Klarinet Archive - Posting 000184.txt from 1998/02

From: Peter Randell <bardell@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: Wind Quintet and Milhaud...
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 00:07:05 -0500

Peter Randell wrote:
>
> Lorne G. Buick wrote:
> >
> > > Actually, the french word "Cheminee" means of course chimney but it means
> > > another thing: what the title of the Quintet means is "journey" or "pathway"
> > > or "the road he took every day" (!!!). The "chimney" meaning here for that
> > > word doesn't make any sense...
> > >
> > > Elizabeth
> > > McGill University
> >
> > I have a memory of reading somewhere that this title referred to a specific
> > geographical feature (a rock formation?) which King Rene visited... does
> > anyone know the reference? Or am I making it up? (Being on the road I have
> > nowhere to look it up at the moment)
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > LGB Lorne G Buick currently On the Road
> > lgbuick@-----.net somewhere in the western USA
>
> Lorne:- Late in replying to your request, as I had to hunt out a
> "Air-Check" of a CBC broadcast with my WWQ, and refresh my memory! Here
> is the announcers intro;
> La Cheminee du Roi Rene, The Chimney of King Rene, by Darius Milhaud.
> This music, as a matter of interest, was the only music written by
> Milhaud for the film's, specifcally the film "Cavalcade d'Amour". The
> film had a remarkably low budget, a phenomonon not peculiar only to
> France, and the composer was allowed only five instruments! He consented
> to score the film, because King Rene was one of the mediaeval rulers of
> Milhaud's native Aix-en-Provence. The story of King Rene is one of a
> shadowy, legendary, fairy tale character, although based on historical
> fact. King Rene of Provence, who died in 1480, was perhaps the last of
> the troubadour kings , a supporter of the Arts and much beloved by his
> subjects. So revered was his memory, that a statue was erected, which
> still stands, at the outcrop of rock called The Chimeny, where the King
> had been fond of walking. To this place, over the centuries,his former
> subjects have pilgrimage in the belief that at certain times the statue
> comes down and talks about thier troubleswith anyone standing
> nearby.---The titles of the seven parts of the Suite are
> self-explanatory,and all carry thr fairy-tale quality of a day of
> legend. The first is called Cortege, a sort of memorial tribute. The
> second, Aubade, a Morning Serenade. The third Jongleurs, Juggler's. The
> fourth La Mousinglade - the name of Milhaud's estate,then Chasse a
> Valabre -the hunt at Valabre, and finally a Madrigal-Nocturne.
At the time the above was written, I was instructing at
both Ottawa U and Carleton U, and I had access to both libraries and
that is where I obtained my research [I think!] - it was many years
ago. Hope the above will be useful to you, and that your
great tour of the Colonies is going
well. Regards, Peter
Randell.

Sorry for the double transmission - I think I cut off the coda on the
first run-through!