chapter 68 new music in paris-les six
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Chapter 68
New Music in Paris After World War I: Stravinsky and The
Six
Paris at the End of War I - Neoclassicism
• Parisian musical culture quickly returns to life following the end of World War I (1918) – a new spirit emerges throughout the artistic world.
• simplicity• directness• construction• objectivity
• Replace older Romantic notions of:
– a warm string sound– a large colorful orchestra– a programmatic agenda– overt displays of emotion
• French critics found this new musical spirit embodied in a return to styles and forms of the Classical and Baroque periods, terming this new musical taste as Neoclassicism.
• Igor Stravinsky was the leading figure of this movement as a Russian émigré.
– his Octet (1923) is an example of the leaner, clearer style of Neoclassicism.
Regaining Control: Paintings by Piet Mondrian Before and After World War I
• Before (“The Winkel Mill in Sunlight,” 1908):– representational painting of a subject drawn from nature– expressive in the strident colors– freedom of form beneath turbulent brush strokes
• After (“Vertical Composition with Blue and White,” 1936):– abstract painting, not representational– cool, objective tone– controlled in organization, geometrical
Igor Stravinsky, Octet, 1923, movement 1 (“Sinfonia”)
Free sonata form
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Darius Milhaud & The Six (The French Six)
• A group of younger native-born French composers called “The Six” shared in Stravinsky’s Neoclassical style.
• “The Six” (Les six):– Darius Milhaud– Georges Auric– Francis Poulenc– Germaine Tailleferre– Louis Durey– Arthur Honegger
• Darius Milhaud was one of their most adventurous members who brought:
– popular music into his original compositions.
– experimented with new harmonic ideas (including polytonality [differing keys exist simultaneously in a composition]).
The Life of Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
• 1892 - born in Aix-en-Provence in the South of France.
• 1909 - enters the Paris Conservatory to study violin.
• 1912 - drops out of Conservatory and becomes freelance composer
in Paris.
• 1916 - sojourn in Rio de Janeiro as secretary to French embassy to
Brazil.
• 1922 - visits New York and hears jazz in Harlem.
• 1920s and 1930s - composes and travels.
• 1940 - emigrates to America, teaches at Mills College in Oakland, CA.
• 1947 - teaches at Paris Conservatory in addition to Mills.
• 1974 - dies in Geneva, Switzerland
Principal Compositions by Darius Milhaud
• Operas and Ballets: 32 works, including: – La création du monde (ballet)– Christophe Colomb (opera)
• Orchestra: symphonies (11), chamber symphonies, concertos, and many character pieces.
• Chamber music: includes sonatas for various instrumental combinations and 18 string quartets.
• Piano: character piece and sonatas
Darius Milhaud, Saudades do Brazil, 1920, “Botafogo”
Rounded Binary form