Music, Literature and Art During the “Belle Epoque”

Music, Literature and Art During the “Belle Epoque”

The ‘Belle Epoque’ is regarded as the golden era in France which was spearheaded by the thriving industrial and scientific revolution. Rapid architectural, technological and artistic agendas meant for the goodwill of its citizens graced this period. Moreover, the ‘Beautiful Era’ boosted the European civilization in global politics due to the rapid recognition of its arts, literature, music, and theaters. Due to the fast-growing culture, increased standards of living and security for the middle and upper social classes in Paris, the majority of its population supported the revolution due. However, the lower social class group was pessimistic about the ‘Beautiful Era’ since they benefited less and had war phobia. Significantly, artists expressed their satisfaction or through their work by highlighting the positive and negative effects of the Era.

During ‘Belle Epoque’ artists such as Henri de Toulouse, Maurice Denis, and Odilon Redon used their skills to illustrate their thoughts about the period in paintings. Most of the artists who supported the ‘Belle Epoque’ had a positive impact on scientific developments as well as architectural designs. For example, Emile Galle made advancements in the glass technology, Hector Guidmard designed the ornamental entrances in Paris metro stations, Henry Velde used Art Nouveau skills and styles to design Paris Art galleries among others (EmBree, Pg. 32). However, EmBree (Pg. 45) affirms that some of the arts showed that the ‘Belle Epoque’ was an embodiment of lust and evil. For instance, Munch’s Scream painting by a Norwegian artist showed how women had become vampires who had a sexual thirst for men. Also, Leon Spilliaert made paintings of himself trapped in oppressive surroundings to manifest the oppression and desperation the lower social class was going through.

On the other hand, literature was regarded as a powerful method of expression during the ‘Belle Epoque’. Writers such as Emile Zola and Guy Maupassant were the kingpins of the literacy revolution where they expressed their opinions through the art of literature. Others such as Charles Baudelaire had marvelous skills in poetry writing (Rayward, Pg. 27). In his book “‘L’Oeuvre”, Zola highlights the negative effects of ‘Belle Epoque’ where prominent artists were destroying their lives with drugs, prostitution, and alcohol. Besides that, the naturalistic style was another mode of literature writing which was used by Karl Huysmans to embrace naturalism rather than the ‘fake’ lifestyle everybody in Paris wanted to have. Karls’ book, ‘A Rebours’, received a lot of recommendation from the Catholic society and other writers as well (Reynolds, Pg. 42). However, other writers criticized Christianity through their literacy styles. For instance, Diderot published his book “The Encyclopedie” which incited about the religious oppression which came with the ‘Belle Epoque’ purposing for enlightenment. The publication led to his later imprisonment and banning of the book hence signifying a positive turn for the Christianity faith during ‘Belle Epoque’ (Reynolds, Pg. 45). Furthermore, the “Beautiful Era” led to advancements in literacy realism and naturalisms since more writers became more aware of such literacy skills.

Pursuing this further, the ‘Belle Epoque’ was an artistic era with the not only the evolution of art and literature but also the music industry. According to Giglio (Pg. 98), composers such as Stravinsky, Strauss, Respighi among others took music to the next level from salon music to modern dance music. The cabarets became so popular and acted as a meeting point for different social classes since they incorporated all these genres of music. Although many people were in love with such music, it led to the alienation of morals in the society since the cabarets offered music shows which had female vixens who were almost naked so as to please the attendants (Giglio, Pg. 111). However, music had positive effects too like the creation of jobs in the cabarets too. Significantly, it led to the rise of the female gender in music which saw the likes of Helene Fluerry and Lili Boulanger win the famous Grand Prix. Also, inventions such as the neon lights emerged.

In conclusion, the ‘Belle Epoque’ was absolutely the beautiful era of all time in Paris which led to the development in music, literature, arts, architecture as well as scientific innovations within a short period of time. The revolution had vast benefits to the people of France, however, it was accompanied by negative impacts too such as prostitution, drug abuse among other vices. With the knowledge from Art Nouveau, students were able to design high-end structures including buildings and monuments which have a significant meaning to the France community up to date.

References

EmBree, Carolyn, and David A. Scott. “The Multifarious Nature of Art Forgery in France: Four Case Studies of Belle Epoque Fakes and Forgeries.” J. Art Crime 13 (2015): 3.

Giglio, Consuelo. “Music in nineteenth and early twentieth-century periodicals published in Palermo.” «Fonti Musicali Italiane» 2 (2017): 95-153.

Rayward, W. Boyd, ed. Information Beyond Borders: International Cultural and Intellectual Exchange in the Belle Époque. Routledge, 2016.

Reynolds, Siân. Paris-Edinburgh: cultural connections in the Belle Epoque. Routledge, 2016.