Baroque Garden (I)

choi

In an article, I glanced at a photo which displayed a pair of meticulously cut trees (though this is not my kind of philosophy) that I had not seen before. I was further surprised that this had a name: Baroque. I did not intend to present the full text but only the sentence identifying this as Baroque garden. But I changed my mind.

Roslyn Sulcas, An American Who Led the French Baroque Revival; William Christie, Founder of Les Arts Florissants, nurtures the genre's music -- and a garden, too. New York Times, Sept 22, 2025, at page C1 (section C was 'Arts').

Note:
(a)
(i) William Christie (musician)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Christie_(musician)
(1944- )
(ii) harpsichord
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpsichord
("with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one or more strings [see two charts in section 2 Mechanism; this is the difference with a piano, where the pressing of a key leads to a hammer to strike a string] * * * During the late 18th century, with the development of the fortepiano (and then the increasing use of the piano in the 19th century) the harpsichord gradually disappeared from the musical scene (except in opera, where it continued to be used to accompany recitative). * * * Twentieth-century efforts to revive the harpsichord began with instruments that used piano technology, with heavy strings and metal frames"/ section 9 Music, section 9.2 Baroque era)


(b) French-English dictionary:
* florissant (adjective masculine): "flowering, blooming, flourishing"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/florissant
   ^ French grammar
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_grammar
   ("Most [French] adjectives * * * appear after their nouns: le vin rouge ('the red wine'). A number of adjectives (often having to do with beauty, age, goodness, or size, a tendency summarized by the acronym 'BAGS'), come before their nouns: une belle femme ('a beautiful woman')")  (This sounds like Latin adjectives.)
* dans (preposition): "in"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dans
* aux: "contraction of à + les ('to the')"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aux
* enfer (noun masculine; plural enfers): "hell"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enfer
* voix (noun feminine): "voice"  (English noun voice came from Middle English of the same spelling (voice). Norman Conquest brought about Middle English.)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/voix
* je (pronoun): "I"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/je
* mourir (verb; first-person singular present indicative meurs): "to die"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mourir
* comique (adj; from Latin adjective comicus and Ancient Greek adjective kōmikós): "comic"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comique


(c) "When Christie arrived in France in 1970, he recalled, the early music repertory [early music alludes to EARLY music, especially Baroque music] in concert halls was 'almost nonexistent.' * * * A few hours later, Christie was in a community hall in the village, rehearsing Charpentier's 'La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers' with this year's intake of Le Jardin des Voix, the academy to train young singers that he started in 2002 * * * Lean and bespectacled, in lemon-colored pants and a crisply pressed shirt, Christie held up a hand and stopped the music. * * * As the rehearsal continued, he frequently stopped the singers, focusing on their articulation and emphasis ('Please, give me words!'), correcting a scream ('No, no, that's the tryout for "Turandot" ') and demonstrating a dying breath ('Je meu-eu-eurs …') * * * 'He can be exigent' * * * Christie said during an interview in his barrel-vaulted library * * * He studied art history at Harvard, where he joined musical societies, played in ensembles and once shut himself up in his room for a week, 'listening nonstop to Janet Baker in Rameau's 'Hippolyte et Aricie,' after a roommate gave him a recording, he said."
(i) La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_descente_d%27Orphée_aux_enfers

Orphée is French spelling of Opheus (English, borrowed from Latin and Ancient Greek of the same spelling)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus
("descended into the underworld to recover his lost wife, Eurydice[7]" but failed)
(ii) Turandot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turandot
(iii) "demonstrating a dying breath ('Je meu-eu-eurs …')”

Google AI: The phrase Je meu-eu-eurs is a drawn-out, dramatic pronunciation of the French phrase Je meurs, which means "I am dying" or "I die."
(iv) " 'He can be exigent' * * * "

English dictionary:
* exigent (adj; Did You Know?):
"1: requiring immediate aid or action  <exigent circumstances>
2: requiring or calling for much : DEMANDING  <an exigent client>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exigent
(v) "Christie said during an interview in his barrel-vaulted library"

barrel vault
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_vault
(vi) "listening nonstop to Janet Baker in Rameau's 'Hippolyte et Aricie' "
(A) Janet Baker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Baker
(1933- ; English)
(B) Hippolyte et Aricie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolyte_et_Aricie
(section 6 Synopsis, section 6.2 Act I: names)


(d) " 'The Dutch and the British could play Vivaldi and Handel, but not French music,' he said. 'And the French paid lip service' [to their own music] * * * The ensemble's big breakthrough was a 1987 production of Lully's 'Atys' at the Opera Comique in Paris * * * Rameau's 'Les Boréades' "
(i)
(A) Antonio Vivaldi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi
(1678 – 1741; Italian composer of Baroque music)
(B) George Frideric Handel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel
(1685 (born in Brandenburg) – 1759 (died in England); Baroque composer)
(ii) "The ensemble's big breakthrough was a 1987 production of Lully's 'Atys' at the Opera Comique in Paris"
(A) Atys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atys
(mat refer to "Atys (Lully), a 1676 tragédie lyrique by Jean-Baptiste Lully")
(B) Opera Comique
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Comique
(iii) Les Boréades
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Boréades
("the Boréades are the descendants of Boréas")


(e) All captions are from print (not the online version). I show you the first photo of this report, only wanting to demonstrate what "lemon pants" looks like in color.