The Full Montaigne
A sequence of texts and music in which Jim Broadbent plays French writer Michel de Montaigne. With music including Bach, Ligeti, Mendelssohn and Randy Newman.
Jim Broadbent plays Michel de Montaigne, whose 'Essays' entertainingly ponder sex, marriage, animals, memory, and cruelty in an attempt to answer one question: 'How to live?' With music including Bach, Ligeti, Mendelssohn and Randy Newman.
Montaigne drew on a lifetime of experience and observation, but far from inscrutable musings, the Essays are often earthy and direct - at once scatological and astute, philosophical and witty, playful and profound.
The Essays were first published in 1580 and are positively Shakespearian, both in their range and in their humanism. Montaigne speaks as himself, directly and in clear prose, and says the most extraordinarily heretical things. Some of his arguments include the notion that human beings are on a par with the animals and that they are just a tiny part of Nature, all of which deserves equally to be respected and that death is just the end of life and it is life which is the important thing.
In 1676 the Vatican caught up with Montaigne the best part of a century after his death when the Essays were put on its index of prohibited books, where they stayed until 1854. The Essays have been continuously available for the last four and a half centuries not only because they are engaging and entertaining but also because of the spark of self-revelation they so often generate.
In this programme, seasoned Montaignistes will find themselves recognising an old friend, and those coming to the Essays for the first time will find a new one.
David Papp, producer
First broadcast June 2012.
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame (Stanford University Press)
Introduction – ‘The World always looks straight ahead…’
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00:00Johann Sebastian Bach
Sarabande (from Partita No. 1 in B flat, BWV 825)
Performer: Murray Perahia (piano)
- Sony 88697565602.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
General philosophy – ‘I take the first subject chance offers…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘I set forth a humble and inglorious life…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘All contradictions may be found in me...’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘If others examined themselves, as I do…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘Relaxation and affability…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On shortness – ‘I’m a little below medium height…’
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00:06Randy Newman
Short People
Performer: Randy Newman (vocals & piano)
- Warner bros 256404.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
General characteristics – ‘For the rest, I have a strong, thickset body…’
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00:10Ludwig van Beethoven
Rondino, WoO 25
Performer: Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble
- EMI 5 56817 2.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘The only ability I have needed…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘The most painful situation for me…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On memory – ‘I am displeased with my mind…’
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00:17Gabriel Fauré (arr. Cassals)
Après un rêve
Performer: Alban Gerhardt (cello) & Cecile Licad (piano)
- Hyperion CDA67831.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On the unruly member – ‘Married people…’
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00:24Luigi Boccherini
Quintet No. 4 in D major, G. 341 (3rd mvt: Fandango)
Performer: Le concert des nations & Jordi Savall
- Allia vox AVSA 9845.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On sex – ‘Love is nothing but the thirst for sexual enjoyment…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
‘Women are not wrong…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On marriage – ‘I see no marriages that sooner are troubled and fail…’
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00:32Leon Carr/Earl Shuman
Marriage is for Old Folks
Performer: Nina Simone (vocals) Performer: Orchestra arranged and conducted by Hal Mooney
- Verve 0624 9846775.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On conversation – ‘The most fruitful and natural exercise of our mind…’
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00:34Felix Mendelssohn
Octet - 4th Mvt (Presto)
Performer: Daniel Hope (violin) & Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
- DG 477 6634.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On cruelty – ‘I cruelly hate cruelty…’
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00:42Thomas Tallis
If ye love me
Performer: Tallis Scholars & Peter Phillips (director)
- Gimell DCGMB450.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On animals – ‘Presumption is our natural and original malady…’
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00:47Einojuhani Rautavaara
Cantus Arcticus mvt 1 – The Bog
Performer: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra & Leif Segerstam (conductor)
- Ondine ODE 1014 1.
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00:51Jean‐Philippe Rameau
Chaconne (Quatrième Entrée: Les Sauvages)
Performer: Les Musiciens Du Louvre & Marc Minkowski (director)
- Deutche Grammophon SACD 4775578.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On negotiation – ‘In what little negotiating I have had to do between our princes…’
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
On plague – ‘I doubt if I can decently admit…’
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00:58György Ligeti
Requiem - De die judicii sequentia
Performer: Caroline Stein (soprano) Performer: London Voices Performer: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Performer: Jonathan Nott (conductor)
- Teldec 8573 88263 2.
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00:59J. S. Bach (arr. Helga Thoerne)
Chaconne from Paritita in D minor (BWV 1004)
Performer: Christoph Poppen (violin) Performer: The Hilliard Ensemble
- ECM 461 895-2.
Michel de Montaigne, trans. Donald M. Frame
Ending – ‘It is an absolute perfection and virtually divine…’
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01:07Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier - 10 Pièces pittoresques - Paysage
Performer: Kathryn Stott (piano)
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