Sacred Grounds, Sacred Sounds:
 A Journey through the History, Mystery,
and Music of Père Lachaise Cemetery
 
      
                                        
                                                                                                                                                                      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Melodic Vision presents a memorable and moving multimedia performance of slowly dissolving photographic images accompanied by live music from cemetery’s compser-residents, including Chopin, Lalo, Rossini, Pleyel, Edith Piaf, Stephane Grappelli, and Jim Morrison.
 
    Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris recently celebrated its 200th anniversary as the world's first rural garden cemetery—a model later copied by Mount Auburn, Forest Hills, Sleepy Hollow, and others in the US. Unlike earlier burying grounds, it was based on romantic notions of the early nineteenth century—including the link between man and nature, death as eternal repose, and the Cult of the Ancestor—and featured beautifully landscaped gardens and an "outdoor museum" of lavish monumental art.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Parisian cemetery became so prestigious that Victor Hugo observed, "To be buried in Père Lachaise is like having mahogany furniture." Among the broad array of humanity interred there were musicians and composers like Chopin, Rossini, Bizet, Cherubini, Pleyel, Poulenc, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Maria Callas, and Stephane Grappelli. A host of other notables —from Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Oscar Wilde, and Sarah Bernhardt to Isadora Duncan, Abelard and Heloise, Moliere, and Delacroix —share the sacred grounds as well.
 
 
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click below to watch a sample from Sacred Grounds
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"It was the highlight of our season!" —Monica Higgins, Program Director, Boston Athenaeum “The Père Lachaise program was the one of the most enjoyable ones I have experienced in I don't know how long. … Susan Wilson's photos were wonderful. The idea of a string ensemble accompanying the images was a brilliant idea and an even more brilliant one was to have pieces composed by the memorialized played.“ —Sylvia McDowell, President, Boston Women’s Heritage Trail “What a charming way to be introduced to the historic Père Lachaise Cemetery. The concept of meandering through it via slides while the music of many significant musicians buried there is played is brilliant. Even better that the music is performed by a live ensemble.  Bravo!” —Karin Rosenthal, fine art photographer “The Père Lachaise mixed-media show created by Susan Wilson and Rebecca Strauss truly enlightened, informed, and enchanted me. [It’s a] creation that is hauntingly personal and very moving … an exquisite piece that I believe deserves widespread viewing.” —Patricia Van Ness, composer “I especially loved, ‘Light My Fire.’" —Alex Beam, Columnist, Boston Globe
Copyright © 2008 Melodic Vision
All photos copyright © Susan Wilson