Arioso and Rue de Rome, Part of the Parisian Soundtrack

My first glimpses of Paris through the window of the RER B metro probably seemed more poetic than they should have been because I was serenaded by a tango on the accordion. While everyone else looked away with stony faces when the man walked by with his change cup in hand, I happily gave the traveling musician some money, because he single-handedly made my first Parisian metro ride ten times better through his music, and that particular tango will forever have a place in my imaginary soundtrack of life in Paris. It’s difficult to separate Paris from its music—the accordion or the raspy voice of Edith Piaf is enough to conjure the image of the Eiffel Tower. Listen closely and you will hear the music of Paris—it’s everywhere. I passed by two women playing a duet on their violins on a street near Odéon. A Native American group showcased their modern music to toe-tapping metro travelers in the St Michel metro stop. Harpsichord music floats through the halls of the Chatelet métro. Renditions of Beatles classics can be heard on the Pont des Arts if you’re there at the right time. Paris’s soundtrack can be as diverse as its population, and there is something for everyone. It was a pleasant surprise when I stumbled upon the northern part of Rue de Rome, which evoked a strange nostalgia about my own musical history—the two year period in my childhood in which I played, or rather, tried to play, the violin and the long span of time in which I struggled with the piano. From the Rue d’Edimbourg and a lengthy stretch down Rue de Rome, you can find all you need for an orchestra—Rome Instruments, a large store which sells stringed instruments and related accessories; fine workshops that craft instruments such as Andre Levi specializing in stringed instruments and Arnaud Suard specializing in bows; and of course, musicians who can make these instruments sing. In fact, I encountered several musicians just walking down Rue de Rome—young children walking to their music lessons, people carrying guitars on their backs to the instrument shops, and people entering music stores to buy sheet music. Maybe it was my desire to play music, or maybe it was the large crowd that drew me to Arioso. Its large boxes containing various music books and pieces for piano, guitar, and voice for very low prices was enough to draw in pedestrians. For me, the boxes were filled with unclaimed treasures—music from Chopin, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn frayed by love from past owners, displaying notes that were the keys to opening the treasure of sonatas, concertos, and operas. My immediate purchase was a collection of Chopin works for the piano for only five euros. Within the store, the walls are covered in shelves of music, organized according to composer and type of instrument. For the classical music lover, Arioso will have what you are looking for, whether it be music for the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, bassoon; orchestral materials, chamber music, or contemporary. The sheer amount of music in this store is amazing, containing hundreds of years of musical genius within the pages of each leaflet, piece, or book. Arioso also contains a small collection of contemporary classics. Being partial to the movie Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, I had to look for Yann Tiersen, the composer behind the music of Amelie, and happily found several copies of his pieces hidden in a shelf. The Rue de Rome undoubtedly has other treasures for music lovers not restricted to classical music. Lucky for me, not only did I find some pieces that will fit right into my own soundtrack of Parisian life, I now have the sheet music. For your own soundtrack, Rue de Rome might be of service, but I wouldn’t rule out any street in Paris. Arioso 45 rue de Rome 75008 Paris Tél: 01 44 70 91 68 Rome Instruments 54, Rue Rome 75008 Paris Tél: 01 42 93 10 30 Andre Levi 48, Rue de Rome 75008 Paris Tél: 01 43 87 88 06 Arnaud Suard 54, Rue Rome 75008 Paris, France Tél: 01 45 22 10 14