The Basilica of Saint Denis is located in a suburb (Saint-Denis) north of Paris, it is a large abbey church turned cathedral in 1966. This church is historically important and represents a unique style of architecture. Most of the concerts for the Festival de Saint Denis are performed in this beautiful church and the acoustics are amazing!
The church was founded by Dagobert in the 7th century on the grave of Saint Denis, a patron saint of France. Very quickly the churche became a place of burial for French Kings of the 10th to 18th centuries as well as a place of pilgrimage. The church was never used as a place of coronation of kings, but queens were known to have been crowned there. The abbey church was rebuilt by Abbot Suger in the 12th century, with innovative structural and decorative features commonly seen in Gothic architecture, Suger's model provided insight for other cathedrals and abbeys that would be constructed in Northern France and Europe.
Some famous royalty who are buried in the Cathedral are: Louis XIII to Louis XVIII, Marie Antoinette, Charles of France and many more... more info can be found here
This site is worth seeing, if you ever have the chance to visit Paris. The trip is even more exciting if you pair the Cathedral, the market (Fridays/Sundays), and then a picnic in the park of the Maison de la Légion d'Honneur!
The houses of Education of the Legion of Honor was founded in 1805 by Napoléon the 1st as a school for girls of military army men. The first of these house was the Ecouen castle in 1807 and was directed by Madame Campan. The coount of Lacepede, the first Chancellor of the Legion of Honor created the second house in the abbey of Saint Denis (the basilica) in 1811.
In order to be admitted in to the school, the girls must be a daughter, grand daughter, etc of members of the Legion of Honor, or those who have received military medals, or those who have received a national merit.
The text comes from the information I was given the first day of internship, but all of it is in French. Therefore, I am translating the text into English, since no translation is offered on their website and it’s a great way to practice translation!
The first edition of the festival took place in June 1969 under the direction of Maurice Soucheyre, the cultural assistant to the city of Saint Denis and Marcelin Berthelot, the mayor of the city at that time.
During the first years, the festival took place in the Basilica (more to come…) offering around 10 concerts. 40 years later, the Festival proposes more than 40 concerts, taking place between March and July in the Plaine Commune Territory (more to come…).
In 1979, Jean Pierre Le Pavec became director of the Festival, and a partnership was formed between the Festival and Radio France, because of a wonderful performance of Mahler’s Symphony #8 directed by Seiji Ozawa that was transmitted on one of their stations. This relationship has permitted the Festival to bring some of the big names to participate in the concerts. Such names include in the conductor section: Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti and Kurt Masur, singers include: Barbara Hendricks, Teresa Berganza, Jessye Norman, and Giovanna Marini.
The festival welcomes artists of all music backgrounds, not just those of classical music as is evident with the electronic oud (more to come…) group and electronic classical Mozart.
The festival often collaborates with some top names such as the choreographer Philippe Decoufle, the theater producer Bob Wilson, the composers: Nicolas Frize, Philippe Glass, John Cage, Pierre Boulez and this year’s composer: Goran Bregovic (lots to come about him!).
This Festival was conceived and is organized by the city of Saint Denis, which mixes its heritage (the Kings of France’s legacy), architecture(the Basilica) and unique culture (the atmosphere) , and for the most part the neighborhood supports it with a huge supply of volunteers.
The Politics:
Since the 80’s and the cultural politic of Jack Lang (a former Minister of Culture), the cultural structures have obtained and received grants which helps to provide “culture for all” (the slogan of the Minister of the Culture in France).
The last fifteen years due to this slogan, the festival has decided to take a different route in the organization of its concerts by offering a wider selection.
Some examples of these concerts this year are Métis: a week dedicated to music influenced by the classics, master classes with free concerts, lower ticket prices for people who are from Saint Denis and giant screens streaming the concerts next to the Mayor’s Office.
The Program for this year!!!
Mar. 1er juin 20h30 Basilique Requiem des Rois de France 4
Jeu. 3 juin 20h30 Basilique Messe de Schubert / Muti 6
Ven. 4 juin 20h30 Basilique Messe de Schubert / Muti 6
Lun. 7 juin 20h30 Basilique Margot, Mémoire d’une Reine (Métis) 8
Mar. 8 juin 20h30 Basilique Margot, Mémoire d’une Reine (Métis) 8
Mar. 8 juin 20h30 Légion d’Honneur Capuçon / Grimaud 27
Mer. 9 juin 20h30 Légion d’Honneur Capuçon / Grimaud 27
Jeu. 10 juin 20h30 Basilique Requiem de Fauré 10
Ven. 11 juin 20h30 Légion d’Honneur Requiem de Fauré 10
Ven. 11 juin 22h15 Basilique Private Domain 11
Dim. 13 juin 17h00 Légion d’Honneur David Fray 28
Lun. 14 juin 20h30 Basilique Motets & Fireworks de Haendel 12
Mar. 15 juin 21h00 Légion d’Honneur Barenboim / Said 29
Mer. 16 juin 20h30 Basilique Symphonie no5 de Beethoven 14
Jeu. 17 juin 20h30 Basilique Le Oud selon Smadj (Métis) 16
Sam. 19 juin 20h30 Basilique Symphonie no4 de Mahler 18
Mar. 22 juin 20h30 Basilique Les Reines du Bel Canto 20
Jeu. 24 juin 20h30 Basilique Stabat Mater de Poulenc 22
Ven. 25 juin 20h30 Basilique Stabat Mater de Poulenc 22
Dim. 27 juin 17h00 Légion d’Honneur Lecture 5
Lun. 28 juin 20h30 Légion d’Honneur Lecture 5
Mar. 29 juin 20h30 Basilique Symphonie no4 de Brahms 25
Mer. 30 juin 20h30 Légion d’Honneur Lecture 5
Jeu. 1er juillet 20h30 Basilique Thamos, Roi d’Egypte de Mozart 26
The next blog posts will be dedicated to the Festival de Saint Denis, a classical music festival that I am intern for during the month of June. Different posts will contain: the history, a description of the concert and reception halls, plus daily or weekly reviews of the concerts.
For more information: refer to http://www.festival-saint-denis.com/ but be advised the site is only in French.
This post is about the administrative side to moving abroad, the fun part about getting your papers all in order.
The prefecture is similar to city hall, but has more higher power, this is the place where one goes to renew visas, work permits, residency cards, etc.
For those who have the chance to live in Paris, the city, you are the lucky ones and will not have to fight the battles that those of the surrounding suburbs have too.
I live in Drancy, in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb, 93 is it's department number, and its known has having the worst reputation, I will post later about this. I will just say that I live in a nice place and do not have to worry about some of the things that neighboring cities do. Therefore, I go to the Bobigny Prefecture.
Last Friday, I needed to go and renew my visa and get my carte de sejour for next year. I had found a link on the website that said students could get a meeting which would allow me not to stand in the line (story to follow) for hours. But apparently this is not "true". The prefecture's site also mentions that the prefet is open for foriegners from 8:30 to 4 p.m. and again it's a "lie".
Basic Guide to prefecture:
1. Be prepared to wake up really early in the morning - I got there at 4 am and I was the 60th person in the line.
2. Be prepared to have people cut in front of you. because a. they pay the Indians 20-100 euros or b. their "friend" is saving their spot in line. also, people get angry when people cut the line, therefore keep looking straightahead and don't get involved.
3. Be prepared to get touched on every spot of your body - though this last time it was not true, the line went smoothly.
4. Talk firm with them and when you don't get your way, try to talk forcefully, its the opposite in France, use anger to get your way.
I was ticket number 1610 and there were apparently 10 people in front of me, but there was only one office open. When I arrived in the office, she gave me a meeting for August! I told her I had all the photocopies and orginals with me, all of the information right in front of her. and still she couldn't help me out. So I told her about how they couldn't give me a meeting earlier and she basically told me I was lying. So now I have to wait until August.
Basically, just be prepared to wait a long time, and sometimes it will feel like a waste of time going there and be there only for an hour when you have already waited 5 hours in the freezing cold.
Also, keep deadlines in mind when it comes to renewing papers etc. and never give away and original.
Its fish night.
Directions:
1. Go to the market, or the local place to buy good fish and buy trout or another kind similar.
2. Make sure that its cleaned and slit in the middle. because if not it will take awhile.
3. Find a large baking sheet or casserole dish, put olive oil in the bottom
4. Then put the fish in the pan and in the slit of all the fish place butter (butter with salt if possible) and a small amount of herbs de provenance.
5. Then cut up one large onion and place the onions on top.
6. Put a few pieces of butter on top of the fish, along with some more herbs.
Then put it in the oven @ 200°F or 110°C and cook for about 30-45 minutes.
Serve with rice and green beans with garlic sauce.
