Music and dance at the centre of Vauclusian identity
This music and dance is steeped in Occitan culture, and it's not uncommon to see men, women and children dressed in Provençal costumes appearing at religious ceremonies to play traditional pieces on the tambourine and galoubet, a small recorder with three holes, whose simplicity suggests its origins go back several centuries.
The instruments: galoubet and tambourine. The musician plays both instruments simultaneously. He holds the galoubet (small three-hole flute) in his left hand and the "masseto" or drumstick in his right. He accompanies the dancers in traditional dress. The dancers can perform a number of dances, the best-known of which are the "cordelles" or "jardinières".
Provençal dances. They are said to have a magical significance, inherited from agrarian or religious rites. Handed down orally or visually, they have necessarily undergone numerous evolutions over time, but several general influences can be identified. the "Greek step" or "Marble girls" have military inspirations, enabling dancers to demonstrate their virtuosity. Some, such as "Harvest", mimic rural chores. Others have popular origins, such as the "mazurka" or the polka.
In a few notes..
This is probably one of the world's best-known tunes, "Sur le pont d'Avignon", a nursery rhyme popularized in 1853 by Adolphe Adam in his operetta Le Sourd ou l'Auberge pleine.
From the music stage to the dance floor
The Vaucluse region is alive with festivals:
Opera and classical music festival "Les Chorégies" at the Théâtre Antique in Orange, created in 1971 in its current form, has given the town a worldwide reputation. The festival takes place every year in late July and early August.
Music festivals in the vineyards in many of the villages of the Haut Vaucluse, to enjoy the mild evening with music!
Festival de piano Luberon, held in the magnificent Château de Lourmarin, classified monument historique in 1973.
Festival des chœurs lauréats in Vaison-la-Romaine: every three years, for one week, some 15,000 choristers perform to the rhythm of the ancient theater's stones, and offer unforgettable evenings of improvised concerts on street corners and café terraces.
Vaison Danses" festival created in 1995. The festival celebrates dance in all its forms, showcasing the likes of Maurice Béjart, Sylvie Guillem, Benjamin Millepied, Carolyn Carlson and William Forsyth, as well as artists from the younger generation.
Theatre festivals
Donatien Alphonse François de Sade: initiator of the first theater festival in history.
Sade is heir to the Maison de Sade, one of the oldest houses in Provence. After squandering his wife's dowry, he had his château at La Coste repaired. At his château in Mazan, he hired actors and gave free rein to his passion for comedy. He invited the local nobility to attend his theatrical performances, and the three strikes were made!
Jean Vilar actor, director and co-founder of the Avignon Festival
After an introduction to literature and music, he chose theater and enrolled in a director's school. He familiarized himself with various stage disciplines, then joined a troupe for which he played his first roles. Having created his own company, he went on to inaugurate the stage in the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais des Papes in Avignon.
1947: the birth of a magical encounter between theater and the City of the Popes. Absolute success for this "genre" of risk-taking theater, featuring Jeanne Moreau, Georges Wilson, Maria Caseres and Gérard Philipe, who joins the troupe. Jean Vilar had other plans, extending the festival to other forms of artistic expression. He invited stage directors, included dance and cinema, and new performance venues were created in the city, marking the birth of the Festival Off Today, the Festival d'Avignon Off is an alternative theater and live performance festival that has become an unmissable summer event, held during the last three weeks of July.
Beliefs, myths and legends
Legends are pagan and festive, and there are plenty of them in Provence. There's the Golden Goat, the supposed treasure buried in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, the Tarasque, the demonic Drac or the statue of Visan... Here are just a few.
The haunted house or Pré Fantasti (Caromb). This story has been passed down by word of mouth for centuries. The name is a distortion of the Provençal espirit fantasti, meaning "fantastic spirit". In 1647, Pope Urban VIII sent his two nephew cardinals, the Barberini brothers, on a penance to forget their antics at the Roman court, where they practiced alchemy and pursued the quest for the "philosopher's stone". The brothers quarrel over their "elixir of life". With an unfortunate gesture, the vial - full of vitriol - breaks on the face of one of the brothers, who dies instantly. Since then, the unfortunate man is said to have haunted the area around the house, screaming his grief at seeing his murder go unpunished. The legend was revived at the beginning of the 20th century, when artist Marius Jouve wanted to buy the long-abandoned house, and was shot in the head while visiting it!
The Visan statue. Legend has it that the statue of Visan was discovered in a vineyard by a peasant in the 13th century. He took it to the village church, but that very night the statue disappeared, only to be found the next morning in the same furrow in which it had been the day before. Three times in a row, the same strange thing happened. The villagers interpreted this as a miracle of divine will and the Virgin Mary. A chapel was built on the very spot the statue seemed to have chosen.
