Famous Monegasques
Büthor, daughter of the second wife of Leo Ferre, published a book dedicated to life with a musician. In particular, Annie said that « Pépée had her own room, her own toys », and she dined with the family. In the evenings, before going to bed, Pépée « hugged » each member of the family. There are at least two songs in Leo’ s repertoire that were influenced by the chimpanzee: « Pépée » and « Avec le temps ». During his career, Leo Ferre released 40 albums, becoming a true master of French music. The musician died in July 1993, in
© lefigaro. fr
the town of Castellina in Tuscany, but was buried in the cemetery in Monaco.
Ferre and Monaco
In April 1954, at the initiative of Prince Rainier III, Ferre gave a grandiose concert at the Monte-Carlo Opera. Accompanied by the orchestra and the choir of the Opera, the musician performed his oratorio inspired by Guillaume Appolinaire, in particular, « The Song of the Unloved ». Interestingly, the album of the concert recorded by Radio
Monte-Carlo, was only first released in April 2006 by « La Mémoire et la Mer ». The small state of Monaco should be very proud of being the birthplace for such a famous artist. But you may think that Leo Ferre’ s connection to Monaco was not as strong as that to Paris, because up until 2013, only one place in Monaco was bearing the musician’ s name. Fortunately, four years ago, a concert hall was named in his honour on the initiative of the Municipality of Monaco. HSH Prince Albert II attended the opening of Leo Ferre Hall in person. The apartment on Avenue Saint-Michel where the famous musician was born is another place associated with Ferre. It now sits empty, but is actually still rented by the Ferre family in hope of opening a museum about the musician. However, that initiative awaits financial backing. Leo Ferre’ s son Mathieu recalls in one of his interviews that his father was very fond of Monaco. They would often come on a visit to the Principality and stroll along to La Condamine where he bought his favourite dish, socca. For Ferre, Monaco was the place of his childhood where his mother made a delicious tomato sauce and the whole family would sit down at a huge table in the living room. At the age of 5 he was listening to music, walking through the Principality streets and imagining himself a conductor of a large orchestra. The memories of Monaco, for sure, must have been some of his happiest.
В тридцать лет он написал свой первый текст в прозе для монегасской газеты. Тогда же Лео познакомился с Эдит Пиаф, которая настоятельно рекомендовала молодому музыканту ехать в Париж и пробовать свои силы там.
© voir. ca rus
Человек-оркестр— именно так стоит называть монегасского музыканта Лео Ферре, который за свою карьеру успел выпустить несколько десятков альбомов, написать роман, создать оратории, вдохновляясь нетривиальными стихами Аполлинера и Бодлера. Ферре считал себя анархистом, именно это понятие красной нитью тянется через все его творчество. 24 августа 1916 года в квартире на авеню Сен-Мишель, где проживала семья дирек- тора одного из монакских казино, родился мальчик. Новоиспеченные родители решили назвать сына Лео. До 9 лет он жил в Княжестве, а затем его отправили в пансион Святого Карла в Бордигеру( Италия). В 1934 году, после окончания школы, Лео попросил у отца разрешения на поступление в консерваторию. Однако глава семейства видел будущее своего сына иначе, и через год юноша отправился в Париж, чтобы изучать право. И хотя Лео поступил в Институт политических исследований, он не упускал возможности ходить в кино и обучаться игре на фортепиано.
86 / Hello Monaco – Winter 2018