Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk the streets of Paris in the 19^th-century? You are strolling along the cobblestone streets, taking in the sights and sounds, when suddenly a song by Aristide Bruant catches your ear. Enticed, you follow the sounds into a dimly-lit room and hear this:

There, in one of Paris’s famous cafés chantants, you cast your eyes around and see a host of eccentric characters—performing, serving, listening, and, of course, drinking.

The bouquet seller Le garçon de café The waiter

Les habitués The regulars

Les consommateurs The customers

Perhaps you would like to hear to another song by Aristide Bruant, and while listening, view these images again.

Musica, Vol. 7 No. 74 (November 1908): 167.

The seven images depicting scenes in cafés chantants were published on 6 December 1851 in L’Illustration, the first illustrated newsweekly in France. Between 1843 and 1899, the journal published over 3,350 engravings of musical interest, offering an expansive visual account of musical activities in 19^th-century Europe. We will continue to feature a number of illustrations from this journal in the weeks ahead.

RIPM search tip: To access 356 related records to cafés chantants, search “café chantant” as a keyboard in both RIPM’s Retrospective Index and e-Library of Music Periodicals.

On today’s date in 1830, eleven-year-old Clara Wieck (later, Clara Schumann) gave her debut solo piano concert at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, sparking a career lasting more than sixty-years as both a distinguished performer and gifted composer.

We celebrate Wieck’s remarkable achievements with a portrait from her younger years published in the Parisian journal, Musica, and two enthusiastic reviews of her debut. The first was published by the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung [AMZ] and the second was a translated and condensed version of the original AMZ report, published in the London journal The Harmonicon.

Musica, Vol. 6 No. 59 (August 1907): 126.

A Young Clara Wieck (later, Clara Schumann)

Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Vol. 32 No. 46 (17 November 1830): 752-753.

The Harmonicon, Vol. 9 No. 2 (February 1831): 47.

RIPM search tip: A search for “Clara Wieck” in both RIPM’s Retrospective Index and e-Library of Music Periodicals reveals that her name appears in 800 records. A search for “Clara Schumann” … 6,600 records!

Felix Mendelssohn died 170 years ago on 4 November 1847. In his honor we present this beautiful lithograph of the composer, by an unidentified artist. It appeared in a biographical study published in 1836 in London's The Musical World.

The Musical World, Vol. 4 Supplemental Pages (1836): [1p.]

His hair was black and curling, the forehead of the highest order of intellectual beauty, the nose somewhat bent, the lips well chiseled, the shape of the face oval, the eyes irresistible, brilliant, and spiritual.

Elise Polko, “Reminisces of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy,” translated by Grace Wallace (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1869): 77.

RIPM search tip: A search for “Mendelssohn” in RIPM’s Retrospective Index reveals that his name appears in 12,529 citations!

A battleground ... with cavalry, cannons, bombs, and bullets.

The Baton, Vol. 9 No. 2 (1929 December): 15. For more on The Baton, read here!

In celebration of his birthday on 22 October 1811, we commemorate Franz Liszt with a set of caricatures published in The Musical World (Vol. 53 Nos. 45-48, 1875), originally printed in the Hungarian journal, Borsszem Jankó, depicting the great pianist-composer performing at the piano.

He appears with a smile...

The first chord... With eyes closed...

Pianissimo... Awesome tingling...

Recalling Chopin and George Sand... Dante in hell...

Just after the performance...

RIPM search tip: To access dozens of images of Liszt in the Online Archive, first select "illustration" in the Type field, then, keyword search for "Liszt".