In the age of the Inter-Butz it's easy to forget that not every scrap of information one could glean from the 'net is actually gleanable. In spite of how obscure most of the figures and works I cover here are I've usually been able to get enough info for a good paragraph and some change - not so with today's subject, Annette Dieudonné. Dieudonné became a student of Nadia Boulanger in the 1910's and after fourteen years took up the duty as herPA for most of her life. Her bio stops about there pretty much every place you look. As I'm no Boulanger expert I probably wouldn't have ever heard of her if not for my own efforts to look over every single French piano piece written in the 1910's and 20's. Those surely well-used efforts unearthed a 1922 set of piano pieces, the Douze Images en Courtes Preludés, and once again I'm pleased to be defending well-crafted modesty.
Each image is conveniently (for FL) only a page long, and few of them are much more difficult than this one. They're most certainly pedagogical pieces and appear to be the only piano pieces Dieudonné was able to get published; all her other published works are sacred choral music. Her style is amiably clear and straightforward, totally entrenched in a kind of bittersweet elegance particular to French composers of the 1910's. Even pieces one would expect to be extroverted, like "The Weasel"-
-still focus on rich voicing and serious harmonies, as if the weasel was dancing a courante at Fauré's birthday party. I get the feeling that Dieudonné had little interest in extroversion, and diffuse color tricks like the right hand's lydian/myxolydian rippling in "The Garden's Tranquil Water-Path" resonated more in her soul.
That isn't to say that "The Weasel" was her only attempt at humor, as "The Parakeets' Cage" squawks appropriately (though not without effective modal voicing, of course):
"Cypress Alley" is the most lugubrious of the bunch, its marching mountains of a left hand straight out of Debussy (such as the Berceuse Heroique") but might be closer to Holst in execution, and it takes a good 30 seconds for a flat to appear. The succeeding "Lullaby" features much lighter voicing, showcasing how the light pinging of upper-register secondal intervals with the pedal down are great representations for sleepy recognition of the world's troubles, and is no poor shakes in the vast and wonderful piano lullaby rep.
Methinks that Dieudonné had a liking for birds and perfect fifths, and "The Aviary" goes whole hog on both fronts. This isn't as tricky as it looks, but keeping the hands from running into each other is a special practice session all its own. Actually, the most difficult part is the rhythmic precision required to land the bass-clef fifths in measure 6 and similar measures. The quintal harmonies turn to quartal, and far more plodding, in the following piece, "The Poor in Church". There's a sense of depressed plainchant, as Dieudonné presumably thought the Poor would bring the sorrows of the world to Church. I'm not sure what the grace notes in the left hand are - perhaps the Church's organist playing the notes sloppily? Though that's the problem with trying to interpret tone-painting - there's no end to it and you'll most likely overshoot the author's intentions.
Well, enough of that - here's a clown!
(If I'm being terribly honest, this one's my least favorite simply because it doesn't go far enough. You need a lot of pyrotechnics and zip to make clown pieces work (like Debussy's "Général Lavine - eccentric") and this one just isn't wacky enough. You also need an excellent pianist with a lot of 'tude to really clown the place up and not every serious pianist has the nerve to put a lot of work into clown music.)
"The Old Carriage" is another sad piece, eschewing the humor of a broken-down carriage (or car, I'm not sure which one she's referring to) in favor of lost strength. The alternating seconds (from D/E to D/E-flat) intimates creaking unease, but once again perfect fourths and fifths lead the way.
"Bells on a Festival Morning" is pretty self-explanatory, requiring as much pedal as one can get without getting overwhelmingly jangly...or should it?
The set ends with "Clear Paths", possibly the most philosophical piece in the bunch. A study in parallel motion, the piece exudes a calm and confidence that makes for a holistically reassuring ending. The whole set is reassuring, a warm and sane contribution to the less-difficult piano rep and a nice resource for piano teachers looking for something left-of-center. I'd be interested to see Dieudonné's sacred works as I'm sure they're welcome siblings to the sacred works of the Boulangers, which means we'd most certainly be in good hands. Annette Dieudonné might be the most obscure figure I'll discuss this WHM but her sole piano work is worth more than a footnote in history. I was considering making my own recording of these works, as there is no commercial recording, but thankfully Emile Naoumoff, Nadia Boulanger's last student, made a fine interpretation for his YouTube channel. In case non-jazz improvisation interests you Naoumoff has been making daily improvisations for some time now. Either way it's good that someone's looking out for the little gal, and people like him are exactly what Women's History Month needs.
-still focus on rich voicing and serious harmonies, as if the weasel was dancing a courante at Fauré's birthday party. I get the feeling that Dieudonné had little interest in extroversion, and diffuse color tricks like the right hand's lydian/myxolydian rippling in "The Garden's Tranquil Water-Path" resonated more in her soul.
That isn't to say that "The Weasel" was her only attempt at humor, as "The Parakeets' Cage" squawks appropriately (though not without effective modal voicing, of course):
"Cypress Alley" is the most lugubrious of the bunch, its marching mountains of a left hand straight out of Debussy (such as the Berceuse Heroique") but might be closer to Holst in execution, and it takes a good 30 seconds for a flat to appear. The succeeding "Lullaby" features much lighter voicing, showcasing how the light pinging of upper-register secondal intervals with the pedal down are great representations for sleepy recognition of the world's troubles, and is no poor shakes in the vast and wonderful piano lullaby rep.
Well, enough of that - here's a clown!
(If I'm being terribly honest, this one's my least favorite simply because it doesn't go far enough. You need a lot of pyrotechnics and zip to make clown pieces work (like Debussy's "Général Lavine - eccentric") and this one just isn't wacky enough. You also need an excellent pianist with a lot of 'tude to really clown the place up and not every serious pianist has the nerve to put a lot of work into clown music.)
"The Old Carriage" is another sad piece, eschewing the humor of a broken-down carriage (or car, I'm not sure which one she's referring to) in favor of lost strength. The alternating seconds (from D/E to D/E-flat) intimates creaking unease, but once again perfect fourths and fifths lead the way.
"Bells on a Festival Morning" is pretty self-explanatory, requiring as much pedal as one can get without getting overwhelmingly jangly...or should it?
The set ends with "Clear Paths", possibly the most philosophical piece in the bunch. A study in parallel motion, the piece exudes a calm and confidence that makes for a holistically reassuring ending. The whole set is reassuring, a warm and sane contribution to the less-difficult piano rep and a nice resource for piano teachers looking for something left-of-center. I'd be interested to see Dieudonné's sacred works as I'm sure they're welcome siblings to the sacred works of the Boulangers, which means we'd most certainly be in good hands. Annette Dieudonné might be the most obscure figure I'll discuss this WHM but her sole piano work is worth more than a footnote in history. I was considering making my own recording of these works, as there is no commercial recording, but thankfully Emile Naoumoff, Nadia Boulanger's last student, made a fine interpretation for his YouTube channel. In case non-jazz improvisation interests you Naoumoff has been making daily improvisations for some time now. Either way it's good that someone's looking out for the little gal, and people like him are exactly what Women's History Month needs.
~PNK
While Naoumoff does a fine job, you should do your own recording of these pieces. They are beautiful and can't be overexposed. Supporting and honoring women composers requires getting their work out there, repeatedly and in as many channels as possible. Thanks for the history lesson.
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