Citizendia

Les Six is a name, inspired by The Five, given in 1923 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled ‘Les cinq Russes, les six Français et M. The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful (Могучая кучка Moguchaya kuchka) refers to a circle of Composers who met in Saint Petersburg Satie’ (Comoedia, 16 January 1920) to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against Wagnerism and Impressionism. Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred on the intersection of the Boulevard du Montparnasse The impressionist movement in music was a movement in European Classical music, mainly in France that began in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle

Contents

Members

Formally, the Groupe des Six members were:

Prelude: Les Nouveaux Jeunes

In 1917, when many theatres and concert halls were closed because of the war, Blaise Cendrars and the painter Moise Kisling decided to put on a concert at 6 Rue Huyghens, the studio of the painter Emile Lejeune. Georges Auric ( February 15, 1899 &ndash July 23, 1983) was a French composer born in Lodève, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon Louis Durey ( May 27, 1888 - July 3, 1979) was a French composer Arthur Honegger (March 10 1892 &ndash November 27 1955 was a Swiss Composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Darius Milhaud (darjys mijo (September 4 1892 &ndash June 22 1974 was a French Composer and teacher See also, Rhône-Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (fʀɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʀsɛl pulɛ̃k January 7, 1899 – January 30, Germaine Tailleferre ( April 19, 1892 - November 7, 1983) was a French Composer and the only female member of the famous Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Frédéric Louis Sauser ( September 1, 1887 &ndash January 21, 1961) better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet Moise Kisling ( January 22, 1891 - April 29, 1953) was a Polish painter For this event, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by Picasso, Matisse, Léger, Modigliani and others. Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (October 25 1881 &ndash April 8 1973 Henri Matisse (31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954 was a French Artist, known for his use of Colour and his fluid brilliant and original draughtsmanship Joseph Fernand Henri Léger ( February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and Amedeo Clemente Modigliani ( July 12, 1884 &ndash January 24, 1920) was an Italian Artist of Jewish heritage Music by Erik Satie, Honegger, Auric and Durey was played. Alfred Éric Leslie Satie ( Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French Composer and It was this concert that gave Satie the idea of assembling a group of composers around himself to be known as Les Nouveaux Jeunes, forerunners of Les Six.

Les Six

According to Milhaud:

"[Collet] chose six names absolutely arbitrarily, those of Auric, Durey, Honegger, Poulenc, Tailleferre and me simply because we knew each other and we were pals and appeared on the same musical programmes, no matter if our temperaments and personalities weren't at all the same! Auric and Poulenc followed ideas of Cocteau, Honegger followed German Romanticism, and myself, Mediterranean lyricism! (Ivry 1996)"

But that is only one reading of how the Groupe des Six originated: other authors, like Ornella Volta, would stress the maneuverings of Jean Cocteau to become the leader of an avant-garde group devoted to music, like the cubist and surrealist groups had sprang in visual arts and literature shortly before, with Picasso, Apollinaire and Breton as their key representatives. Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 &ndash 11 October 1963 was a French Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Designer, Boxing Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard Cubism was a 20th century Avant-garde Art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members The visual arts are art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily Visual in nature such as Painting, Photography Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (October 25 1881 &ndash April 8 1973 Guillaume Apollinaire (in French ɡijom apɔliˈnɛʁ ( August 26, 1880 &ndash November 9, 1918) was a French Poet André Breton (in French ɑ̃dʀe bʀəˈtɔ̃ ( February 19, 1896 &ndash September 28, 1966) was a French Writer, The fact that Satie had abandoned the Nouveaux Jeunes less than a year after starting the group, was the "gift from heaven" that made it all come true for Cocteau: his 1918 publication Le Coq et l'Arlequin is said to have ticked it off.

After World War I, Jean Cocteau and Les Six began to frequent a bar known as "La Gaya" which became Le Boeuf sur le Toit (The Ox on the Roof) when the establishment moved to larger quarters and as the famous ballet by Milhaud had been conceived at the old premises, the new bar took on the name of Milhaud's ballet[1]. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Le Boeuf sur le toit, op 58 (English title The Ox on the Roof The Nothing-Doing Bar) is a Surrealist ballet made on a score composed by Darius On the renamed bar's opening night, pianist Jean Wiéner played tunes by George Gershwin and Vincent Youmans while Cocteau and Milhaud played percussion. George Gershwin (September 26 1898 &ndash July 11 1937 was an American Composer. Vincent Youmans ( September 27, 1898 - April 5, 1946) was an American popular composer and Broadway producer Among those in attendance were Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev, Pablo Picasso, filmmaker René Clair, singer Jane Bathori, and Maurice Chevalier. Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев / Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev) also referred to as Serge, ( March 31, Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso (October 25 1881 &ndash April 8 1973 René Clair (11 November 1898 &ndash 15 March 1981 was a French Filmmaker. Jane Bathori ( June 14, 1877 - January 25, 1970) was a French Opera singer Maurice Auguste Chevalier ( September 12, 1888 &ndash January 1, 1972) was a French Actor, Singer, and

The Group was officially launched in January 1920 by a series of two articles by the French music critic and composer Henri Collet in the French journal Commedia. While it seems apparent that Cocteau was behind these articles, the actual name of the Group was selected by Collet who decided to compare the Six with the Five Russians. The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful (Могучая кучка Moguchaya kuchka) refers to a circle of Composers who met in Saint Petersburg

The group published an album of piano pieces together (the famous "Album des Six"). Five of the members also collaborated together on the music for Cocteau's work Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel which was produced by the Ballets Suédois, the rival to the Ballets Russes. Cocteau had originally proposed the project to Auric, but as Auric did not finish rapidly enough to fit into the rehearsal schedule, he then divided the work up among the other members of Les Six. Durey, who was not in Paris at the time, did not participate. The première was the occasion of a public scandal which rivaled that of Le Sacre du Printemps only years before. This article is about the ballet music For the emo/hardcore band see Rites of Spring The Rite of Spring, commonly referred In spite of this, Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel was in the repertoire of the Ballets Suédois throughout the 1920s. The Ballets Suédois was a predominately Swedish Dance ensemble that under the direction of Rolf de Mare (1888-1964 performed throughout Europe

Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel did not mark "the end of the Group des Six", as Durey was present for every concert and other manifestation that marked the annversaries of the founding of the Group. Les Six did not ever cease to exist, they simply took their own individual paths that they had announced from the beginning.

The legacy of Les Six is present even today in their surviving children, spouses and associates.

Music by Les Six

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Roger Stéphane, "Portrait Souvenir de Jean Cocteau" (transcript of a French television interview in 1963 by the author and the subject), pp 63-67 Tallandier 1964 ISBN 2-235-01889-0
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic