The Impressionist painter with a flair for music
The exhibition, Frédéric Bazille and the Birth of Impressionism, which closed at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. yesterday, had an interesting music tidbit.
Frédéric Bazille’s painting of his friend, Edmond Maître, early 1869; oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington; collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Frédéric Bazille made this painting of his friend, Edmond Maître, in 1869. The curator’s note tells us that their shared love of music was the foundation of their friendship. Bazille, who was himself a skilled pianist, recounted, “I go every evening to Maître’s home, where we do choral music” and noted that they were “playing pieces by modern German musicians, almost unknown in France.” So, who would these almost unknown modern German musicians have been around 1869? Schumann, Mendelssohn? Brahms? Fun to speculate!
Tags:Frédéric Bazille
