Table Of ContentNadia Boulanger: Thoughts on Music
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Eastman Studies in Music
Ralph P. Locke, Senior Editor
Eastman School of Music
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Published online by Cambridge University Press
Nadia Boulanger:
Thoughts on Music
Edited and Translated by
Jeanice Brooks and Kimberly Francis
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Copyright © 2020 by the Editors
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no
part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2020
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ISBN-13: 978-1-58046-967-8 hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781787449770 ePUB
ISBN-13: 9781787446571 ePDF
ISSN: 1071-9989 ; v. 166
Cataloging-in-Publication data available from the Library of Congress.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
Cover image: Nadia Boulanger at the organ in her home at 36, rue Ballu, 1958.
Photo Charles Leirens. © Charles Leirens: Rights reserved.
Cover design: riverdesignbooks.com
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Editorial Apparatus and Critical Notes xiii
Note on Translations xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Timeline of Nadia Boulanger’s Life xix
Introduction
Thinking about Music: Nadia Boulanger’s Pensées 1
Frameworks 14
Themes and Debates 51
Part One: Journalism, Criticism, Tributes
Le Monde musical, 1919–27
“Concerts Colonne-Lamoureux” (January 1919) 71
“Simples Réflexions” (March 1919) 82
“Concerts Colonne-Lamoureux” (May 1919) 91
“Concerts Colonne” (November 1919) 97
“Concerts Colonne” (December 1919) 105
“Walter Damrosch et le New-York Symphony
Orchestra à Paris” (May 1920) 117
“Le Jubilé de W. Mengelberg” (June 1920) 123
“Concerts Colonne” (December 1920) 130
“Concerts Colonne” (March 1921) 146
“Concerts Colonne” (April 1921) 152
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“Salle Gaveau: Flonzaley Quartet” (October 1921) 156
“Concerts Colonne” (November 1921) 159
“Concerts Koussevitzky” (November 1921) 173
“L’Heure Espagnole” (December 1921) 175
“Concerts Koussevitzky” (December 1921) 180
“Concerts Koussevitzky” (November 1923) 186
“Le Traité de’improvisation de Marcel Dupré” (January 1926) 191
“Le Chevalier à la Rose” (February 1927) 193
Other Critical Writing, 1913–29
“La Musique religieuse,” La Revue musicale (1922) 201
“L’Oeuvre théâtrale d’Albert Roussel,” La Revue
musicale (1929) 208
Spectateur, 1946–47
“Le miracle de Toscanini” (June 18, 1946) 233
“Voici revenue la saison des concerts” (October 1, 1946) 235
“Concerts symphoniques: Premières auditions”
(October 22, 1946) 238
“La symphonie d’Igor Strawinsky” (November 26, 1946) 241
“Les concerts symphoniques” (December 10, 1946) 243
“Les concerts symphoniques” (January 7, 1947) 252
“Les premières auditions” (January 21, 1947) 257
“Les concerts symphoniques: Un nouveau chef-d’œuvre d’Igor
Strawinsky” (February 11, 1947) 260
“Igor Markevitch, Dinu Lipatti, Jean Françaix” (March 11, 1947) 263
“Karol Szymanowsky: Les grands concerts” (April 1, 1947) 267
“Les concerts symphoniques” (April 8, 1947) 274
“Les grands concerts, Béla Bartok” (April 22, 1947) 277
“Les grands concerts, Figure humaine de Francis Poulenc”
(June 10, 1947) 280
“Les grands concerts” (June 24, 1947) 282
“Fin de saison” (July 11, 1947) 285
Tributes, 1924–78
In Memoriam: Tribute and Speech for the State Funeral for
Gabriel Fauré (1924) 289
“Le professeur.” Auguste Chapuis (1934) 292
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contents vii
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In Memoriam: Speech on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of
the Gabriel Fauré’s Death (1949) 295
In Memoriam: Dinu Lipatti (1952) 298
In Memoriam: Roger-Ducasse (1955) 302
Tribute: Igor Markevitch (1959) 304
In Memoriam: Jean Binet (1961) 306
In Memoriam: Marie-Blanche, Comtesse Jean de
Polignac (1965) 308
“Un soir inoublié.” Tribute: Yehudi Menuhin (January 1967) 310
In Memoriam: André Caplet (1978) 312
Part Two: Lectures, Classes, Broadcasts
Course Transcripts
“La Musique moderne.” Le Monde musical (1926) 317
“La visite de l’Ecole Normale de Musique.” Conferencia (1933) 337
“Le Piano.” Le Monde musical (1936) 345
Lectures and Speeches
Houston Lectures, Stenographies of Original English (1925)
“Claude Achille Debussy,” Rice Institute Lecture no. 1 353
“French Music, Modern and Ultramodern,” Rice Institute
Lecture no. 2 364
“Igor Stravinsky,” Rice Institute Lecture no. 3 375
“Teacher’s Lecture” 387
Lecture on Gabriel Fauré (undated [between 1940–49]) 399
On Hearing (undated) 407
Broadcasts
Lecture for the BBC, “French Choral Music” (1936) 409
Lecture for the BBC, Music of the Week (1937) 414
Lecture for the BBC, Music of the Week, [“Dumbarton Oaks
Concerto”] (1938) 417
“La Musique et la vie quotidienne.” The Listener (1938) 421
Script for a program of Bach cantata excerpts for the
Club d’Essai (1947) 425
Script for a program of Haydn trios for the Club
d’Essai (1948) 431
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Thinking at the Close
“Propos impromptus: Nadia Boulanger.” Le Courrier
musical (1978) 435
Bibliography of Nadia Boulanger’s Published Writing 441
General Bibliography 445
Index 455
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List of Illustrations
Figures
1 Nadia Boulanger ca. 1910. Photo Henri Manuel. Centre
International Nadia et Lili Boulanger. 3
2 Press photo of Boulanger, 1925. Photo Edmond Joaillier.
Bibliothèque Nationale de France. 4
3 Nadia Boulanger and her students in her apartment at
36 rue Ballu, 1923. From left to right: Eyvind Hesselberg;
unidentified; Robert Delaney; unidentified; Nadia Boulanger;
Aaron Copland; Mario Braggiotti; Melville Smith; unidentified;
Armand Marquiset. Library of Congress, Aaron Copland
Collection, 478/2. 6
4 Boulanger’s draft for her December 1920 column for Le Monde
musical, written on old stationery from her wartime charity
work for the Comité Franco-Américain. Centre International
Nadia et Lili Boulanger. 10
5 Program for the Concerts Colonne, with Nadia Boulanger’s
notes about the performance. The concert on 14 December
1919, conducted by Willem Mengelberg, featured works by
Weber, Dukas, Liszt and Beethoven. Bibliothèque Nationale
de France. 19
6 Press photograph of the state funeral of Gabriel Fauré,
November 1924. Boulanger was the only female speaker for
the tributes to the composer. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. 33
7 Boulanger’s draft for her 1936 BBC broadcast, with musical
notation to indicate aspects of delivery. Centre International
Nadia et Lili Boulanger. 45
8 Nadia Boulanger in her home at 36 rue Ballu, 1958.
Photo Charles Leirens. © Charles Leirens: Rights reserved. 50
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x illustrations
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Examples
“L’Oeuvre théâtrale d’Albert Roussel”
1 Padmâvatî, p. 1 213
2 Padmâvatî, p. 40 215
3 Padmâvatî, p. 60 216
4 Padmâvatî, p. 64 217
5 Padmâvatî, p. 71 217
6 Padmâvatî, p. 76–77 218
7 Padmâvatî, p. 90 219
8 Padmâvatî, p. 127 220
9 Padmâvatî, p. 129 221
10 Naissance de la lyre, p. 20 226
11 Naissance de la lyre, p. 24 227
12 Naissance de la lyre, p. 81 227
13 Naissance de la lyre, p. 6–7 228
14 Naissance de la lyre, p. 44 228
“Le Piano”
1 Mozart, Sonata in D Major, K. 284 348
2 Mozart, Sonata in G Major, K. 283 349
3 Mozart, Sonata in F Major, K. 280 350
4 Mozart, Sonata in A Minor, K. 310 351
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