Les Six
Encyclopedia
Les six is a name, inspired by The Five
, given in 1920 by critic Henri Collet
in an article titled "" (Comoedia, 16 January 1920) to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse
whose music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner
and impressionist music
.
and the painter Moise Kisling
decided to put on concerts at 6 Rue Huyghens, the studio of the painter Emile Lejeune. For the first of these events, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by Picasso
, Matisse
, Léger
, Modigliani
and others. Music by Erik Satie
, Honegger, Auric and Durey was played. 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.
But that is only one reading of how the Groupe des six originated: other authors, like Ornella Volta, would stress the manoeuvrings of Jean Cocteau
to become the leader of an avant-garde
group devoted to music, like the cubist
and surrealist
groups had sprung in visual arts
and literature
shortly before, with Pablo Picasso
, Guillaume Apollinaire
and André Breton
as their key representatives. 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 Bœuf 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. On the renamed bar's opening night, pianist Jean Wiéner played tunes by George Gershwin
and Vincent Youmans
while Cocteau and Milhaud played percussion. Among those in attendance were Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev
, Pablo Picasso
, filmmaker René Clair
, singer Jane Bathori
, and Maurice Chevalier
.
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 'Les six' with the Five
Russians.
The group published an album of piano pieces together, known as "Album des six". This was the only single work in which all six composers collaborated
. Five of the members jointly composed the music for Cocteau's ballet Les mariés de la tour Eiffel
, which was produced by the Ballets suédois
, the rival to the Ballet 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, chose not to participate. The première was the occasion of a public scandal which rivaled that of Le sacre du printemps
only years before. In spite of this, Les mariés de la tour Eiffel was in the repertoire of the Ballets suédois throughout the 1920s.
Les mariés de la tour Eiffel did not mark "the end of the Groupe des six", as Durey was present for every concert and other manifestations that marked the anniversaries 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. In 1927, Auric, Milhaud and Poulenc, along with seven other composers who were not part of Les six, jointly composed the children's ballet L'éventail de Jeanne
. In 1952, Auric, Honegger, Poulenc, Tailleferre and three other composers collaborated on La guirlande de Campra
.
Peter Owen Publishers, London/Chicago. ISBN 978-0-7206-1293-6
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
, given in 1920 by critic Henri Collet
Henri Collet
Henri Collet was a French composer and music critic who lived in Paris. Today his music is seldom performed and he is best remembered for his 1920 article in Comoedia in which he coined the term Groupe des six to designate a young group of musicians at the Conservatoire de Paris which included...
in an article titled "" (Comoedia, 16 January 1920) to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse
Montparnasse
Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail...
whose music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
and impressionist music
Impressionist music
Impressionism in music was a tendency in European classical music, mainly in France, which appeared in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Similarly to its precursor in the visual arts, musical impressionism focuses on a suggestion and an atmosphere...
.
Members
Formally, the Groupe des six members were:| Name | Born | Died |
|---|---|---|
| Georges Auric Georges Auric Georges Auric was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault. He was a child prodigy and at age 15 he had his first compositions published. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and under the composer Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum... |
1899 | 1983 |
| Louis Durey Louis Durey -Life:Louis Durey was born in Paris, the son of a local businessman. It was not until he was nineteen years old that he chose to pursue a musical career after hearing a performance of a Claude Debussy work. As a composer he was primarily self-taught. From the beginning, choral music was of great... |
1888 | 1979 |
| Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born... |
1892 | 1955 |
| Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality... |
1892 | 1974 |
| Francis Poulenc Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music... |
1899 | 1963 |
| Germaine Tailleferre Germaine Tailleferre Germaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the famous composers' group Les Six.-Biography:... |
1892 | 1983 |
Les nouveaux jeunes
In 1917, when many theatres and concert halls were closed because of World War I, Blaise CendrarsBlaise Cendrars
Frédéric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.-Early years:...
and the painter Moise Kisling
Moise Kisling
Moise Kisling was a Polish painter.Born in Kraków, Austria-Hungary, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he was encouraged to travel to the center for artistic creativity in the early 20th century, Paris, France.In 1910, Kisling moved to Montmartre and a few years later to...
decided to put on concerts at 6 Rue Huyghens, the studio of the painter Emile Lejeune. For the first of these events, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
, Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
and others. Music by Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
, Honegger, Auric and Durey was played. 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:But that is only one reading of how the Groupe des six originated: other authors, like Ornella Volta, would stress the manoeuvrings of Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
to become the leader of an avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
group devoted to music, like the cubist
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
and surrealist
Surrealism
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....
groups had sprung in visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
shortly before, with Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire
Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
and André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
as their key representatives. 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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Jean Cocteau and Les six began to frequent a bar known as "La gaya" which became Le Bœuf sur le Toit
Le Boeuf sur le Toit (cabaret)
Le Boeuf sur le Toit is the name of a celebrated Parisian cabaret-bar in Paris, founded in 1921 by Louis Moysés which was originally located at 28, rue Boissy d'Anglas in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was notably the gathering place for the avant garde arts scene during the period between...
(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. On the renamed bar's opening night, pianist Jean Wiéner played tunes by George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Vincent Youmans
Vincent Youmans
Vincent Youmans was an American popular composer and Broadway producer.- Life :Vincent Millie Youmans was born in New York City on September 27, 1898 and grew-up on Central Park West on the site where the Mayflower Hotel once stood. His father, a prosperous hat manufacturer, moved the family to...
while Cocteau and Milhaud played percussion. Among those in attendance were Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...
, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, filmmaker René Clair
René Clair
René Clair born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker.-Biography:He was born in Paris and grew up in the Les Halles quarter. He attended the Lycée Montaigne and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. During World War I, he served as an ambulance driver. After the war, he started a career as a journalist...
, singer Jane Bathori
Jane Bathori
Jane Bathori was a French opera singer. Born in Paris, France, she was famous on the operatic stage and important in the development of contemporary French music....
, and Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
.
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 'Les six' with the Five
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
Russians.
The group published an album of piano pieces together, known as "Album des six". This was the only single work in which all six composers collaborated
Classical music written in collaboration
In classical music, it is relatively rare for a work to be written in collaboration by multiple composers. This contrasts with popular music, where it is common for more than one person to contribute to the music for a song...
. Five of the members jointly composed the music for Cocteau's ballet Les mariés de la tour Eiffel
Les mariés de la tour Eiffel
Les mariés de la tour Eiffel is a ballet to a libretto by Jean Cocteau, choreography by Jean Börlin, set by Irène Lagut, costumes by Jean Hugo, and music by five members of Les six – Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre. The score calls for two...
, which was produced by the Ballets suédois
Ballets Suédois
The Ballets suédois was a predominantly Swedish dance ensemble that, under the direction of Rolf de Maré , performed throughout Europe and the United States between 1920 and 1925, rightfully earning the reputation as a “synthesis of modern art” .The Ballets suédois created pieces that negotiated...
, the rival to the Ballet 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, chose not to participate. The première was the occasion of a public scandal which rivaled that of Le sacre du printemps
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...
only years before. In spite of this, Les mariés de la tour Eiffel was in the repertoire of the Ballets suédois throughout the 1920s.
Les mariés de la tour Eiffel did not mark "the end of the Groupe des six", as Durey was present for every concert and other manifestations that marked the anniversaries 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. In 1927, Auric, Milhaud and Poulenc, along with seven other composers who were not part of Les six, jointly composed the children's ballet L'éventail de Jeanne
L'Éventail de Jeanne
L'éventail de Jeanne is a children's ballet choreographed in 1927 by Alice Bourgat and Yvonne Franck.The music is a collaborative work by ten French composers, each of whom contributed a stylised dance in classic form:...
. In 1952, Auric, Honegger, Poulenc, Tailleferre and three other composers collaborated on La guirlande de Campra
La guirlande de Campra
La guirlande de Campra is collaborative orchestral work written by seven French composers in 1952. It is in the form of variations or meditations on a theme from André Campra's 1717 opera Camille. It was later choreographed as a ballet....
.
Music by 'Les six'
- L'album des six (published 1920); solo piano music collection by the six composers and the only musical project in which they all participated
-
- Prélude (1919) by Auric
- Romance sans paroles, Op. 21 (1917) by Durey
- Sarabande, H 26 (1920) by Honegger
- Mazurka (1914) by Milhaud
- Valse en ut, FP 17 (1919) by Poulenc
- Pastorale (1919) by Tailleferre
- Les mariés de la Tour Eiffel (1921); collaboration project by Milhaud, Auric, Tailleferre, Honegger and Poulenc, on a scenario by Cocteau
- Salade by Milhaud; premiered 1924 in a production of Count Etienne de Beaumont
- La nouvelle Cythère by Tailleferre; written in 1929 for the Ballets Russes and unproduced because of DiaghilevSergei DiaghilevSergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...
's sudden death - Cinq bagatelles by Auric
- Sonate pour violoncelle et piano by Poulenc (see also :Category:Compositions by Francis Poulenc)
- Flute SonataFlute Sonata (Poulenc)The Flute Sonata by Francis Poulenc, for flute and piano, was written in 1957. It is dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, an American patron of chamber music. Poulenc composed it for the flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, and he and Rampal gave the première in June 1957 at the...
, Op. 164 (1956-7) by Poulenc - Scaramouche by Milhaud
- Le bœuf sur le toit by Milhaud
- Sonate pour violon seul by Honegger
- Danse de la chèvreDanse de la ChèvreDance of the Goat is a piece for solo flute by Arthur Honegger, written in 1921 as incidental music for dancer Lysana of Sacha Derek's play La mauvaise pensée. At the start of the piece, there is a slow dreamlike introduction consisting of tritone phrases...
(Dance of the Goat) for solo flute by Honegger - Sonate champêtre for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and PianoSonate Champêtre (Tailleferre)The "Sonate champêtre" is a chamber work for oboe, B clarinet, bassoon and piano written by Germaine Tailleferre in 1972...
by Tailleferre
See also
- Grupo de los Ocho
- [Robert Shapiro]] (2011). "Les Six: The French Composers and their Mentors Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie".
Peter Owen Publishers, London/Chicago. ISBN 978-0-7206-1293-6
Sources
- Benjamin IvryBenjamin IvryBenjamin Ivry is an American writer on the arts, broadcaster and translator.Ivry is author of biographies of Francis Poulenc, Arthur Rimbaud, and Maurice Ravel, as well as a poetry collection, Paradise for the Portuguese Queen...
(1996). Francis Poulenc. Phaidon Press Limited. ISBN 0-7148-3503-X. - Fondation Erik Satie, Le groupe des Six et ses amis: 70e anniversaire - Placard, Paris 1990 - 40 p. - ISBN 2-907523-01-5
- Ornella Volta, Satie/Cocteau - les malentendus d'une entente: avec des lettres et des textes inédits d'Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau, Valentine Hugo et Guillaume Apollinaire - Castor Astral - 1993 - ISBN 2-85920-208-0
- Cocteau, JeanJean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
- Le coq et l'Arelquin: Notes Autour de la Musique - Avec un portrait de l'auteur et deux monogrammes par P. Picasso - Paris, Éditions de la Sirène - 1918 - Roger Nichols - The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917-1929 - 2002 - ISBN 0-500-51095-4