Customer Reviews

All the World's Mornings (A Graywolf Discovery)

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Quignard tries to do with fiction what history cannot: recreate the life of the mysterious and obscure Baroque musician, Sainte Colombe (who's first name is unknown, even), and the relationship he had with his most famous pupil, Marin Marais. The result is the magical if short novel, ALL THE WORLD'S MORNINGS. Quignard, also an expert on Baroque music, brings to life the pain of the reclusive Colombe, who devotes his life to his music and his solitude after the death of his wife, and the fire of Marais, who's arrogance and brilliance ignite Colombe's anger and his daughter's love. Though the translation is sometimes awkward, this is a unique, beautiful, musical, and deeply moving book

Who among us was aware of Monsieur Sainte Colombe before Alain Corneau's film and Jordi Savall's musical arrangement? Regrettably few of us. Reading a book after seeing a film adaptation is generally unrewarding. In this case, however, Quinard's style and technique grant this book a special place. Even full knowledge of the tale doesn't erode the power of the narrative he's achieved.

"Monsieur Sainte Colombe" remains the most enigmatic figure in musical history. Much of what we do know derives from the journals of his student Marin Marais, musician in Louis XIV's royal court. Sainte Colombe added a seventh string to the viola da gamba, granting the instrument an extended bass range - almost sepulchrous in tone. That morosity was fully applied in much of Sainte Colombe's work as he played in isolation at the bottom of his garden. Quignard evokes feelings from the hardest heart in his descriptions of the ghost of Sainte Colombe's wife appearing to hear the master's music. "Tombeau des regrets" features large in this tale, and it is now likely Sainte Colombe's most famous work. Listen to it as you read this story.

Quignard uses an "episodic" style in this short work. Although the continuity is clear, time is adroitly jumped over from one chapter to the next. The pressure on Sainte Colombe builds even across the gaps as the time from his living wife grows more distant. Quinard imparts Sainte Colombe's despair and loneliness with eloquence and finesse. The master's mood swings are depicted with effective force. Sainte Colombe, as a Jansenist, was a man of strict character. Quignard draws his responses to challenges with intense imagery, providing us with a complex character. Sainte Colombe loves his music, his departed wife, his daughters and his religion with equal fervour. How would such a man survive?

With so little known about Sainte Colombe the man, one may challenge the value of this book as an "historical" novel. That's a false approach. Quignard portrays a man caught in a swarm of varying influences. Raising his daughters while mourning his wife confronts Sainte Colombe with conflicting priorities. Through all that he is driven by his quest for producing "real" music. Brief as this novel is, it compresses much in a few pages. It's not to be taken up lightly, nor merely to see what caused it to be made into a film. It stands successfully on its own merit. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Graywolf Press' Discovery series is always worth reading - this volume is no exception. Certain chapters of this slim volume are memorable for the perfect imagery used to describe life lived in music not words or deeds.

An example - when Marin Marais tells of his return from the boys' choir to his father's shoe shop, the images of smell, the effect of light upon the leather, the callous on a shoemaker's fingers create an absolutely right image of what Marin as a musician wishes to run from.

Another example - when Monsieur de Sainte Colombe commissions a friend to paint a 'reminder' of his late wife's appearance as he plays the lament he wrote upon her death, it is a simple still-life of the work table, the wine flask, the partially eaten sweet that he requests - not a portrait or a ghostly appearance.

The most memorable example - Monsieur de Sainte Colombe teaching Marin Marais music, sounds are the sound of a paint brush painting a still-life, the voices of actresses reciting Racine, the sound of a boy's urine hitting fresh snow...

Such chapters make the book a seductive read. Unfortunately, the characterization of people is not as strong as the characterization of the music. The author never engaged me in the plot, yet the style is one of conventional plot development.

The book is flawed but still a marvelous read - well worth the time required to read this slim volume.