I got up and on the metro, hot chocolate and croissant in hand, of course (as I said last time, I'm going to be lost without this corner boulangerie!), and headed to Montmartre. It was a longish commute, as Montmartre is the highest point in the city - well north of central Paris - and I had to walk what seemed like forever through a pretty smelly metro station to change lines. My nose is finally almost clear after three weeks of crud, and sometimes I wish it was still stuffed up...
Anyway, I got off the metro and climbed the steps up to Sacré-Cœur, a church begun both as a sort of national penance after losing the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and as an attempt to reign in the bawdy neighborhood of Montmartre.
The views are pretty spectacular, but I had a run-in with a few scammers on the way up the steps. I knew from my copious research that the steps of Sacré-Cœur are a common place for people preying on tourists. For example, women or girls will come up to you with a clipboard, asking if you speak English and then ask you to sign a "petition" for some cause. Then they will demand money for said "cause" after you sign. They have been easy to deal with, at least for me: a simple "non" or "je ne parle pas anglais" is all it takes for them to leave you alone.
I also read about the friendship bracelet scam, when someone comes up to you and ties a string bracelet like the ones I made in elementary school around your wrist, then insists you pay for it. I hadn't seen anyone do that yet, but I spotted a couple of men with bracelets as I was coming up the steps. I did not make eye contact and planned to walk on by, but one stepped in my way and said something. I firmly said "non merci" and kept walking but he grabbed my wrist and said, "I said please." I repeated myself and tried to keep moving, but then had to raise my voice, "non merci!" and yanked my arm away. Luckily that was the end of that. I'm sure he targeted me because I was obviously a tourist and by myself; it really pissed me off. (It also says a lot about my privilege that this is all it took to rattle me, having never had anything worse happen, I do realize that...)
Anyway, I can certainly understand why people don't like Paris if they only come to the most touristy spots, like Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower. I would say to anyone visiting Paris for 10 days or less, don't even bother with Montmartre and the E.T. You can see both from a distance, and I think that's plenty... there's much more to love in the "real" Paris, like our neighborhood on the Left Bank.
Speaking of "real Paris", there were parts of Montmartre that were enjoyable. Right around the corner from Sacré-Cœur is Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, one of Paris's oldest churches, with about three other tourists inside. This building dates to the 12th century, built by Louis IX, but worshippers have come to the site since Roman times, when there were temples to Mars and Mercury. Actually, two columns in this picture (the darker ones in the middle ground holding up the central arch) may have come from that temple! So cool.
Yes, this is a statue of a priest holding his head in his hands. The name "Montmartre" comes from both "Mount of Mars/Mercury" and "Mount of Martyrs," since according to legend, St. Denis picked up his head after being executed and carried it to this hill where he finally died.
After going through the main square of Montmartre which is also touristy and where I was again harassed, this time by someone wanting me to pay them to draw a caricature of me, I found Satie's house!
Erik Satie, one of my favorite composers and personalities, lived here in the 1890s. In fact, I bought a translation of his journals at Shakespeare & Co., which I really ought to take to a park bench and get reading! Check out this score of his "Sonatine Bureaucratique"... the narration, which is meant only for the pianist, gives you an idea of Satie's delightfully absurdist sense of humor.
Composers and other artists were all over the place... here is Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's house. So jealous of that big wonderful window for his studio!
Vincent Van Gogh lived in this building with his brother for a couple years in the 1880s.
This afternoon, I attended a master class at EAMA: Roy Howat, pianist and musicologist, lecturing on the making of a new edition of Chopin's piano etudes for Peters. #nerdalert!
My first thought, knowing how many different editions of Chopin's works there already are from working at Luyben Music, was how could we possibly need another one?! But this guy knows what he's doing, as you can read in his bio, here. It was a detailed and fascinating talk! Instead of recreating a composer's work from several different editions and ending up with something he/she didn't actually write, Howat is choosing one from several sources (manuscripts, printed editions, copies), making corrections if he believes there are mistakes, and then giving pianists all the options from other editions. He explained how challenging it is to choose the best source in the first place, and then played many specific examples of how the slightest change in pitch, articulation, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, fingering, etc., can completely change an etude that has been recorded hundreds of times. That should be obvious to any musician, but it served as an important reminder to musicology-minded types that going back to the "first" or "best" source isn't all there is - we need to use our musicality as well. For example, Howat mentioned Chopin's sharp sense of humor, which can inform which interpretation of a musical moment one chooses. He also explained Chopin rarely played something the same way twice, so he often rethought details of a piece between the first manuscript, sending a copy out to an engraver, correcting the initial engravings, or even marking a student's copy! What a challenge, good grief. But, he also made the point several times that he isn't telling a pianist what to play, just showing all the options and where they came from.
I'm not sure if this is the kind of work I'd want to tackle some day, but it's something to keep in mind!
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