Barbara
Barbara’s (1930-97) birth name was Monique Serf. She was born in Paris of an Alsatian father and Moldovan mother. She later borrowed her stage name from her Ukrainian grandmother, Varvara Brodsky. After German occupation of Paris began in June 1940, like many Jews Monique and her family spent wartime years hiding from the Gestapo outside Paris in a succession of different towns. Over time, Barbara became a solitary personality with an elfin look and a tall but fragile physique.
Barbara’s (1930-97) birth name was Monique Serf. She was born in Paris of an Alsatian father and Moldovan mother. She later borrowed her stage name from her Ukrainian grandmother, Varvara Brodsky. After German occupation of Paris began in June 1940, like many Jews Monique and her family spent wartime years hiding from the Gestapo outside Paris in a succession of different towns. Over time, Barbara became a solitary personality with an elfin look and a tall but fragile physique.
Though she yearned to become a pianist, a physical disability in a hand diverted her to vocal training. After the war, her early professional years began in Brussels. She married a Belgian in 1953, but the marriage lasted only 2 years and it was childless. In the mid-1950s she returned to Paris and worked at the Left-Bank cabaret “L’Ecluse” (“Lock” or “Sluice”). These years were the heyday for left-bank cabaret chanson. “L’Ecluse” was a distinctive multi-purpose performance hall on the quai des Grands-Augustins that had nightly shows between the years 1951 to 1974. Her first album in 1958 was titled appropriately “Barbara à l’Ecluse.” Her signature black outfit and late-night performances earned her the nicknames “la chanteuse de minuit” and “la dame en noir.”
Her long-estranged father died in 1959 in the town of Nantes. She attended his funeral, and her unresolved emotions towards him prompted her 1963 song “Il pleut sur Nantes.” In 1964, she visited the German town of Göttingen despite a strong reluctance arising from her searing wartime experience. That visit was initiated in the wake of the Franco-German Elysée Treaty of friendship concluded in 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Barbara’s concert in Göttingen and the eponymous song that she composed afterwards was a celebrated moment in Franco-German reconciliation and became something of a European anthem. German Chancellor Gerhardt Schröder invoked it many years later in 2003: “I was a doctoral student in Göttingen when she came to sing. It went to our hearts, the start of a wonderful friendship between our countries.” Other popular songs of the sixties include Barbara’s “Dis, quand reviendras-tu?” (1962) and “Ma plus belle histoire d'amour c'est vous” (1966), in which the “vous” was her devoted fans.
In 1970, she released “L’Aigle noir,” which reflected repressed experiences described in the segment below on that song. It was followed by 3 new albums from 1971-3. In 1973, Barbara moved outside of Paris to a house in the town of Précy. She spent the remainder of her life in Précy gardening, writing songs and performing occasionally. In her memoir, she described a concert in 1993 at Chatelet when her heart beat rapidly and her body froze, leading her to discontinue performing and turn to writing. Barbara was a lifelong smoker and died of respiratory illness in 1997 at the age of 67.
Her long-estranged father died in 1959 in the town of Nantes. She attended his funeral, and her unresolved emotions towards him prompted her 1963 song “Il pleut sur Nantes.” In 1964, she visited the German town of Göttingen despite a strong reluctance arising from her searing wartime experience. That visit was initiated in the wake of the Franco-German Elysée Treaty of friendship concluded in 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Barbara’s concert in Göttingen and the eponymous song that she composed afterwards was a celebrated moment in Franco-German reconciliation and became something of a European anthem. German Chancellor Gerhardt Schröder invoked it many years later in 2003: “I was a doctoral student in Göttingen when she came to sing. It went to our hearts, the start of a wonderful friendship between our countries.” Other popular songs of the sixties include Barbara’s “Dis, quand reviendras-tu?” (1962) and “Ma plus belle histoire d'amour c'est vous” (1966), in which the “vous” was her devoted fans.
In 1970, she released “L’Aigle noir,” which reflected repressed experiences described in the segment below on that song. It was followed by 3 new albums from 1971-3. In 1973, Barbara moved outside of Paris to a house in the town of Précy. She spent the remainder of her life in Précy gardening, writing songs and performing occasionally. In her memoir, she described a concert in 1993 at Chatelet when her heart beat rapidly and her body froze, leading her to discontinue performing and turn to writing. Barbara was a lifelong smoker and died of respiratory illness in 1997 at the age of 67.
Binoche and Tharaud
Twenty years later in 2017, French actress Juliette Binoche and classical pianist Alexandre Tharaud re-enacted songs and episodes from Barbara’s life and music in a 90-minute musical tribute to Barbara titled “Vaille que vivre” (“Worth Living/Living Somehow”). The show played in French cities and other European countries and traveled to China the following year.
NB:
“Vaille que vivre:” The French expression “vaille que…” means “worth…;”
“vaille que vaille” is an expression that is variously translated “somehow or other,” “one way or another,” “for what it’s worth,” “come what may” or, to borrow a current all-purpose expression of capitulation: “whatever.”
Barbara’s Song:
L’Aigle Noir (The Black Eagle) (1970)
NB:
“Vaille que vivre:” The French expression “vaille que…” means “worth…;”
“vaille que vaille” is an expression that is variously translated “somehow or other,” “one way or another,” “for what it’s worth,” “come what may” or, to borrow a current all-purpose expression of capitulation: “whatever.”
Barbara’s Song:
L’Aigle Noir (The Black Eagle) (1970)