Never That Twain Will I Meet
I didn’t tell this story during the fall fund drive. But it originated during a little afternoon break, while I was trying to not think about the fund drive telephone number for a while.
Looking over one of my playlists, I was reminded that we had celebrated the birthday of Jean-Philippe Rameau. While glancing at the names of lots of other composers, my eyes landed upon one that’s well known beyond classical music circles. Suddenly, I had a most amusing thought. And wanting to have a little fun in that moment, I searched online for “Jean-Philippe Sousa.” Call it a French version of the name of the American “March King.”
When you search for something like that online, you might get a message asking: “Did you mean...?” In this case, I was asked if I meant John Philip Sousa. The search engine doesn’t let you get conversational. I wanted to reply: “Well, sort of. But I’m in a playful mood, and curious about whether anybody had put those names together. You never know what might come up, right?”
Actually, I did enter that reply into the search box. And what came up? Seven entries citing lines from various chapters of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Wow! My reply was found to be in the style of a Mark Twain character’s dialogue! That’s about as close to Twain as I’ll ever get.
Still in a playful mood, I searched for “Huckleberry Finnish.” Someone out there had already asked if Huckleberry was a Finn. And there were Finnish words for huckleberries at a language website. I went even further and searched for “Le roi de la marche” (march king). I came up with a company in Quebec that manufactures wooden steps. I brought my search to a halt after that.
No, I didn’t mention all that on the air. I might have. But we were trying to keep the talk to a minimum, so that listeners could enjoy lots of classical music during the fund drive. And they were appreciative of that. We heard from many generous listeners with gifts of support during Classic Mornings. Thank you!
There’s a story I did tell on the program back on September 13. In fact, it’s another French story. I prefaced it by assuring that children’s recordings of classical music can indeed inspire young people to learn instruments. You may already know that from the little people in your life, or from when you were a kid.
I found the story at the website of the Berlin Philharmonic. As a young girl, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, the orchestra’s harpist, was inspired by a children’s album called Piccolo, Saxo and Company. I looked it up. It’s a story about a family of string instruments that goes in search of other families of instruments of the orchestra.
By age 17, Langlamet, from Grenoble, found herself in the midst of all of the instruments of the orchestra. She was named principal harp of the Nice Opera Orchestra. But that was years after she had to do a bit of searching herself. In a film portrait of Langlamet at the Berlin website, she said she wanted to study piano, but the music school had no more openings. She knew she wanted to learn a polyphonic instrument, which is one that allows you to play more than one musical sound or voice at a time. Her mother suggested the harp.
After a year in Nice, she gave up her post to continue her harp studies at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. At age 21, she served as deputy principal harp of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for several years. And since 1993, she’s been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic. Langlamet was celebrating her 57th birthday on September 13. It wasn’t a milestone birthday. But this year marks the 40th anniversary of being named to her first principal harp gig.
Of course, I was curious to look up the story that inspired her. Though originally French, there’s a Dutch animated version of Piccolo, Saxo and Company from the late 1950s online. The narration is in English. “Piccolo” is from the woodwind family and “Saxo” from the saxophone family. In the story, the harp is the aunt of the string family. And we’re told she can imitate howling wind, rumbling thunder and a babbling brook. I‘m sure Langlamet has been reminded of that over the years. These days, she calls the harp one of her best friends.
Even if you’ve never made the acquaintance of much classical music, I invite you to listen to selections I’ve chosen for you to enjoy, along with fun stories about that music and its performers. If you’re wondering: “Did you mean Classic Mornings, Monday through Friday from 9-noon on FM 90.9 and online at will.illinois.edu?” Yes.