THE Spectacle of solitude: Mallarmé, Debussy & Ravel

$60/$70

Includes post-concert reception with wine, coffee, cognac, & hors d'oeuvres

Wednesday, January 15, 7.30PM

Blue Gallery

222 E 46th St, New York, NY 10017

Gilles Vonsattel piano

Sergey Antonov cello

Stella Chen violin

Ravel Piano Trio in A minor
Debussy Images, Book II

Narrated by Clement Jospeh

Toute âme est un nœud rythmique

"Every soul is a braid of rhythms."

Hermit, mystagogue, man made of words — Stephane Mallarmé lived as an enigma.  Presiding spirit of one of the most influential and exclusive salons in 19th century Paris, he was yet an obscure man, a poor English teacher married to a German governess, a poet whose total published output would scarcely fill a single volume.  Yet the Tuesday gatherings at his humble flat on the Rue de Rome attracted the cream of intellectual society from France and beyond: Rilke, Yeats, Gide, Valéry, Degas, Rodin, Whistler, and Manet all gathered to hear his gnomic pronouncements and discuss art in the highest philosophical terms.

Rhythm and music were all-important to Mallarmé, and his poems have ignited works by such diverse composers as Hindemith, Boulez and Milhaud.  Yet it is in the pieces of Ravel and most especially the poet’s close friend Claude Debussy that the very essence of this strange man’s voice seems to live, sensuous yet absent, a gorgeous blur which never fully resolves.

Curated by poet and translator Clement V. Joseph, this short program of words and music will pull back some part of the veil, and evoke the sublime ambiguity persisting in the voice of Mallarmé and the artists he inspired.  Afterwards, coffee and cognac will be served with conversation, in the best tradition of the Tuesday salon.

No refunds, no exchanges. Artists, programs, dates, and prices are subject to change.

Programs and artists are subject to change. If an event presented by Aspect Chamber Music Series is cancelled or postponed, we will announce the change—if time permits—by email, phone, a letter sent to your home, and on www.aspectmusic.net.