequently in concert with the music of Bach) internationally as talismans of French cultural export (both Franck and Ysaÿe were Belgian natives who became naturalized French citizens). As a musician, Ysaÿe came to embody 19th-century perceptions of the transcendent power and mystery of music, and in this heady period of synesthetic connection, Ysaÿe’s performances were often interpreted in lofty, poetic terms.

In 1894, he programmed a series of four concerts with the Ysaÿe Quartet at the Musée de l’Art Modern in Brussels during an exhibition curated by Octave Maus titled La Libre Esthétique (The Free Aesthetic). Ysaÿe created an ambitious series of concerts that were ideologically aligned to the “Franckistes.” The second concert featured an all-Debussy program in which the String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 received its second performance (the premiere had taken place at the Société Nationale in Paris in 1893). The final performance presented Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet in D Major, Op. 21. Hanging in the galleries as these works were heard were paintings by Paul Gauguin, Maurice Denis, Odilon Redon, Paul Sérusier, Paul Ranson, and many other artists of the Symbolist milieu. This Sunday’s concert thus presents an irresistible opportunity to hear some of the music that was most alive to the cross-disciplinary artistic spirit of the time.

https://blog.phillipscollection.org/2020/01/09/music-symbolism-les-nabis/

[BeyondGeography]

10. Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals

Satie, 3 Morceaux en Forme de Poire

Much prefer this interpretation to the standard slowpokes.

[CTyankee]

17. Have you heard this one?

Mascagni - Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo

but I think it was written in the 1880s.

[Timeflyer]

11. The Bell Song from the Delibes opera "Lakme"

It has beautiful vocals, but maybe there's an instrumental of just the music. Not the "Flower Song" from Lakme--beautiful but way too familiar. Think it was written around 1880.

[carpetbagger]

13. Lili Boulanger

A bit anachronistic (fl. 1910-1917) but is asthetically congruent.

[Ocelot II]

15. She wrote some gorgeous art songs, and died tragically young - only 24.

Her sister was the famous composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger.

[CTyankee]

19. We forgot Rafe Vaughn Williams! How could we?

One of his pieces was playing on my classical music radio station as I was driving to the supermarket and I thought how the hell did we forget him?

Just played his oboe piece. There is also "The Lark Ascending."

Anybody got some suggestions?

[LudwigPastorius]

20. If you want to get the 'transition from impressionism to abstraction' esthetic in music,...

I think it came a bit later than it did with the painters.

I've been immersed in string quartets lately. Here are some that might capture what you're looking for:

1st Movement Prokofiev 2

4th Movement Ravel

2nd Movement Debussy

1st Movement Vaughan Williams 1