"Like Stalactites in Humid Caves: the Genesis of Les Troyens"

1:00 June 13, 2015

JCCSF – 2nd Floor Gallanter Hall

3200 California Street (intersection of California and Presidio)

San Francisco, CA

Les Troyens, the tragédie lyrique that forms the crown jewel of Berlioz’s late career, stands comfortably alongside Meyerbeer’s best, Don Carlos, and even its near-contemporary, Tristan. This talk considers Berlioz’s lifelong obsession with the Aeneid, the intimacy with Liszt and Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein that fostered the decision to go to work, the literary and visual sources, and the opposing force of Zukunftsmusik / musique de l’avenir. The particular focus is on the great act IV, culminating in the wonderful G-flat love duet of Dido and Aeneas, where the panoply of references defines what we mean by cross-fertilization of the arts in Romantic music.

The Society is honored to welcome Professor D. Kern Holoman, U. C. Davis Distinguished Professor of Music emeritus, U.C. Davis Symphony Conductor emeritus. Professor Holoman received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and he is author of the first Catalogue of the Works of Hector Berlioz (Bärenreiter, 1987), the style guide Writing About Music (University of California Press, 1988; 2nd ed., 2008), Berlioz, A Life and Works (Harvard University Press, 1989), Masterworks, a multi-media textbook package (Prentice Hall, 1998, and subsequent eds.), The Société des Concerts du Conservatoire,1828–1967 (University of California Press, 2004), Charles Munch (Oxford University Press, 2012), and The Orchestra: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2012). Holoman is conductor emeritus of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra.

This talk is free to members of the Wagner Society of Northern California. Admission fee is $10 for non-members.

Reading up for Les Troyens? Here are some of Professor Holoman’s writings:

http://hector.ucdavis.edu