The relaxed, silvery chords which sketched out the opening of Transcription d'automne by the Québec jazz artist Yves Léveillé (clip above) were gliding effortlessly across my head as I smelled Hermès Osmanthe Yunnan for the first time last December. Ever since then, I have formed a strong association between the music and the fragrance: perhaps it's the airy, crisp autumnal ambiance of both compositions? Or, could it be that my favorite jazz piece is striking a chord with my signature fragrance? Either way, since both pieces complement each other so well, and since each deserves to be recognized for its sheer brilliance, a review featuring an olfactory composition and a jazz piece is in order as we step into the lush shades of fall.
Osmanthe Yunnan (2005) is the fifth installment of Jean-Claude Elléna's Hermessence collection for Hermès. (The unisex olfactory poems, as Mr. Elléna referred to them, debuted in 2004 with four editions: Vetiver Tonka, Ambre Narguile, Rose Ikebana and Poivre Samarcande.) Ironically enough, I first thought little of the fragrance, mostly because of the strange publicity statement:
...inspired by a stroll through Beijing's Forbidden City. The eau de toilette includes notes of tea, freesia, orange, osmanthus and apricot. (Now Smell This)
I was baffled. A fragrance dedicated to Yunnan (a southern province of China, the green tip of the mainland on the map below) but actually inspired by the Forbidden City, a famous symbol of the nothern China? Gracious, people at Hermès should really take Chinese Geography 101 before undertaking such ambitious marketing plan...
While most people might think little about such discrepency, Yunnan is vastly different from Beijing, climate-wise and culture-wise. Although Beijing has been the capital of China for more than 500 years, Yunnan has always been a hot-bed for culture diversity, mostly famous for its collection of camellias and its scenic city Guilin (testified by the blue photo below). (In Mandarin, name Guilin literally means "forest of sweet osmanthus", owing its name to the large number of fragrant osmanthus trees located within the city.) In addition, Yunnan contains no less than 18 different tribes, each with its own dialect and unique culture. As a result, I was scratching my head, trying to figure out how do the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
The solution? The white tea from Yunnan brings everything together. Although the osmanthus is traditionally a heady, fruity scent, the Chinese people have long paired the floral essence with tea, giving the tea a subtle spark. A similar effect is achieved here. In addition, grapefruit, orange, and freesia are used to further develop the unisex ambiance of the fragrance, giving the aroma warmth, much akin to the feeling of being served a cup of well-brewed tea. Still, the osmanthus-tea accord unfolds as the scent progresses to the heart of the fragrance, giving the composition a certain tart and, for the lack of a better word, bitter patina that's so closely associated with the osmanthus-infused tea. In the end, the undulation of the key ingredients subsides as cedarwood, crystallized apricot, and leather round off the scent, lingering a transparent, well-groomed charm that's so prominent in Monsieur Elléna's oeuvres.
Perhaps it is the undulation of the key ingredients that reminds me of the undercurrent of Transcription d'automne. Similar to Osmanthe Yunnan, the composition centers around a minimal (D-major) chords throughout. The subtle glow, a reflection of the season, is gradually layered with different textures as the ebb and the flow of the motifs appear in one guise or another, each time being phrased slightly differently, enriching the counterpoint of the piece little by little as the song becoming more and more glowing towards the end. The effect is quite similar to the golden foliages falling leisurely in autumn: bit by bit, the ground becomes more colourful, giving the crisp air a poetic texture as one steps on the crackling foliages. Overall, the simple yet noble poise of the piece complements Osmanthe Yunnan, which is the reason why I tend to reach for the cologne as I listen to the jazz piece.
To me, although both compositions are versitile enough to be sampled throughout the year, I can't help but, in a less poetic manner, associating the pieces with autumn. To a person who had lived in Asia for more than a decade, the smell of osmanthus is the cornerstone of the season. The aroma, balanced by the tartness of pomelo, is engrained in the minds of the Asian people as the one celebrates various holidays around this time, especially the Mid-Autumn Festival. In fact, according to an ancient Chinese folklore, a large osmanthus tree grows at the heart of the moon. Legend has it that a tyrant, whose wife fled to the moon, can only bring his wife back to the earth if he chops down the osmanthus tree successfully. Alas, the osmanthus tree is a magical one, heals as soon as the axe falls on the bark, sealing the fate of the king...
In addition to the tale, the osmanthus plant has been featured in classic Chinese poems. For instance, here is a famous piece by Wang Jian, a poet from the Dang Dynasty:
十五夜望月
中庭地白树栖鸦，
冷露无声湿桂花。
今夜月明人尽望，
不知秋思落谁家？
-- 王建 (唐)
Viewing the Mid-Autumn Moon
In the moon-lit courtyard the crows are nesting in the trees;
The osmanthus flowers are dampened silently by the dew.
Tonight shall be the time which all will view the bright moon:
Upon whose homes will the autumnal sadness linger?
-- Wang Jian (Dang Dynasty)
While my passion for osmanthus is apparant now, how can I best sum up my feelings for Osmanthe Yunnan and Transcription d'automne? Last but not least, perhaps no words are more ever appropriate than Yeat's "The Wild Swans at Coole", my favorite poem of all time. My heart skips a beat or two when reciting the poem -- exactly the feeling I get when experiencing both compositions. The text below is from Bibliomania:
The trees are in their autumn beauty,The Wild Swans at Coole
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirror a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.
The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?
-- William B. Yeats
Hermès Osmanthe Yunnan is available at 100 mL for approximately $175 US at Hermès boutiques around the world. Transcription d'automne by Yves Léveillé is available for $0.99 US/CDN on iTunes; the composition is also the second track of Léveillé's 2003 album "Quantique", which is also available on iTunes.
Multimedia, from top: "Transcription d'automne" by Yves Léveillé; Yunnan's landmark "San Ta" from ChinaHolidays.co.uk; Map of China from Wellesley.edu; Landscape of Guilin from ReedExpo.com; Osmanthus fragrans from Wikipedia.
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