THE SOUND OF PARIS: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE METROPOLIS OF 19th CENTURY MUSIC

À la musique: a fascinating trek to the capital city of music in the 19th century

Berlioz, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Wagner, Chopin, Offenbach, Pauline Viardot: these and many more artists lived, loved and suffered in the capital city of music in the 19th century, adding their voices to the enchanting, evocative score produced by a cultural metropolis at the intersection of revolution, new technologies and the French Empire.

This book is the first to explore Paris as the nexus of European music in the 19th century and at the same time put the music in the context of its environment. Works such as Symphonie Phantastique, the opera Le Prophète and Offenbach’s sensationally rediscovered Barkouf bear witness to significant political upheavals. During this period, the transition to modernity is progressing at breakneck speed: We experience Napoleon’s death and the Second Empire; we watch Rossini having his photograph taken and Berlioz struggling to pay his rent; we witness Meyerbeer prefiguring Hollywood and Chopin travelling by train; we follow Balzac, Flaubert and Baudelaire on their visits to the opera and catch Offenbach bypassing censorship.

This absorbing and cleverly constructed panorama portrays love and art, social hardship and flamboyant soirees, daily life and societal turmoil. Yet Hagedorn also explores the present for traces of this fascinating age, meeting with contemporary artists and experts on the 19th century to unearth some surprising connections. His incisive, cogent argument: it is through its music that we come closest to this alluringly vibrant era, through the sound of Paris.