16th- and 20th-century art

Today was my first day joining Steve at Schola Cantorum as it was the first day of classes, and I am singing in Chorale, which meets about twice a week. Steve figured there would probably be few sopranos, so he asked Dr. Mark Shapiro if I could come sing along. Dr. Shapiro said sure, and I brought a binder of Renaissance music with me to sing. I wasn't super excited about rehearsal today as I'm finally not sneezing and wanted to see two museums.

Well, I was wrong. It was so wonderful and rejuvenating to sing with Chorale today, I had no idea I needed it so badly. It's a group of good musicians that by and large are not singers (I did get a kick out of watching some of them struggle, I can't lie), and Dr. Shapiro is terrific! He didn't talk a whole lot, but he helped the non-singers with the basics of good posture, and pointed out some interesting contrapuntal moments since the program is counterpoint-focused and mostly for composers. We sang through some Palestrina, Byrd, Lassus, and Hassler; and even though my voice is still suffering from lingering cold gunk, it was a complete delight. It was an a cappella rehearsal, and turns out one's pitch memory gets pretty good if you're forced to do it all the time. 

Ahh, just wonderful. And such fun to make music in a place where some important 20th-century French composers have studied or taught... from Satie to Milhaud, Varese to Messiaen. 

After rehearsal, I made my way to Musée de l'Orangerie, which houses Monet's Water Lilies, eight murals painted with the space at the museum in mind. According to the museum brochure, Monet donated the paintings to France after WWI, offering people a place to relax and meditate. It's a little difficult to do that in a room full of people trying to take pictures... it might be nice to go back on an evening when it's open later and maybe it would be quieter. 

Pictures don't really do these gorgeous paintings justice, but here are some anyway: 

These were painted at his house and garden in Giverny as Monet observed the changing natural light. I'm planning to take a day trip out there when Mom and I get back from running around the Loire Valley and Dordogne. 

The rest of the museum highlights the collection of the art dealer Paul Guillaume, who supported artists like Picasso, Derain, Utrillo, and Soutine. Many of the names were new to me, but their work was fascinating. Some favorites follow... 

Renoir (one of my favorites - saw it when it was on loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art - fun to recognize it!)

Renoir

Cezanne

Cezanne

Chaim Soutine (new name to me - this was the tamest of his paintings... lots of dead animals...

...and cool warped portraits)

Picasso in a classical phase... sort of...

André Derain

Marie Laurencin

Derain

Maurice Utrillo

Picasso (believe it or not! PS Who knew that Picasso lived until the 1970s?! somehow I never realized that before and it completely blew my mind today)

After leaving the Orangerie, I didn't have enough time to do another museum before meeting Steve back at our apartment, so I decided to walk around on the Right Bank a little bit.

 Pont Alexandre III with my first best view of the Eiffel Tower on another cloudy - but rainless! - day

I saw Place de la Concorde and thought about walking up Champ des Elysees for about two seconds until I noticed just how busy it was. Today was the first time I felt at all disconcerted by crowds or the threat of "something might happen." So I turned further north and found a Ladurée (Pat, I made it!) and bought chocolate, caramel, and vanilla macrons! YUM. Maybe I'll get braver by the end of the month and try the Rose Water flavor... 

All in all, another great day in Paris! Tomorrow there is a national rail strike, apparently, but I'm still going to take a train to Chartres cathedral, one of the day trips I've been most excited about. Might take a little longer than usual, but I'll survive! If we've learned one thing about Parisian culture so far, it's that you just have to slow down. You have to slow down to accept when things are late, and you really have to slow down so you don't move too fast in your tiny apartment and walk into things, or turn the wrong way in the shower, bump the spigot, and then find yourself scrambling to get out of the way of scalding water. Live and learn! :)