Le Hautbois de Delphes (The Oboe of Delphi)
Artist’s Book

This book-as-artwork, printed at the Atelier du Livre d’Art et de l’Estampe de l’Imprimerie Nationale, is a work of co-creation and encounters between various talents, passions, men and women marked by diverse artistic activities. The poet Patrick Quillier, the artist Alexandre Capan, the solo oboist of the Orchestre national de Cannes Vincent Tizon and the pianist Valérie Schaeffer have come together around the theme of music, and found a common space for expression in this book.

The book is infused with the figure of Vladimir Jankélévitch, the philosopher who devoted so much of his life’s work to the mystery of music. His thought is the point of convergence of different paths. The text Le hautbois de Delphes, written by Patrick Quillier, refers here and there to painters, Alexandre Capan’s pictorial and sound work forms a counterpoint to the writing, and vice versa, musicians Valérie Schaeffer and Vincent Tizon perform two charming and never-before recorded pieces for oboe and piano in the vein of the Belle Époque, as well as a meditative work for cor anglais, which echo the poetic and artistic works through a 33 RPM record.

Ultimately, all the senses are summoned here to deal with the question of time and the murmur that emanates from it, reminding us that it is nothing or almost nothing — presque-rien: “There is nothing so precious as this time of our life, this infinitesimal morning, this fine imperceptible point in the firmament of eternity, this tiny spring that will be only once, and then never again.” Vladimir Jankélévitch