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The French connection
(by Kara Krekeler - February 02, 2010)
Just weeks after Mardi Gras, St. Louis is again looking to its French heritage.
Between Feb. 24 and March 1, a handful of St. Louis institutions will hold the first-ever St. Louis French Festival, with events at the St. Louis Art Museum, University of Missouri–St. Louis, Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and Missouri History Museum.
The headliner of the festival is a visit by Pierre Vimont, ambassador of France to the U.S. Vimont will give a free lecture on U.S. and French cooperation in the Middle East at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ Millennium Student Center. The next day, Vimont will speak at a noon luncheon at the St. Louis Club, 7701 Forsyth Blvd.
While previous French ambassadors have visited St. Louis, this marks the first for Vimont, who was appointed ambassador in 2007.
“We hope that by having a French ambassador visit, Americans can get a different idea of what France is all about,” said Isabelle Heidbreder of Alliance Francaise de St. Louis, which partnered with UMSL to facilitate Vimont’s visit. “France is not all the Eiffel Tower and french fries.”
Heidbreder said that she hopes the French festival will bring together St. Louis’ French community and make St. Louisans aware of their continuing presence. “We want to have all the French societies unite and put their best French foot forward.”
At the other end of the festival schedule are a recital and pair of lectures by organist Lynne Davis at the Cathedral. The concert is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Feb. 28, while Davis’ lecture on the organ music of France closes the festival at 7:30 p.m. March 1. Davis will also speak on the architecture and stained-glass windows of France’s Chartres Cathedral, a popular pilgrimage site, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at the History Museum.
John Romeri, executive and artistic director for the Cathedral Concerts, said that Davis’ already-scheduled concert was the impetus for the whole festival. Davis lived in France for more than 30 years and played a prominent role in the organ music scene in that country.
After scheduling her concert, Davis agreed to speak on the Chartres Cathedral and Romeri decided to speak to other institutions about holding the festival. Many, it turned out, already had Francophile events scheduled, including lectures and a St. Louis Symphony Orchestra chamber performance at the Art Museum, and the launch of a French-focused audio tour at the History Museum.
St. Louis has a rich French history, reaching all the way back to its founding. In 1764, French fur traders Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau founded the city, which they named after King Louis XIV of France. Later, after several years under Spanish rule, St. Louis was secretly sold back to the French just before the 1804 Louisiana Purchase.
“People were speaking French here before they were speaking English,” said Anne Woodhouse, creator of the History Museum’s audio tour.
The tour will feature several of the artifacts in the History Museum’s permanent galleries, focusing primarily on the pre-1900 gallery, Woodhouse said. Among the artifacts featured are a re-creation of a Creole house; some World’s Fair silver that is embellished with a fleur de lis, the symbol of the fair’s French pavilion; and a sculpture of Joseph Pulitzer by French artist Auguste Rodin.
And of course, there are two of the most noticeable History Museum displays. The statue of Thomas Jefferson, purchaser of the Louisiana Territory, and the replica of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the original of which landed in Paris, both boast strong French ties, Woodhouse said.
Additionally, the tour will focus on the possessions of Marie Therese Chouteau, mother of Auguste Chouteau and common-law wife of Pierre Laclede. Chouteau is also the focus of Veuve Chouteau, a one-woman play that will be performed at 2 p.m. Feb. 26 at the History Museum.
“She was the grand dame of the city,” said Elizabeth Pickard, who wrote and performs the 20-minute production. “She was a formidable woman and businesswoman.”
Pickard said that the play takes place in 1803 and revolves around Madame Chouteau’s concerns about the Louisiana Purchase, rumors of which were just hitting the young city.
“She was not amused by the Louisiana Purchase,” Pickard said, noting that Chouteau had concerns about how American laws would be more constrictive for a French woman. For example, French laws at the time ensured equal inheritance and gave a married woman rights to her own dowry and property, which could not be taken to pay off her husband’s debts when he died.
While the play is set nearly 40 years after St. Louis’ founding, Pickard said she hopes viewers come away with a greater understanding of the city’s colonial history, which has ties not only in France, but also in Spain and England.
“Our basic colonial history isn’t Plymouth Rock. The first Europeans in the Mississippi River valley were French,” Pickard said. “St. Louis had international ties from its founding.
• A full schedule of St. Louis French Festival events is available at www.cathedralconcerts.org.
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