Gertrude Stein’s Salon

In Finding Sylvie, the author Gertrude Stein is Sylvie Lewis’ neighbor in Paris. Gertrude, along with her brothers, is an early collector of paintings by the leading modernist artists.

The Stein’s salon on rue de Fleurus is filled with masterworks like Matisse’s Woman with a Hat (Femme au chapeau) (1905), Cézanne’s The Large Bathers (1900–1906), and Picasso’s portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905-06).  

Gertrude Stein sitting with her portrait by Pablo Picasso. Photo, 1930.

In Finding Sylvie, Gertrude invites Sylvie to a Saturday night gathering in her salon. Here Sylvie mingles with the avant-garde painters and poets of the time.

But when Sylvie whispers that the portrait of Gertrude doesn’t look like her, Picasso overhears her. “Everybody says that she does not look like it,” he says, “but that does not make any difference. She will.” 

Gertrude immortalizes the artists in her writings: in her poem, “Cézanne,” her short story, “Matisse,” and her book, Picasso. The artists also make appearances in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. In The Autobiography, Gertrude writes of her deep friendship with Picasso. 

“I wish I could convey something of the simple affection and confidence with which he always pronounced her name and with which she always said, Pablo. In all their long friendship with all its sometimes troubled moments and its complications this has never changed.” 

Finding Sylvie

An American violinist in Paris changes the course of music history and her own journey of self-discovery.  

In April 1912, Sylvia Lewis witnesses the kidnapping of her professor at the Paris Conservatory and later finds him stabbed to death on the school steps. While Sylvia disagreed with the professor’s traditionalist views toward women, she realizes she holds the key to solving his murder. As she sets out to bring his killer to justice, she meets strong, independent women in the artistic circles of Paris. Learning from them, she finds her own strength to be Sylvie, the woman she is meant to be.  

Finding Sylvie brings together musical mystery and personal discovery during a time of great social change. Visit MusicMysteries.com to learn more.  

Bonne Année!  

In France of 1912, New Year’s Day was a more festive occasion than Christmas.

Children woke up on January 1st to find their stockings filled with gifts. Young adults spent the afternoon visiting relatives and friends.

In the evening, the family gathered together for a festive dinner to celebrate the first day of the New Year!

In Finding Sylvie, Sylvie Lewis moves to Paris in February 1912. She just missed the New Year’s celebration that year. But who knows, she may be there for the next one.

“The Pink Peril” and the Paris Conservatory

La sortie du conservatoire de musique –Jean Béraud,1899
(Leaving the Music Conservatory)

The changing role of women in the early twentieth century raised concerns about “La Péril Rose” or “The Pink Peril” in French society. A 1912 article written by arts critic and composer Émile Vuillermoz described the influence of women in music and culture, starting at the Paris Conservatory:

“The Conservatoire, where they [women] already have the majority, will become their personal property and the classes that we shall call ‘mixed’ will be those where we tolerate the presence of two or three moustache-wearers…and in the director’s office … Gabriel Faure will have been chased from his armchair by Hélène Fleury or Nadia Boulanger.”

Vuillermoz’s article gained attention, but women continued to pursue their dreams in the music profession. Nadia Boulanger became the twentieth century’s preeminent music composition teacher, and her sister Lili won the prestigious Prix de Rome music composition contest. But it would take 107 years to realize Vuillermoz’s warning promise that a woman would become the Paris Conservatory Director. Émilie Delorme was selected for the post in 2019; her assignment is set to last three years. 

Our detective/violinist Sylvie Lewis encounters these traditionalist attitudes in Paris 1912, but she also learns from the strong women she meets in and outside the Conservatory. How she grows from her experiences is part of her journey in Finding Sylvie.

And now for something completely different …

Baseball biographies

Along with my music mysteries, I enjoy writing biographies of retired baseball players. I’m a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and these biographies are part of the SABR Biography Project.

Two of my biographies were recently published. The first is about left-handed pitcher Darren Oliver, who had an impressive twenty-year career in the major leagues. The second biography is about right-handed pitcher Ann Cindric, who played baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. I’ve also contributed to SABR’s “Convention Games” project, which will be published online in 2023.

If you enjoy stories about baseball, check the SABR Research Collection, which includes more than 6,000 biographies, articles on memorable baseball games, and SABR interviews with baseball figures past and present.

And don’t forget, it’s

until the All-Star Break!

Ravel and his cats

The premiere of Maurice Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis et Chloe, takes place in Finding Sylvie. But this blog isn’t about Ravel’s sweeping masterpiece. That’s a topic for a future time.

Instead, this post is about Maurice Ravel’s fascination with cats. A family of Siamese cats shared his home outside of Paris. He also gave shelter to street cats who needed a warm place to stay.

The cats roamed freely around the house, even over the composer’s piano and worktable. A friend once said that Ravel “not only understood cats — he could speak their language.”

Ravel wrote about his cats in his letters to friends and got inspiration from his cats for his music. Take a listen to the meow duet, “Duo miaulé”, from Ravel’s opera, L’Enfant et les sortilège (The Child and the Spells). Sounds like he knew his cats.

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Ravel isn’t the only cat aficionado in Finding Sylvie. The painters Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse were also known for their appreciation of felines. In Finding Sylvie, violinist and detective Sylvie Lewis meets both artists at the home of their mutual friend, Gertrude Stein.

Picasso was often photographed with his cats, and he included them in his drawings and paintings, from early works in the 1900s to his late paintings in the 1960s.

“I want to create a cat like the real cats I see crossing the streets, not like those you see in houses. They have nothing in common. The cat of the streets has bristling fur. It runs like a fiend, and if it looks at you, you think it is going to jump in your face.”

– Pablo Picasso

Henri Matisse, Picasso’s long-time friend and artistic rival, had three cats: Minouche (“Wink”), Coussi (“Cushion”), and La Puce (“Half-pint.”) They were his constant companions when his health began to fail later in life. Matisse created the paper cut-out “Le Chat Bleu” (“The Blue Cat”) when he was no longer able to paint.

There’s another cat lover in Finding Sylvie, although we don’t meet him in person. The composer Claude Debussy was known to prefer cats to people, and his “cats were always grey Angora and always were called the same name, which they inherited from each other.”

For dog fans, stay tuned. Finding Sylvie also has famous dogs and dog owners (hint: “Basket.”)

Guillaume Apollinaire

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Guillaume Apollinaire, poet extraordinaire and completely at your service.” 

With these words, Guillaume Apollinaire makes his first appearance in Finding Sylvie. The character of Monsieur Apollinaire is based on the real-life poet who was one of the most influential arts figures in pre-WWI Paris.  

Guillaume Apollinaire is best known for his passionate support of Cubism in his poetry and as an art critic. In Cubist writing, multiple perspectives of a subject are conveyed through fragmented word structures. In Cubist paintings, the artist presents simultaneous points of view by combining geometric shapes on the canvas. Apollinaire introduced the painters Picasso and Braque, sparking the ground-breaking movement in the early twentieth-century art.  

Apollinaire and Picasso (who is also a character in Finding Sylvie) had a long friendship. However, a rift occurred in 1911 when the duo was suspected of stealing the Mona Lisa.

Yes, the Mona Lisa.

Under interrogation, Picasso pled his innocence and went on to deny knowing Apollinaire. Apollinaire spent a week in Paris’s most notorious prison before being completely cleared in the investigation.

Their friendship eventually recovered, but the end of an era was near. Apollinaire volunteered to fight for France in WWI and suffered a serious injury. He never fully recovered, and he died in the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 at age 38.  

In Finding Sylvie, Apollinaire introduces himself to Sylvie at Gertrude Stein’s salon. (There’ll be more about Gertrude and her art collection in a future blog.) On another occasion, Apollinaire bids farewell to Sylvie by quoting the opening of his poem, “L’Adieu.” Here’s the full text, in French and English.  

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L’Adieu
J’ai cueilli ce brin de bruyère
L’automne est morte souviens-t’en
Nous ne nous verrons plus sur terre
Odeur du temps Brin de bruyère
Et souviens-toi que je t’attend
s

The Farewell
I’ve gathered this sprig of heather
Autumn is dead you will remember
On earth we’ll see no more of each other
Fragrance of time sprig of heather
Remember I wait for you forever

Théatre du Châtelet in Finding Sylvie

Théatre du Châtelet – Èdouard Léon Cortès, 1882

This lovely painting depicts a location in my historical mystery, Finding Sylvie. 

Sylvie studies violin at the Paris Conservatory in 1912. She also plays in the Châtelet Theater orchestra for the premier of Maurice Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis et Chloé

Le Châtelet hosted other important premiers in pre-WWI Paris. Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune debuted here. Today, Le Châtelet is home to opera, dance, symphony, and musical theater performances. 

Stay tuned for more posts about music, Paris, and Finding Sylvie.

Musical Paris in 1912

Finding Sylvie transports you back to Paris in 1912. While doing research for the novel, I discovered these wonderful resources for musical information and inspiration. I’ve shared a few with you here and hope you enjoy them, too.

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Sticky Notes: The Classical Notes Podcast

Conductor Joshua Wellerstein provides thoughtful analysis of orchestral works and the composers who created them, in a conversational style that is engaging to new and long-time classical music fans. The discussion about Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is particularly relevant to Finding Sylvie, as the ballet version of the piece premiered in 1912 in the Châtelet Theater. I look forward to every new podcast episode.

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Classical Nerd 

This YouTube channel features short, entertaining videos on music composition and music history. The talks on Ravel, Debussy, and Lili and Nadia Boulanger helped me to better understand these important musical figures who play leading roles in Finding Sylvie. Check out the playlists for Great Composers and Great Performers for more biographies. Kudos to channel creator, composer and music educator Thomas Little.

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Medici TV

Medici TV hosts live broadcasts and videos of classical performances by the world’s leading musicians and ensembles. There’s also a masterclass archives, and I can picture my violinist detective Sylvie Lewis, learning from these esteemed teachers. This resource is available through my local library, but you can also subscribe directly. I could spend hours here, but I need to get back to writing.

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Classical Breakdown

I found this podcast through an episode on Ravel’s “Bolero” with guest Joshua Wellerstein of Sticky Notes fame. John Banther, tubist and host of “Classical Breakdown,” discusses classical music in a fun and accessible way. He also interviews musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra, like in the episode, “Under Pressure: What is an Oboe with Nick Stovall.” I’m enjoying exploring this podcast.

Walking Paris

Stepping outside of the concert hall, here a couple of my favorite sites to get to know Paris like you’re (almost) there.

HD Walking Adventures

Walk along the grand boulevards and immerse yourself in the neighborhoods of Paris. For a peek into the world of Sylvie Lewis, take the tour from Montparnasse to the Luxembourg Gardens, where classic buildings mix with trendy storefronts. Outside of Paris, visit the historic city of Compiègne. Once the summer palace of Napoleon, Château de Compiègne holds secrets of its own in Finding Sylvie.

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Google Maps

You can explore the same avenues as Sylvie Lewis, using Street View to see the city’s historical and modern architecture. Join Sylvie on her journey from the Paris Conservatory to Café Madeleine, and find her at home on rue de Fleurus. Author Gertrude Stein lives on this street, too.