Île de France

The poet, theorist and composer Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) played a crucial role in the musical history. In his treatise Ars Nova, he created a new musical notation which enabled a greater variety in rhythm. Only a dozen of motets is all that survived from his musical output, which was highly praised by his contemporaries. In the last ten years of his life he was bishop of Meaux.

The cathedral has an organ from 1627 by Valéran de Héman.

The composer and lexicographer Sébastien de Brossard (1655-1730) died here, having lived in Meaux since 1698. More important than his compositions is his Dictionaire de musique from 1703, the first of its kind in France and still an interesting source of information. Brossard was buried in the cathedral.

Grave of the composer Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), the female member of the Groupe des Six.

A plaque refers to the birthplace of Louis and Charles Couperin, resp. the uncle and the father of François Couperin ‘le grand’. Across the street, at the backside of the town hall, the municipality installed another plaque to honour the entire Couperin dynasty for its musical activities during for two centuries.

A plaque in the baptismal church of the Couperins also mentions two musicians Forqueray, nephews of the gamba player and composer Antoine Forqueray. There is a modest organ from the early 19^th century with 13 stops and a painting of the demolished Abbey of St Peter, where the Couperins worked as organists.

From the estate Courtavenel, the country residence of the composer Pauline Viardot, only the castle ruin and the farm remain. Some images of the former estate are displayed in the farm.

The composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755) lived in this village at the end of his life. No traces found, except a street named after him.

Château de Chambonnières was the ancestral seat of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (1602-1672), the founder of the French school of harpsichord playing and composing. Not much has remained of its former appearance; the park became a camping site.

The monastery was established in 1248 by the trouvère Thibaut IV, Conte de Champagne et Brie (1201-1253), who left behind more poems with music than any other trouvère; his fame was widespread, he is mentioned by Dante. Thibaut also was king of Navarra; he died in Pamplona.

The actual building from the 14^th century preserves the heart of the founder and an archive.

Last house of the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). He and the violinist Stéphane Grapelli created new standards in jazz improvisation with their band Hot Club de France.

Monument of Django Reinhardt.

Grave of Django Reinhardt,

Museum and archive devoted to Django Reinhardt.

There was plenty of music in the royal palace. Lully organised plaisirs musicaux between 1661 and 1685 in the Salle de la Belle-Cheminée. Numerous concerts by André Destouches, one act operas by Rameau and in 1752 the first performance of Le devin du village by JJ Rousseau were highlights in the 18^th century.

From 1922 until 1932 this mansion was occupied by the spiritual community of Georges Ivanovich Gurdjiev, the ‘Institute for the harmonic development of men’. The composer Thomas Aleksandrovich de Hartmann (1886-1949) was a member until 1929; he made notations and arrangements of the melodies sung by Gurdjiev.

Summer residence of the music editors Auguste and Jacques Durand, with a music salon. Visits by Debussy, Dukas, Fauré, Ravel, Ropartz, Roussel, Saint-Saëns, Schmitt and Widor.

House of the composer Jules Massenet from 1871 to 1880.

The composer Jules Massenet (1842-1912) acquired this 16^th century castle in 1900 and lived here until his death. Around 1990 the house was still occupied by his descendants; the plans for a museum and music courses were not realised.

Grave of Jules Massenet.

Last house since 1897 of the English composer Frederick Delius (1862-1934). Beautiful house with a garden up to the river.

Country house of the great writer, poet, artist, film maker and critic Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), from 1946 until his death. He played an important role in the musical history as promoter of Satie and co-operator of Stravinsky and the Groupe des Six. The museum was opened in 2010; next to the private rooms of Cocteau, the art collection of his last partner, Edouard Dermit, is displayed.

Jean Cocteau was buried in this Romanesque chapel, with wall paintings of flowers and biblical scenes, designed by himself.

The pianist Francis Planté (1839-1934) lived here in the 1870s and ‘80s. In his youth he heard Chopin playing, thus his recordings are a link with a distant past. Planté also made piano arrangements of works by Berlioz, Gounod, Mendelssohn a.o.

Last house of the composer Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834); he lived here from 1826 and composed his opera La Dame blanche. The preceding house in nearby Villeneuve-Saint-Georges could not be tracked down.

The 18^th century palace Petit-Bourg was a property of Alexandre Aguado between 1827 and 1849. He was a friend of Rossini; the latter stayed here in 1828, working at his last opera: Guillaume Tell. The house was demolished.

The composer of the famous Chansons d’Auvergne, Joseph Cantaloube de Malaret (1879-1959) died in this house.

Last house of the jazz musician Sidney Bechet (1897-1959). He was best known as soprano saxophone player. His most popular tune, Petite Fleur, was created here in 1952. He was buried in Garches (>fr1).

Graves of Nikolay Tcherepnin – the first in a dynasty of composers including Aleksandr, Serge and Ivan – and of the Russian dancers Serge Lifar and Rudolf Nureyev.

The monument of the composer Adolphe Adam (1803-1856) was erected here in 1897, to honour the composer of the opera comique Le postillon de Longjumeau.

The goldsmith and composer François Roberday (1624-1680) lived in this village during the last twenty years of his life, after having completed his only known work, the excellent Fugues et caprices à quatre parties. His house and grave are not known; in the town hall nobody has heard of him...

House of Maurice Ravel from 1921 until his death in 1937. The miniature castle, packed with a mixture of refined and banal objects, and the beautiful Japanese garden are worth a visit (on weekends, by appointment). Many works, including Boléro, L’enfant et les sortilèges and the piano concertos, were written here. The composer Germaine Tailleferre was perhaps Ravel’s most frequent visitor during the 1920s.

Grave of the singer Charles Aznavour (1924-2018). It is the family grave of the Armenian family Aznavurian of which he is an offspring.

Authentic organ by Louis-Alexandre Clicquot, made between 1734 and ’39; III/p/22. As distinct from other historic organs, none of its essential parts has ever been replaced, at the most insufficiently maintained. A thorough restoration took place in 1972.

King Louis XVI, an ardent music lover, had the magnificent palace and park built from the 1660s; many parts of the complex are of musical interest. Musical and theatrical Divertissements by Lully were performed in the park and the Cour de Marbre. Church music by Couperin, Charpentier and Delalande sounded in the Chapel and various dance- and chamber music in the salons of Apollo and Mars (north wing, 1^st floor); nearby is a portrait gallery in which Couperin turns up. Robert Clicquot made the chapel organ in 1711; the present organ is a reconstruction from 1996 of the Clicquot instrument (IV/p/37).

In the era of Louis XV and Louis XVI, music by Destouches and Rameau was performed. End 1763, the young Mozart and his sister Nannerl played before the court in the cabinet doréand at New-Year’s day 1764, the family was invited to supper. The opera with 700 seats was not finished until 1770.

In the Grande Écurie [great stable], some musicians had apartments, incl. Lully. Above all It housed the (wind) musicians for hunting music and outdoor ceremonies. The première of Rameau’s opera Platée took place in this building in 1745.

Today it is the venue of horse spectacles with music.

Operas by Grétry, Sacchini and Paisiello were performed in this theatre, built in 1777. It is still active.

The former Hôtel de la Chancellerie from 1670 – the ‘office’ of the palace – is since 1971 occupied by the Conservatory of Versailles,

Grave of the composer Michel-Richard Delalande (1657-1726).

Museum of the history of Versailles. Various exhibits refer to the musical past, incl. instruments.

The former Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs from the 1740s, where the court music was organised, is now occupied by a research institute and library concerning baroque music and – again – a concert organisation.

Music pavilion of the comtesse de Provence, built in 1784 by the architect Jean-Français Chalgrin after Palladio’s Villa Rotunda in Vicenza. The countess was the sister-in-law of Louis XVI.

Music pavilion of the countess de Barry, built in 1770 by the architect Nicolas Leloux. Today to be let for concerts or seminars.

Plaque of Camille Saint-Saëns, who lived in this street (nr 34 – demolished) from 1865 to 1870.

Plaque of Gabriel Fauré, who stayed here in 1894; his summer house at rue George-Blandon was demolished.

The composer Kurt Weill, after having fled from Nazi Germany in 1933, found a refuge here through the intercession of vicomtesse de Noailles. One of his masterworks, Die sieben Todsünden [the seven deadly sins], was written here and performed in the Theâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris. In 1935 Weill moved to the USA.

The great conductor Charles Munch (1891-1968) lived here between 1958 and 1968.

This house, built in 1830, was bought in 1874 by the writer Ivan Turgenyev for his beloved friend, the composer Pauline Viardot. Fauré, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky and of course Turgenyev visited her; the latter had established himself at nr 16 (now a museum).

Georges Bizet died in 1875 In the former Hotel Madrid, without having experienced the glorious success of his opera Carmen.

Country house of the famous variété actor and singer Mistinguett (Jeanne Bourgeois, 1875-1956).

House of Gabriel Fauré (details not on hand).

Plaque with a citation by Gabriel Fauré, summarized: ‘music is to elevate us above reality’.

In 1863 the father of Georges Bizet had bought a lot in the newly created township of Le Vésinet; his son had the disposal of the garden house between 1865 and 1871.

The composer Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) lived here on a property of her family, which at that time was much larger than at present. The salon music of hers is no longer very popular, but her flute concertino op. 107 is a charming piece.

Former royal castle. Louis XIII and XIV stayed here frequently and operas by Lully were performed. Later it was the residence of the banished English king James II and of the politician Talleyrand; the Czech pianist and composer Jan Ladislav Dusík (Dussek; 1760-1812) was in the service of the latter and died here. The traces of the musical past have been erased in the 19^th century.

In this 16^th century house Louis XIV was born in 1638. Since 1837 it is a hotel. Léo Delibes composed his ballet Sylvia here and Jacques Offenbach worked at La fille du tambour-major.

Birthplace of Claude Debussy, °22.VIII.1862. His father had a shop of china ware, the family lived upstairs. In 1864 they moved to Paris (a shop of household goods remained here until the 1980s). Since 1990 the ground floor is occupied by the tourist office and upstairs is an interesting Debussy museum. The first Debussy monument from 1933, a symbolist female figure by Aristide Maillol, finally landed here after several moves.

Present Debussy monument by Mico Kaufman (1998).

House of the organist Albert Alain and birthplace of three children who became musicians: Jehan (°1911, organist and composer), Olivier (°1918, composer and musicologist) and Marie-Claire (°1926, organist).

The composer Félicien David (1810-1876) lived from 1866 until his death in the Villa Juno. The house was demolished, but the rue Mont-Grevets was renamed into rue Félicien-David.

Grave of the composer Félicien David.

This mansion was a country retreat of the composer Ernest Chausson (1855-1899). He died here after having collided with a brick wall during a bicycle ride. The estate is a property of the Russian embassy today.

Two famous factories of wind instruments settled in this street: Buffet Crampon at nr 5 and Henri Selmer Paris at nr 25.

Denis Buffet started in 1825 making woodwind instruments in La Couture-Boussey; from 1836 it was named Buffet Crampon. The firm moved to Mantes in 1850. In the course of the 20^th century it joined with other firms or purchased them, including Benson, Leblanc, Rigoutat and various German firms. Today it is a multinational enterprise, producing the whole range of wind instruments.

The clarinettist Henri Selmer started producing reeds and mouthpieces in 1885 and clarinets in 1898. In 1929 the firm of Sachs was purchased and since also saxophones and brass instruments are made. The Selmer brand is favourite among many jazz musicians. (Selmer & Cie in the USA goes back to a firm of Henri’s brother Alexander and is independent.)

Chopin stayed in this spa resort in 1835 and 1837. His teacher Frédéric Kalkbrenner died here in 1949. Giuseppe Verdi stayed here after the première of Vêpres Siciliennes in 1855. No addresses or other traces could be tracked down.

The villa of the composer Mel Bonis and her husband Domange was demolished. After her husband’s death she moved to Paris, but in 1931 she returned to Sarcelles, to live in this ‘beguinage’ until her death in 1937.

The bust of the composer Mel Bonis was unveiled in 2011 by her granddaughter Christiane Géliot, who brought about a rediscovery of Bonis’ oeuvre.

The open-air theatre, named after her, is the venue of a summer festival of global music.

The writer and composer Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived in the Hermitage in 1756/57. The house was taken down to make room for a hospital, but a plaque mentions Rousseau. It doesn’t mention that the composer Modeste Grétry, an admirer of Rousseau, had purchased the Hermitage and that he lived here from 1807 until his death in 1813.

From 1757 to 1762, Rousseau lived at this house. It is a Rousseau museum now.

The pianist and harpsichord pioneer Wanda Landowska (1879-1959) bought this house in 1925 and added a pavilion in 1927 for ancient music courses and concerts. A zealous propagandist for the revival of the harpsichord, she inspired contemporary composers (Poulenc, Falla, Distler, Martin), to write harpsichord concertos. In 1940 she fled for the German invaders to the USA, abandoning her school, immense library and collection of instruments.