Claire de Lune - Django or Debussy?

rimm

' Danse Norvégienne" is in fact... Norwegian Dances, Opus 35 by Grieg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmIsO1i5Hds

Super Mario Maccaferri

Guys, Isn't the original title , as released by Steph & Django "Fantaisie sur une danse norvegienne", which i'd understand as our two heroes' own version, arrangement and maybe modification of the original "Norwegian dance #2" by Grieg, so after all it*could* be credited to them because they radically changed it, keeping only the melody ?

here's one piano version of Grieg's http://video.miwim.fr/video/8788/Grieg- ... -2-opus-35

frater

I'm pretty sure Django and Stephane are actually playing "Norwegian Wood"...

rimm

but is'nt it good.

Barengero

How can we know that "Clair de Lune" is really a Kosma composition? Is there any reliable source for this? The song was never published in one of Kosma's song albums. Django recorded 4 tracks for the film "La fleur de l'age". Besides "Clair de Lune" he recorded "Pêche à la mouche", "Lentement Mademoiselle" and "Mélodie au Crépuscule". It is known that Kosma was supposed to be responsible for the music of that - never released - film, but when he planned to use 3 originals by Django, why do we know that he wrote the 4th one himself?

PapsPier

I could not agree more Barengero. I made quite a lot of research about the movie La Fleur de l age and I didnt find much...
According to some article, Kosma would compose the soundtrack of the movie and Django and his band would play the music to be heard in ball scenes. "En plus de son compositeur attitré, Marcel Carné a fait appel au plus réputé des guitaristes de jazz: Django Reinhardt, pour lui confier la composition des airs de danse que nous entendrons"
However, we can see some pictures of a ball scene and the band, not only, does not look like the QHCF at all but the instruments are also different: sax, banjo, basic drum and accordion!
Moreover, the recorded tunes do not sound to me like dance music...

My hypothesis but I have no real proof of that is that Carne or Prevert put Kosma and Django together so Kosma could explain to Django what music he should record. He may have said to Django to record whatever tunes he wanted for dances and he may have asked to record one of the main theme of the movies that Kosma planned to use. He may have whistled/hummed to Django who gave his own rendition of that with his band.

Maybe we could find a little bit more in biographies of Kosma or Carne but it is not guaranteed. This Django mystery is small talk compared to the history of the impossible filming of this movie.

PapsPier

If we look up at the SACEM (copyright registry), the tune is credited to Kosma for the music, Etienne Bloch for the lyrics and the editor was Enoch and Cie. I am still waiting an answer from some leads I have. I ll let you know if anything interesting comes up

Barengero

PapsPier thank you very much for these informations. The name Etienne Bloch is new to me. On Bireli Lagrene`s CD "Move" the credits name Kosma and "Étienne Beaurouge" for "Clair de Lune". Maybe it is Bloch misspelled (or vice versa). However - it would be so great to have lyrics for this song!

PapsPier

Ok Stuart for Clair de Lune. I forgot that Django was living above a bar with that name! Good to know!

But for Danse Norvégienne, DJango is not the composer. He played a beautiful arrangement of it but he is still not the composer. During the same session, he also recorded Leibesfreud de Kreisler, it is still the tune of Kreisler arranged by Django. It is different than the other tunes you are referring to. ANd I think it was different in his mind too, otherwise why would he use the same title?

Teddy Dupont

Has anyone heard a version of the Django/Kosma "Clair de Lune" that was recorded in the 40's, 50s or 60s by a non gypsy jazz/Django infuenced group? It seems the recording was not released on a 78 at the time and the first issue was several years later on a French Vogue LP. I cannot find the particular LP Delaunay refers to (No. 403500842) and the first date I have found for a Vogue LP with "Clair de Lune" on is 1969 but as the number is not the same, it is in no way a definitive date. I just wonder if anyone had ever heard this tune until the Django record was released on an LP which would surely have been the mid-50s at the earliest.