Ned Rorem in Northwestern University - between 1939 and 1940

from The Paris Diary: Fez. Morocco August, 1951, pages 49-50:

Three Beautiful Birds of Paradise... Trois Beaux Oiseaux du paradis. I first heard it at age sixteen. Looking for a practice room (one of Northwestern's gray brothel-like cubicles), I became aware of magic from behind a door. I had to go in. There sat a soprano, deciphering at the keyboard, squeaking prettily. "But what is it?" "Why it's from Ravel's Trois Chansons and all the mezzos in school are auditioning tomorrow for the solo in the second one." So we went through it together - and I was floored! The lady, pale and plain, a Public School Music Major on the verge of donating uninspired …   more >>
cite as

Ned Rorem, The Paris Diary: Fez. Morocco August, 1951. In The Paris Diary and The New York Diary 1951-1961 (New York, 1998), p. 49-50. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1398005491387 accessed: 2 November, 2024

location of experience: Northwestern University

Listeners

Ned Rorem
Critic, essayist, Composer, Diarist […]
1923-

Listening to

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'Trois Beaux Oiseaux du paradis' from 'Trois Chansons'
written by Maurice Ravel
performed by unknown soprano, Ned Rorem

Experience Information

Date/Time between 1939 and 1940
Medium live
Listening Environment in private, indoors, solitary

Originally submitted by iepearson on Sun, 20 Apr 2014 15:51:31 +0100