Beethoven abused at Paris Olympic preview

Beethoven abused at Paris Olympic preview

News

norman lebrecht

July 21, 2024

For lack of taste and talent you would be hard pressed to find an act duller and more banal than this official state presentation by veteran pop persona Arielle Dombasle.

What were they thinking?

Comments

  • Gus says:

    These two DEI hires won’t make the Olympics.
    Turn the sound on.

    https://x.com/RitaPanahi/status/1814499712831311907

  • Anthony Sayer says:

    She was married to BHL, so definitely part of the favoured liberal elite. With events like this, the French are happy to showcase mediocrity. I don’t understand why.

  • Emetic says:

    Agreed! It can only get better – hopefully!

  • George says:

    Certainly more titillating to watch than an orchestra playing Beethoven 7 anyhow. Only in France.

    • John Borstlap says:

      Yes I always got bored to death having to watch such a thing. No dancing, no fun, and the beats irregular and hard to follow.

      Sally

  • Lorenz1060 says:

    Ah, yes! A reconstruction of the choreography for the 1984 Donna Summer video of “She Works Hard for the Money”!

  • msc says:

    There’s no link in what I’m seeing (1:47 GMT)

  • J Barcelo says:

    What’s really sad about this is that that vast majority of people who hear it will not recognize the rip-off from Beethoven. Maybe if they saw the movie The King’s Speech they will have a bit of recognition, but I doubt it.

  • Pianofortissimo says:

    We have all certainly seen worse things done with Beethoven. She is in aby case genuinely “pop”.

  • Tim Walton says:

    What do you expect? It is France after all.

  • PaulD says:

    Either that was a skirt or the largest amount of meringue I have ever seen.

  • Peter says:

    We are in total decline/neglect of divine laws – dont look away and make excuses….the next years might show the mess more clearly!

  • Karden says:

    Speaking of which, isn’t this music, the official anthem of the 2024 games, sort of weak? I get a composer wanting a earworm, but shouldn’t it be more than a few notes and ones that aren’t played over and over again?:

    https://youtu.be/JFUwpAIhTzE?si=wCce1YDiQ5yJ8PuX

  • Save the MET says:

    The worst Beethoven offense of the week was playing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony when Melania Trump walked into the Republican convention. That said, Trump’;s various campaigns have learned that if they don’t want to pay penalties for works where artists still have their IP rights and don’t want to be associated with him, that they had to go to public domain. I hope each musician and chorister on that recording will receive their royalty check for the recording being played at that event.

    • Petros Linardos says:

      The list of Ode to Joy abuses is getting longer and longer. Am I right to think that it has been getting worse in the last 20 years?

      I wouldn’t hold my breath regarding the remuneration of the musicians behind the Republican Convention’s soundtrack.

    • Helen Wynn says:

      I thought it was touching and a moment if class. Don’t expect at the Demo convention next month. No Puccini either!

  • Richard Zencker says:

    well at least we don’t have to worry about appoggiaturas and pizzicato markings

  • B. Guerrero says:

    That’s hilarious. But come on, it’s not like the state of trashy popular music and dance is all that much better anywhere else, including England.

  • Michael says:

    Get her jacked up…she will never be tested…ha,ha

  • Michael says:

    What were they thinking?

    Put together an act that would go down well with the expectations of the live audience. Judging by the applause, they succeeded.

    It’s not as if there isn’t a long history of classical composers ‘sampling’ each others motifs to write ‘Variations on a theme of X’

    And Beethoven’s music is copyright free now. It belongs to everyone. You can do what you like with it.

  • Alex Winters says:

    Lighten up, guys. It’s a great tune, it works quite well as a pop video, and it will be forgotten as soon as the Olympics are over. Is it any worse than “I vow to thee, my country”?

  • Antwerp Smerle says:

    This seems fairly innocuous.

    Here was a far greater affront to Beethoven and the spirit of Enlightenment which he and Schiller embodied:

    https://youtu.be/j1OGW19fjpU?si=hk8aYiFEMXyD2WLT

  • Jackson says:

    It reminds me of the Benny Hill show with women flashing their knickers and then complaining of harassment.

  • Jackson says:

    This confirms my suspicion that the French are not a very musical people.

  • Plush says:

    A Dada-ist presentation, typically French.

  • Mark says:

    Perhaps when the pop world said we should “Roll over Beethoven” it was better than so poor an imitation. Catch em doing that to a Swiftie song

  • jean h. says:

    Unfortunately the Olympic games are not a cultural event, but only an opportunity for the self-named “elites” to show his disrespect for people, culture and “bon goût”…

  • Herbie G says:

    Beethoven’s reputation will survive long after she is forgotten and becomes a harpist on a cloud.

  • opus30 says:

    Waldo de los Rios in his prime would have come up with something better than that.

  • Petros Linardos says:

    I see no evidence of thinking behind this.

  • John Borstlap says:

    Oh I love this!! SO much better than the original.

    Sally

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