PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Manouche Maestro |
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Django's Lost 'Mass' Composition - Django impresses the experts with an organ mass which he began to composed in 1944 in honour of the French Roma’s – Manouche – holy place of pilgrimage, St.-Maries-de-la-mer, on the Riviera.
Django was a devotee of classical music. His favourite composer was the futuristic Claude Debussy and he often quotes subtle references to his music in his playing. He claimed Debussy's ideals as a musician and composer were the closest to his own. His favourite classic compositions were Ravel's eight "Valses Nobles et Sentimentales" and Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor".
Valses Noble et
Sentimantales Another notable event of this period was Django’s first venture into orchestral composition — an ambitious Bolero played by the Quintet augmented with brass and string section. Django, who knew nothing of notation, dictated all the orchestral parts on the guitar. The mere fact of this undertaking bears witness to the respect accorded to Django’s musical ideas and to the force of his personality. And future efforts in this field were to be marked by growing assurance and consciousness of his own worth.
The town is a pilgrimage destination for the Roma (Gypsies), who gather yearly in the town for a religious festival in honour of Saint Sarah. The French believed she was Mary Magdalene's daughter, and she was also known as Sara-la-Kali (Sara the black). Dark-skinned Saint Sara is said to have possibly been the Egyptian servant of the three Marys. If we compare the ceremonies with those performed in France at the shrine of Sainte Sara (called Sara e Kali in Romani), we become aware that the worship of Kali/Durga/Sara has been transferred to a Christian figure... in France, to a non-existent "Sainte" called Sara, who is actually part of the Kali/Durga/Sara worship among certain groups in India. The ceremony in Saintes-Maries closely parallels the annual processions in India, the country in which the Romani originated, when statues of the Indian goddess Durga, also named Kali, are immersed into water. Durga, the consort of Shiva, usually represented with a black face, is the goddess of creation, sickness and death The famous flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata first played there.
Django's Method of Transcription
"During the war years, Django began work on a new dream: An organ mass devoted to his fellow Romanies to be performed annually at the Gypsy pilgrimage to Camargue ville of Les Saintes-Marie-de-la- Mer as the Gypsies' adopted Saint Sarah....Alas, due to the difficulties of composition, Django never finished the project, although his work-in-progress would be played for radio broadcast in 1944." A Mass would have the various parts lists with an Introit, Kryie, Gloria, etc, and would be about 45 minutes long.
Django composing the Organ Mass using a musician
transcribing from his Guitar performance.
On the basis of texts by the French Poet Jean
Cocteau, A documentary film, Django Reinhardt (1958), was made after his death(1953) by the director Paul Paviot. It includes an introduction by Jean Cocteau and features music performed by Grappelli, Rostaing, and Joseph Reinhardt. |
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St.-Maries-de-la-mer,
This
truncated and angled picture which looks like it has major architecture in the
background is in fact edited from a transcription session photo - the full
picture shows the pipe smoking transcription specialist writing down what Django
has played. Django was almost illiterate and did not understand musical
terms or nomenclature but yet he could never play out of key.
