1870 in Music

A list of music reviews I’ve written for music published in 1870.

 

1. Henri Duparc: “L’Invitation Au Voyage” (7?/10)

This is a slow, pretty song that makes you feel as though the modern listener is in another time, maybe in a rich theatre somewhere in Paris, or maybe idling the days away on some slow river (given the title).

I have such a hard time writing about songs individually, because I just haven’t listened to enough of them.

 

2. Henri Duparc: Au pays où se fait la guerre (7/10)

I don’t know what the lyrics mean, as I don’t speak French, but it seems odd to me that a song about war would be so sedate. I guess it’s because this is a lament for the dead, or for those affected by the war, or something like that, rather than a musical depiction of war itself. I should probably look up a translation of the lyrics to see if the music really fits the lyrics because seeing “guerre” in the title would normally make me assume we were getting some action, except that this is Duparc writing for women.