Marcel - Songs for the Dead

On the 27th October 1949, Marcel Cerdan died in an aeroplane crash in the Azores - on the way from Paris to join Edith in New York - along with the other passengers; one of whom was Ginette Neveu, the violinist and friend of Edith.Why he decided to fly when both he and Edith were mistrustful and afraid of it, we will never know,but one possibility suggested was that Edith may have persuaded him to do so to avoid a long wait for him to arrive by boat; another, that he wanted to surprise her. Whatever the reason, when wakened by Louis Barrier to be told he was gone, her grief was completely overwhelming but she insisted on singing that evening as planned, on her opening night at the Versailles. It was a tragic sight. Edith announced she was dedicating the night's performance to Marcel; she was so distraught that she even fainted during the show, but nothing would stop her - this was her farewell to the man she loved.

1996-2009 ©J.M.Smethurst