Ep. 10. Cecile Chaminade - her music and life, by Anna Shelest

As part of her Donna Voce project, pianist Anna Shelest talks about the great French pianist and composer Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944).
~SOURCES~
Cecile Chaminade: A Bio-Bibliography by Marcia J. Citron
~MUSIC~
Music used in the video:
Autumn from Concert Etudes, Op. 35
Scarf Dance
Les Sylvains, Op. 60
~LISTEN~
/ donna-voce
open.spotify.com/album/0J0Ax2...
~SCORES~
ks4.imslp.info/files/imglnks/...
imslp.org/wiki/6_%C3%89tudes_...)
~ABOUT~
Donna Voce is an ongoing musical project that celebrates music written by women composers from 19 to 21 century.
The Donna Voce project is dedicated to the loving memory of Judy Cope (1958-2019)
www.legacy.com/obituaries/nyt...
Stay tuned with the Donna Voce playlist for regular updates.
~SUPPORT~
To support the Donna Voce project please check out our Patreon page:
/ shelestatthepiano
#CecileChaminade #WomenComposers #DonnaVoce

[@lovelettertothewest]

I have never seen such a beautiful presentation of the life and work of Cécile Chaminade. Not even at France Musique's Channel. You can clearly feel Ms. Shelest's love and admiration for this great artist. This in no way prevents her from conveying an objective and competent presentation to her audience. However, I was disappointed with the few likes (out of 336 views). That can only be due to the comfort and inattentiveness that characterize our zeitgeist. In any case, I am very grateful for this worthy homage, and will visit Ms. Shelest Kanal very soon again.

[@ShelestatthePiano]

thank you, Cécile has been such a joy to discover!

[@rickshelley1287]

Makes me glad to be human

[@labemolmineur]

Thank you so much for this moving and inspiring portrait! I enjoyed every minute of it- so much to think about. What a fascinating personality. It's really interesting to compare Chaminade's views on marriage for a creative artist to those of another fascinating pianist-composer, Marie Jaëll. She wrote, "From a woman, gifted or not, man takes away everything, little by little, and robs her of her creative forces; he takes away her life. How often have I seen my dreams shattered by this single fact. The union of two beings can certainly be beautiful, splendid, marvelous, but... must a woman always give in, and make the choice between the wings of the body and the wings of the soul, sacrifice the former for the latter? Can’t she keep all four?" (Laure Struber: The Education of Musical Thinking Through the Hand According to Marie Jaëll, DMA Dissertation, University of Washington, 2017)

[@ShelestatthePiano]

Thank you so much for this comment- I must admit I did not know Jaëll’s music, I found a few of her scores online- excited to add another composer to my practice list!

[@labemolmineur]

@@ShelestatthePiano I got to know her a few months ago through BBC's Composer of the Week (compressed podcast: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08qhx39). She was apparently the first pianist to perform the complete piano oeuvre of Liszt and to play all of Beethoven's piano sonatas in Paris. Her original work is fascinating (including two pianos concertos and pieces inspired by a reading of Dante's Divine Comedy) and she was totally committed to her craft. Liszt said she had "an artist's fingers and a philosopher's brain". It would be amazing to hear some of her music through you! Thank you for your wonderful interpretations. These episodes have become the highlight of my week.

[@klaus575]

Congrate Anna, for this interesting document about Cecile Chaminade. All is perfect clear explanation, good sound, beautiful shots, good play as usual, and ... beautiful dress :>). I hope lot of people will find this clip and will try to know more about Cecile Chaminade and YOU ! ( just a little mistake in the title !)

[@ludmilapolusmiak7624]

Dyakuyu! Duje tsikavo!

[@ShelestatthePiano]

Thank you and your sharp eye- fixed it!

[@katyukovanatalia7721]

Amazing work! So interesting, beautifully edited and gorgeously played! Brava 👏🏼👏🏼

[@ShelestatthePiano]

Thank you, Natasha!

[@peterpas7056]

Interlude op.152.love so much!

[@labemolmineur]

"She has been handicapped, and only the few, through force of circumstance or inherent strength, have been able to make the better of that handicap. There is no sex in art. Genius is an independent quality." What a telling quote. I think about this a lot. I once had this discussion with others, and it was both fascinating and sad to know that some still believe there is something in the female gender that is incompatible with (or less capable of) creative work. The results of millenia of human injustice are blamed on nature- on someone's sex or race or skin color, and social codes are confused with genes. Social codes said it was acceptable for women to write miniature piano pieces and songs, just like it was acceptable for them to paint nature scenes (but never historical scenes or human portraits), and everything larger was associated with manliness. Or social codes said you can play but not compose, or compose but not play (Amy Beach), or compose but not publish or make money (Fanny Hensel). It's also interesting that "manliness" has been used both as a criticism and as a praise of a woman's work- the British composer Ethel Smyth was praised for the "masculine energy of conception" of her music. And when Clara Schumann was considered "above gender" because of her merit and position in German musical life, "above gender" only meant being treated like a man: "With the exception of Madame Schumann there is no woman and there will not be any women employed at the conservatory. As for Madame Schumann, I count her as a man," wrote Joachim Raff, the director of the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, to another woman who applied. Thank you again for this. I will be listening to and playing through more of Chaminade's work!

[@dtao12]

Thanks! I would love to hear you perform Chaminade's Piano Sonata in C minor, which I think is a great piece.

[@ShelestatthePiano]

yes, it is a great piece indeed, I definitely would want to play it someday, i have a long list of her pieces to learn ahead!

[@ludmilapolusmiak7624]

Dyakuyu! Duje tsikavo!