Paris: A Musical Gazetteer (review)

Abstract

Paris offers abundant material for a musical gazetteer. The magnificent centralized institutions, rich concert life, and wealthy patrons of this important musical capital have long attracted not only French musicians but also musicians of other nations. Many of the buildings where composers lived and worked and many of the institutions where they were educated or saw their works performed still survive. A delightful addition to the libraries of both serious Francophiles and more casual music lovers, Nigel Simeone's Paris: A Musical Gazetteer compiles information drawn from numerous biographies and collections of letters, as well as from histories of culture, institutions, and the city itself, to reveal historic musical locations in nineteen of the twenty city districts (arrondissements), readily pinpointed by reference to the standard Michelin map of Paris and the nearest public transit stations.