Musicology Fly Me to the Oud with Master Perfumer Nathalie Lorson of Firmenich. Bottle photo by Gail Gross©

 

“Just like a music composer, I used notes and chords to create perfumes that will bring emotion in people’s heart.”  Master Perfumer Nathalie Lorson of Firmenich.

 Fly Me to the Moon vintage sheet music cover

Music has been my life – music scented with perfume, that is. Studying, teaching and composing music for sixty-five years has left me with a vocabulary of tunes and lyrics that surface for almost every occasion. The perfumes in Musicology’s first collection “Initiation to Solfege”, brought to us by Musicology founder and creative director Fabien Boukobza, refer to popular works of contemporary pop, rock and vintage jazz, recalling specific titles, lyrics and styles.  While enjoying the beautiful fragrances created by master perfumer Nathalie Lorson of Firmenich, seven musical experiences flooded my mind’s ear: Fly Me to the Oud, The Rose, Close to Midnight, I Belong to You, Sun Goddess, White is White and ‘Cause I’m Happy.  But along with all of the lyrical references a question continued to surface – what has Solfege got to do with it?

The Guidonian Hand and Guido of Arezzo.

 

“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start

When you read you begin with ABC. When you sing you begin with Do, Re Mi…”- Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, 1959.

For the origin and meaning of solfege, the familiar Do-Re-Mi, we have to go back to eleventh century Italy, to the invention and development of what is known as the Guidonian Hand. To make a long (and confusing) story short, the medieval Benedictine monk Guido of Arezzo came up with a system of syllables to help performers read, sing and retain in memory relative pitches in hexachords. His Ut, Re, Mi Fa Sol, La, and the resulting Guidonian Hand with the syllables inscribed on the joints, enabled medieval music directors to guide choir lofts full of monks as they read, remembered and tried to intone the notes they were supposed to be singing.

Greeting card. Artwork by Karen Davis © for Trader Joe’s.

Over the centuries a seventh syllable Si (Ti) was added, creating our current solfege/solfeggio. The names of the syllables in the “fixed Do” variant of Guido’s system have become associated with a rainbow of colors and with a fascinating series of metaphysical images: DO– Dominus (Lord), RE – Regina de Coeli  (Queen of Heaven, The Moon), MI – Microcosmos, FA – Fata (Fate), SO – Sol (The Sun), LA – Lactea (The Milky Way), SI/TI– Sidera (Star Systems), ascending and returning finally to DO, the beginning and the end. For me, each perfume in the Musicology “Initiation to Solfege” collection casually and subjectively relates to a different solfege syllable. With such a wealth of olfactory and auditory pleasures, it was difficult to choose only one perfume to review. After having sampled every fragrance for several days, a single tune kept running through my head.

Frank Sinatra Singing Fly me to the Moon 1966, Live at the Sands Hotel

“Fly me to the moon

Let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On a, Jupiter and Mars…” – Fly Me to the Moon. Music and lyrics by Bart Howard, 1954.

Oud, as Do or Dominus, the Lord or King of scent, sings and soars from Musicology Fly me to the Oud. A lively prelude of black pepper and Australian sandalwood serves as a bright upbeat to Musicology’s re-invention of the ubiquitous “Oudy”style. I have to admit that anything with Australian sandalwood catches my attention.  I personally prefer the Australian variety to the rarer Mysore and love the mineral, cool, dry earthy qualities of the Santalum spicatum.  Fly Me to the Oud takes the notes and qualities of Australian Sandalwood and jazzes them up with a boisterous essence of spicy black pepper. The first airy set of Fly Me to the Oud segues gradually into smooth sensuality, a romantic ballad of oud wood and leather, embraced by a provocative hint of brown sugar –“…in other words hold my hand, in other words darling kiss me.” On my skin the heart of the perfume crescendos into dark, buttery, mysterious woods, colored with a whisper of crème brûlée.  From the first chord, Fly Me to the Oud glides over a bass line of clean patchouli, resolving after eight hours and more into a final cadence of oud, brown sugar and moss. The emotion and music of the perfume are perfectly captured in a luxuriously crafted, heavy crystal flacon, attention to detail evidenced by the Braille embossed box.  With Musicology Fly Me to the Oud,  Nathalie Lorson and Fabien Boukobza have abstracted the essence of the oud experience, amplified the beauty and toned down the rest, resulting in a fragrant and memorable song that anyone can sing.

Notes: Black pepper essence, Australian sandalwood essence, oud, leather, moss, patchouli and brown sugar.

Disclaimer:  I would like to thank Musicology Parfums and Jovoy Paris for the stunning bottle of Musicology  Fly Me to the Oud and for the “Initiation to Solfege” Discovery Set. My opinions are my own.

Gail Gross – Senior Editor

 

Musicology Fly Me to the Oud.  Bottle Photo by Gail Gross ©

Thanks to the generosity of Musicology Parfums and Jovoy Paris, we have one 100 ml bottle of Fly Me to the Oud for one registered reader in the EU, UK, USA.

OR

 “Initiation to Solfege” Discovery Set.  Photo by Gail Gross ©

The Musicology Initiation to Solfege Discovery Set of all seven parfums.

To be eligible, please leave a comment  with what you found most interesting about Musicology Fly Me to the Oud, based on Gail’s review, as well as Solfege, if you would like to win the 100 ml bottle OR Musicology Initiation to Solfege Discovery Set of 7 parfums  Draw closes  8/21/2020

Editor’s Note: If I was a parent, I would definitely hire Gail to “Zoom” teach my kids about music; just as we learn from her about perfume-Michelyn

We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so like Çafleurebon and use our blog feed …or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

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