Can-Can by Jacques Offenbach

The scandalous and provocative dance ‘of prostitutes’, can-can was to traditional dancing culture of the 19th century what rock’n’roll was to music at its origins. The physically demanding dance was not accepted that easily by the conservative society and was often banned in public. People protested against seeing women’s underwear being revealed so obviously during the performance of the famous high kicks (What would they say to modern ‘twerk’, huh?).

Cancan dancers

In fact, the origin of the now popular French dance is not so naughty. It is believed that cancan could have derived from quadrille dance (final part) or the acrobatic tricks of the entertainer known as Charles Mazurier (1820s). Moreover, at the very beginning both sexes performed the dance and there were solely male cancan groups too. The famous cabaret of Paris – Moulin Rouge – brought to light the first female cancan star-dancers (La Goulue & Jane Avril) and the notion “French cancan” turned into a national peculiarity attracting tourists from abroad.

The catchy tune that most of us would associate with the popular dance was composed by the French cellist and composer born in Germany – Jacques Offenbach. His “Can-Can” is actually titled “Infernal Galop” and is a part of the classical operetta “Orpheus in the Underworld” first performed in 1858. Just like the dance, this music work shocked the public at the premiere with too much satire in it. The entire work became a parody for the opera Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Gluck.

Offenbach’s ‘can-can’ was also arranged by the famous French composer Camille Saint-Saëns and appears in his renowned The Carnival of the Animals, where the piece is used for the tortoise part.  

Schubert's String Quartet "Death and the Maiden"

This quartet can by right be called one of the strongest pillars in the genre of chamber music. Most of the string quartets out there would necessarily have it in their repertoire. It might seem that the negative emotions in our life, be it anger, fear, despair and what not, are the best catalysts for creating art masterpieces, compared to the emotions of happiness that trigger fewer grand works.

Original manuscript of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden"

Schubert wrote the work in 1824, during a very hard period of life for him. He lived in poverty and his health was rapidly leaving him (assumable, syphilis). The moment he realized that death is soon and inevitable, is brightly depicted in this music work. Although death is the subject of the 2nd movement, one can note that it soars through the entire composition. The string quartet “Death and the Maiden” was not a completely new work. The composer took its theme from his earlier work of the same name, a lied based on a poem by Matthias Claudius that he wrote in 1817.

Reportedly, the first violinist to perform the quartet (Schuppanzigh) was not quite impressed with Schubert’s depressive composition. However, after being published 3 years after the composer’s death it promptly conquered its place at the concert stage. The work was soon transcribed by Robert Franz and Gustav Mahler and later, in the 20th century, versions for full orchestra appeared (J. Foulds, A. Stein). The memorable composition also inspired the creation of the play/film of the same name, as well as was used in a number of other films like “Sherlock Holmes” or Polanski’s “What?”, for example.

Personally, I like perhaps the only death-unrelated part of the work – the tarantella at the very end of the quartet. It is believed that tarantella dance used to be a traditional treatment for madness and a way of fighting off death (after a tarantula’s bite). Well, maybe this was the expression of the subtle hope that was still beaming in the heart of the dying composer.