July in France
Bonjour!
In early July I took a trip to France to play harp for my niece’s wedding. Here’s a photo of the happy couple, Jennifer and Cyril Raimond!
My sister, Sheryl, moved to France in 1970 and has lived in or near Paris most of the time since then. Jennifer played the harp for 7 years while she was growing up, and my sister took lessons for a year, as well. It was nice to have family members following in my footsteps!
The wedding festivities were in a lovely, rural location near Tours, in the Loire Valley region of France, a couple hours southwest of Paris. Fortunately, there is a music store in Tours, L’Instrumentarium, that sells Salvi Harps. They were kind enough to let me borrow a Salvi Livia harp. (Thank you very much, Mr Ransom!)
I played at the city hall where the “official” wedding took place, and then at the more personal ceremony later in the afternoon.
In France, they don’t have a maid of honor, but the bride and groom each have two witnesses. One of Jennifer’s witnesses was Maria Rees, a girl from Missouri that she met at summer camp here in the States. Whenever there was a talent show at camp, Jennifer and Maria sang a duet of Bette Midler’s song The Rose. So, at the wedding dinner, I accompanied Maria and my sister as they sang The Rose for the bride and groom. We used the arrangement right out of my 22 Romantic Songs book! It turns out that Maria’s mom is a harp player who is learning to play out of my Teach Yourself book. Maria said that her mom was thrilled that she was able to sing with me . . . so I autographed the Romantic Songs book and sent it to her mom as a present.
We spent several days vising a lot of the historical sites and chateaux in the area including Villandry, Chenonceau, and Azay-le-Rideau. Each one was different, and they were quite spectacular. The only harp we saw was a reproduction in the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud museum. The sign on the display said: “Projected reproduction of the harp held by the eighth Elder from the Revelations of St. John on the central portal, the Portico de La Gloria, at Santiago de Compostela (1188). By Yves d’Arcizas, 2002.”
I took a 2-day side-trip to see the Salvi Harp factory in Piasco, Italy. It is in a small town, about 45 minutes from Torino (where the Winter Olympics were held recently). The taxi ride from the train station was lovely, driving through fields of corn, fruit trees, and kiwi farms. I was surprised to see kiwis, but according to Wikipedia, Italy is now the leading producer of kiwifruit in the world!
The Salvi Harp factory was amazing, and it was fun to meet some of the artisans and craftspeople who build these intricate instruments. I have been fortunate to be able to visit the factories of 5 harpmakers in the past few years (Dusty Strings, Triplett, Wm. Rees, Salvi, and Lyon & Healy), and it is fascinating to see the similarities and the differences in their equipment and their techniques.
A highlight of the trip was being able to spend 30 minutes in the Victor Salvi Museum, which is located above the factory. About 40 rare harps are on display from Mr. Salvi’s collection of instruments representing the evolution of the harp during the past 300 years. I had seen photos of these harps in the beautiful book of this collection, Three Centuries of Harpmaking, but it was wonderful to be able to see them “in person” and be able to examine them up close.
I would particularly like to thank Massimo from Salvi for being such a wonderful host and tour guide. He really made my trip extra-special. Thank you, Massimo!
The book that I took to read on my trip was Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund, a novel about Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI. I thought it was an appropriate selection to read in France. According to the book’s introduction, contrary to popular belief, Marie Antoinette never said “Let them eat cake.” That was actually spoken 100 years earlier by the wife of King Louis XIV. And now for another bit of trivia . . . Marie Antoinette played the harp!
Au revoir and arrivederci for now.