#bearn

Wilbur Wright and an aviation student at the Pau airfield, Béarn region of France

Andorra's flag is the only national flag in the world with two cows. 🇦🇩

The central element in the flag is Andorra's coat of arms. It has been in use since the Middle Ages and was made official in 1969.

The coat of arms is divided in four quarters, each one with one of the symbols corresponding to one of the four traditional houses of the country: the co-prince Bishop of Urgell, the co-prince Count of Foix (nowadays President of France), the flag of Catalonia, and the Viscounts of Bearn. This last one is the one with the two cows.🐄🐄

Tailleferre - Fleurs de France (1930)

This lovely suite is full of open and colorful harmonies where each piece is a short painting of a different type of flower. Each flower and region is also given its own character. The opening, jasmines from Provence, has a kind of arabesque flow to it, maybe a nod to the Mediterranean. The Guyenne poppy is upbeat like a child's song. The Anjou rose, is a little more austere than Romantic, maybe here leaning more into the Medieval side of the region. The sunflower of Languedoc is another coastal picture with a hint of Spain and sounding like street fair music. Roussillon chamomille sounds like a carefree lullaby. Haute-Provence lavender has the same pastoral writing that came up in the jasmine movement near the same region. The next flower, "Volubilis de Béarn", isn't from Béarn at all. It's from the Latin American tropics. I'm guessing that they'd been imported to France since colonial days, but even with the 'exotic' touch this piece is more tame. The last piece sounds much better in French (a "bleuet" is a cornflower), and is also a symbol for veterans and war survivors. Overall the suite is pretty light and charming but I do love the kind of impressionist drawings of associations between places and objects and music.

Movements:

1. Jasmin de Provence

2. Couquelicot de Guyenne

3. Rose d'Anjou

4. Tournesol du Languedoc

5. Anthémis du Roussillon

6. Lavandin de Haute-Provence

7. Volubilis de Béarn