Sunday, February 20, 2011

A pun in French that I hope is to your taste

Il y avait un compositeur qui a écrit une chaconne à son goût.
(There was a composer who wrote a chaconne to his taste.)

A chaconne is a musical form; "chacun à son goût" means "each to his taste".

I knew there was an opera which had an aria including "chacun à son gout". I found a multi-lingual snippet of "Die Fledermaus" performed at Covent Garden in 1984.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6uEmtn56M0

But I didn't hear "chacun à son goût"!

On a second viewing I heard it at the end of Prince Orlofsky's aria.  I remember seeing a production with Beverly Sills years ago, and I remember hearing "chacun à son gout" several times.

Oh, drat!  "Chaconne à son gout" is not original.  Google gives over 1500 hits including a P.D.Q. Bach Gross Concerto by that name.