August 21

1893, 1923


Working at that point of the Book of Psalms for TheBibleNet, I went hunting for a musical adaptation of Psalm 130, and came upon Lili Boulanger’s setting. "Psaume 130", in her world. She actually entitled her piece "Du fond de l'abîme", though for some reason it has been Latinised into "De Profundis" in several renditions that I found. And I wanted several, because I wanted to hear it again, and then again, to hear what different choirs and orchestras had made of its quite extraordinary gorgeousness! Found entirely randomly, I had never even heard of her, though I thought I had; I mean, I recognised the name Boulanger, and associated it with classical music, but the one I vaguely knew turned out to be her sister Nadia, not Lili.

Both composed, both were protégées of Fauré. Lili died on March 15th 1918, ridiculously young, aged just 24, and Nadia was so shattered that she gave up composing and took up teaching instead – counting Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Thea Musgrave, Leonard Bernstein and Philip Glass among her pupils.

But it is Lili that I want to know more about, in this centenary year of her death. Full name: Marie-Juliette Olga Boulanger; Lili was a pet-name. Born today, August 21st 1893. Friend-of-the-family Gabriel Fauré recognised that she had perfect pitch when she was just two; the same age at which she contracted the bronchial pneumonia that would wreck her immune system and lead to such an early death.

She was born into an extraordinary family, so her surfeit of talent was only to be expected. Mum was a Russian princess who fell in love with her teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, Ernest Boulanger, and both her grandparents (on the Boulanger side) had been musicians. Besides singing, Lili played piano, violin, cello, harp and organ – not surprising, with Fauré guiding you. She also composed; in much the way that Michelangelo, despite his protestations, also did fresco – it was her cantata "Faust et Hélène" (strongly Wagnerian, hints of Debussy, according to the experts; and extremely lush harmonies) that enabled her to become one of the first two women to win the Prix de Rome – which sounds ungrammatical, but it was shared that year, 1913, between her and Claude Delvincourt.

The Naxos site where I found one of the recordings has an obit, which is much better than my prose, and contains everything one could possibly need, and more, to compose an "In Memoriam Lili Boulanger". But why compose it, when there is already this: Lili Boulanger, as remembered by her sister Nadia:

Music was second nature for my younger sister, Lili, born on 21st August 1893 in Paris. She had perfect pitch and a love of singing even as a child. Fauré himself used to come to our home to read his latest songs with her. From the age of six to sixteen, she studied harmony, played a little piano, violin, cello and even the harp, while discovering new scores, such as Debussy’s Pelléas. Her very poor health kept her away from school, as well as from practicing too hard. In fact, she mastered composition with Paul Vidal and Georges Caussade in only three years. At the age of nineteen, she made history by being the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Premier Grand Prix de Rome for composition. After the great Parisian success of her cantata Faust et Hélène, she travelled through Italy and wrote some of her best works in the Villa Medici in Rome.
These happy times were interrupted by the war. Back home, she devoted herself to caring for wounded soldiers. Knowing that her days were numbered, she worked feverishly. Towards the end of her life, she dictated to me her Pie Jésu. On her deathbed, her strong faith gave her a sense of serenity. She died on 15th March 1918. 
Though there are no technical novelties in Lili’s writing (she lived in an age when intellectual speculation had not yet arrived), she was able to find the necessary elements for expressing her own very personal message, leaving a short but lasting mark in musical history.
Nadia Boulanger Paris, 1968

So I went on hunting, in hope of finding lots and lots more by this virtually anonymous great talent. But there aren’t lots and lots more. "D'un soir triste" turned out to be the very last piece that she wrote before she died. You can listen to several of the best by clicking here.




1923
 

Not a newspaper that I generally read, I am nonetheless grateful to The London "Daily Telegraph" for providing this list of "stupid laws" to supplement my story "The Edict", on page 141 of "The Captive Bride". As my tale related to a law passed on Monday August 21st, 1923, I am placing it here under the same date.

These are the stupidest British laws, according to a percentage share of public vote.


1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (7%)
(like this, just in case you weren't sure what it meant precisely)

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (5%)

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (4%)

6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (4%)

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)

8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)

Most ridiculous laws from other countries:

1. In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk (9%)

2. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation (8%)

3. In Bahrain, a male doctor can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror (7%)

4. In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm (6%)

5. In Alabama, it is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle (6%)

6. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed (6%)

7. In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth (6%)

8. In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits (5%)

9. In Japan, there is no age of consent (5%)

10. In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon (4%)


It should also be pointed out that, on September 5th 1698, Peter the Great of Russia announced the imposition of a tax on beards, which some have suggested was an anti-Semitic ruse to rob the synagogues and yeshivahs of their tzedakah boxes and to force all the Rabbinic Samsons to defile their Nazaritic status, but was probably just a phobia that he had about beards, and the need for extra revenue. The Poles also banned Jews from having beards, in 1921 it was, but they called it "compulsory conscription".



Amber pages


Nat Turner led a rebellion of negro slaves, today (actually well after the sun set, and over night, which is why many history books record it as happening on August 22nd); these two days if you prefer, in 1831 - see October 2 for the full story.


The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, today in 1911


And today in 1968, the end of the "Prague Spring", the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces.



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