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