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FRANCIS POULENC, NOSTALGIA AND PARISIAN POPULAR CULTURE

by

Charlene St-Aubin

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Graduate Department of the Faculty of

University of Toronto

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Abstract

In Poulenc scholarship, one repeatedly reads about this composer's propensity for using Parisian entertainment aesthetic in his oeuvre and for being described as moine et voyou. These persistent narratives give rise to numerous questions regarding the relationship that Poulenc cultivated with this type of lowbrow aesthetic. Despite the consensus that Poulenc made use of the popular idioms found in cafes-concert, Parisian music-hall, circus, country fair and bal musette, little in depth research has been done thus far to clearly ascertain what this aesthetic consists of and how it was applied. It also became apparent that the concepts of nostalgia and patriotism held important roles both in the composer's life and in his views of Parisian popular culture.

Poulenc's memories of his youth in and its suburb Nogent-sur-Marne were prominent in his mind during the compositional process of works containing a popular aesthetic. Yet instead of direct quotations or paraphrasing of the chanson, Poulenc tapped into the listener's memories of a lowbrow entertainment from a past era through the use of compositional and performance-related techniques that were familiar to his French audience. The cheerful, eclectic and chaotic surroundings found in popular establishments created a lasting memory that stimulated the composer in his attempt to reconstruct these disappearing modes of entertainment.

The other element that encouraged the surfacing of the lowbrow aesthetic in Poulenc was his personal identification as a Frenchman. The composer's search for an identity

ii occurred at a time when French politics and socio-cultural policies were engaged in developing a response to the First World War and the growing globalization. Thus, despite

Poulenc's young age and his apparent lack of interest in politics, he could not be oblivious to the various social and political currents of his time and this question of national identity, which would return regularly throughout Poulenc's lifetime, was one for which the composer constructed a partial answer through his use of Parisian entertainment aesthetic.

In conclusion, this research's goal was to provide scholars with a new view of

Poulenc, one that addressed the cursory manner in which this composer's Parisian aesthetic had been dealt. Acknowledgements

I am grateful to many people for their help in this project. First and foremost I want to thank Robin Elliott, my thesis advisor, for his constant support throughout this four-year process. His insight, patience and availability were invaluable and have made this research possible, especially during the last few months where the pace picked up drastically. Thank you as well to the members of my supervisory committee, John Haines and Ryan

McClelland whose comments, advice and professional guidance were indispensable.

From Paris, I want to extend my deepest thanks to Madame Rosine Seringe, Francis

Poulenc's niece and secretary of the association Les Amis de Francis Poulenc. Mme

Seringe's warm welcome and openness to discuss and answer all of my questions provided me with an indication of her uncle's legendary sociability and amiability. Another person I want to thank is Professeure Anne-Marie Green (Universite de Franche-Comte). Her unique perspective on music through a sociological approach was significant in clarifying my approach to Poulenc's youth. I also want to thank Professeure Green for accepting me into her home and providing me with complete access to her mother's irreplaceable collection of Parisian sheet music from the early-twentieth century. Thank you as well to

Professeure Daniele Pistone (Sorbonne, ) who willingly met with me during my stay in Paris to discuss my research in detail. Also thank you to the staff of the Bibliotheque nationale de (Inatheque, site Frangois-Mitterand, Departement de la musique and

Arts des spectacles) as well as the music library staff of the Sorbonne (Paris IV, musicologie) for their diligence, patience and friendly services. Closer to home, I want to thank the University of Toronto Faculty of Music library staff for their priceless guidance as well as their sincere interest in my research. My gratitude also extends to chief librarian

iv Kathleen McMorrow who always found a way to purchase scores and compact discs necessary for my research.

I also want to extend my gratitude to the various agencies that have financially supported my research: SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of

Canada), OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship), the University of Toronto (Fellowship) and the SGS (University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies Travel Grant). A special thank you goes to Professor Gerard Dunnhaupt who generously provided me with a fellowship award and continues to show interest in my research.

And a final thank you goes to two individuals who have made this project possible: my husband Pierre and my son Vincent. Without their unconditional support, their incredible patience and their numerous concessions, this thesis would not have been possible. Thank you.

v Table of Contents

Abstract ii

Acknowledgements iv

List of Music Examples viii

Preface 1 Research Challenges 8 Chapter Outlines 12 Conclusion 13

Chapter 1 -Youth, Patriotism and Nostalgia 15 Francis Poulenc's Youth 15 Humanism/Nationalism/Patriotism 35 Nostalgia 43

r Chapter 2 -Artistic Life in Paris from the Belle Epoque to the Late 1920s 50 The Intersection of Lowbrow and Highbrow Arts 50 The First World War 60 Parade 63 Les Annies Folles 67 , and 76 Le Boeuf sur le toit 84

Chapter 3 - Parisian Entertainment 89 Cafe-concert or Caf cone' 90 Music-hall 99 The Circus 110 The Fair -fete foraine 116 The bal musette 122

Chapter 4 - Patriotism, Nostalgia and the Chanson 126 Poulenc's Radio Broadcasts 134 The Chanson: History and General Characteristics 139

Chapter 5 - Poulenc's Early Compositions (1918-1932) 158 Toreador (1918).... 159 Cocardes (1919) 167 Novelettes (1927) 176 Quatre poemes de and Cinq poemes de (1931)...... 180 Le Bal masque (1932) 183

vi • Chapter 6 - Poulenc's Later Compositions (1933-1963) 201 Interruption of Parisian Aesthetic 201 Return of Parisian Aesthetic 204 Les chemins de I'amour (1940) andNos souvenirs qui chantent (1962) 206 Les Mamelles de (1944) 210 Post World War II Compositions 235 Conclusion 241

Conclusion . 243 Further research 247

Bibliography 249

vii List of Music Examples

4.1 Chorus from lis out rendu VAlsace et la (1918) 4.2 Chorus from Quand Madelon ...(1914) 4.3 Verse 3 and Chorus 3 from Mes parents sont venus me chercher (1906) 4.4 End of chorus from Mes parents sont venus me chercher (1906) 4.5 Verse from Je connais une blonde (1912) 4.6 Verse from Lafemme aux bijoux (1912) 4.7 Chorus from C'est merveilleux (1925) 4.8 Transition between verse and chorus from J'ai perdu ma gigolette (1892) 4.9 Chorus from Sous les ponts de Paris (1914) 4.10 Chorus from La Diva de I 'Empire (1905) 4.11 Verse from J 'ai pas su yfaire (1922) 5.1 Opening from Toreador (1918) 5.2 Chorus from Toreador (1918) 5.3 Iberian style in Toreador (1918) 5.4 Stanza 4 from Toreador (1918) 5.5 Ending of "Miel de Narbonne" from Cocardes (1919) 5.6 "Enfant de troupe" R. 1 from Cocardes (1919) 5.7 Opening from Novelette in C major (1927) 5.8 Second phrase of B section in E-flat major from Novelette in C major (1927) 5.9 Opening from Novelette in B-flat minor (1927) 5.10 Opening of "Berceuse" from Cinq poemes de Max Jacob (1931) 5.11 Postlude of "L'anguille" from Quatrepoemes de Guillaume Apollinaire (1931) 5.12 "Preambule et air de bravoure" R. 10+1 from Le Bal masque (1932) 5.13 Opening of "Preambule et air de bravoure" from Le Bal masque (1932) 5.14 "Preambule et air de bravoure" R. 13 from Le Bal masque (1932) 5.15 Chorus from La baya (1911) 5.16 "La dame aveugle" R.54 from Le Bal masque (1932) 6.1 Opening from La grenouillere (1938) 6.2 Opening piano prelude from Les chemins de I 'amour (1940) 6.3 Verse (mm.7-10) from Les chemins de I'amour (1940) 6.4 Opening piano prelude from Nos souvenirs qui chantent (1962) 6.5 Opening of "Prologue" from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.6 Transition between "Prologue" and Act I, Scene 1 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.7 Act I, Scene 1 R.23 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.8 Act I, Scene 1 R.28 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.9 Opening melody of verse from Nos souvenirs qui chantent (1962) 6.10 Act I, Scene 1 R.32 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.11 Act I, Scene 4 R.44 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.12 Act I, Scene4R.45 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.13 Act I, Scene 7 R.58 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.14 Act I, Scene 7 R.63-65 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

vin 6.15 Act I, Scene 8 (finale) R.92 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.16 Act II, Scene 1 R.9 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.17 Act II, Scene 1 R. 12 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.18 La boulangere (round from early eighteenth century) 6.19 Act II, Scene 3 R.27 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.20 Act II, Scene 7 R.61 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.21 Act II, Scene 8 R.63 from Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) 6.22 Opening from L 'Embarquementpour Cythere (1951) 6.23 Opening from Improvisation no. 15 (1959)

IX Preface

In him [Poulenc] there are two essential, different, even opposed facets: there is the kind, entertaining, smiling, impertinent, even improper , the one of Biches, Bal masque, , , Les Mamelles de Tiresias, and there is also the stern, serious musician who does not fear his emotional side and reaches greatness, the one who wrote Motets pour un temps de penitence, Tel jour, telle nuit, d'orgue, Messe en sol majeur and .1

Claude Rostand, summer 1949

In an article written earlier that same summer, Rostand described Francis Poulenc

(1899-1963) as "le moine et le voyou." How does one approach a composer who has been portrayed as both monk and rascal and who describes himself as Janus-like; a composer who easily introduces musical elements associated with both secular and sacred in the same composition; a musician who is unafraid of mixing humorous and serious or even lowbrow and highbrow musical characteristics? This is the dilemma any musicologist faces when exploring Francis Poulenc's oeuvre. This French composer of the twentieth century is an example of the great diversity that can exist within one person; and it is this breadth that intrigues and continues to be appealing to those who listen to Poulenc's music today.

Although many aspects of Poulenc's musical language have already been explored by previous academics, the state of research on this French composer is still relatively incomplete. Many dissertations have been written since Poulenc's death in 1963, outnumbering the monographs and biographies. His harmonic and melodic language as

1 Quoted from in Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc: Correspondance 1910-1963, Myriam Chimenes, ed. (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1994), pp.693-694. "II y a chez lui deux aspects essentiels, differents, meme assez opposes : il y a le musicien aimable, divertissant, souriant, impertinent, voire inconvenant, celui des Biches, du Bal masque, de la Sinfonietta, des Chansons gaillardes, des Mamelles de Tiresias, et il y a le musicien severe, grave, qui n'a pas honte de son emotion et atteint a la grandeur, celui des Motets pour un temps de penitence, de Tel jour, telle nuit, du Concerto d'orgue, de la Messe, de Figure humaine. C'est le premier de ces deux musiciens qui est Pauteur de ce nouveau concerto, ce qui est en dire suffisamment le caractere." This quote is taken from an article written by Rostand in the summer of 1949 in defense of the composer's new Concerto pour piano et orchestre whose third movement, "Rondeau a la francaise," had been heavily criticized for its lowbrow aesthetic.

1 2

found in his choral, solo vocal and piano works has been investigated in a number of

dissertations.2 Other theses engaged the composer's dramatic works,3 chamber works4 and

the various influences5 on his musical writing style. Of these numerous dissertations, a mere three discuss the lowbrow aesthetic, despite its importance in Poulenc's oeuvre.

Pamela Lee Poulin explores the music-hall and circus aesthetics, but limits her scope to

chamber works for wind instruments. She includes the popular ballad, a rare genre in

Parisian entertainment, and does not support her statements with specific musical examples

from the French popular repertoire, instead offering American popular ballad examples

which it is doubtful Poulenc would have known. As for David Conley McKinney, although

he examines some from the French repertoire, he does not differentiate between

2 W. Kent Werner, "The Harmonic Style of Francis Poulenc" (University of Iowa, 1966), Frank Almond, "Melody and Texture in the Choral Works of Francis Poulenc" (Florida State University, 1970), Gary Lee Ebensberger, "The Motets of Francis Poulenc" (University of Texas, 1970), Dorothy Lincoln, "Musical Analysis and Stylistic Interpretations of Five French Choral Works by Francis Poulenc" (Arizona State University, 1973), Vivian Poates Wood, "Francis Poulenc's Songs for Voice and Piano" (Washington University, 1973), Jon R. Nelson, "The Piano Music of Francis Poulenc" (University of Washington, 1978). The most complete and often quoted dissertation is Keith W. Daniel, "Francis Poulenc: A Study of his Artistic Development and his Musical Style" (State University of New York, 1980; published in 1982). Daniel provides a complehensive analysis of the majority of Poulenc's works, providing the most detailed theoretical study to date. 3 Denis Waleckx, "Les Mamelles de Tiresias" (Universite de Paris, 1991), Diane Yvonne Kipling, "Harmonic Organization in 'Les Mamelles de Tiresias' by Francis Poulenc" (McGill University, 1995). 4 Pamela Lee Poulin, "Three Stylistic Traits in Poulenc's Chamber Works for Wind Instruments" (University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 1983), Mary Ann Stringer, "Diversity as Style in Poulenc's Chamber Works with Piano" (University of Oklahoma, 1986), Elizabeth Ann Laufers, "Francis Poulenc's Use of Counterpoint in Chamber and Piano Music, 1917-1925" (University of Missouri, 2004). 5 Daniel Swift, "La collaboration Jean Cocteau-Francis Poulenc dans les annees vingt: Etude comparative de la pensee musicale de Jean Cocteau et des ceuvres produites en collaboration avec Francis Poulenc" (Universite Laval, 1983), Richard Arnold Berry, "Francis Poulenc's Setting of Poems of Paul Eluard for Solo Voice and Piano: A Reflection of French Artistic Moods from 1920-1960" (University of Missouri, 1985), Jeremy Cox, "Dadaist, Cubist and Surrealistic Influences in Settings by Francis Poulenc of Contemporary French Poetry" (Oxford University, 1986), David Conley McKinney, "The Influences of Parisian Popular Entertainment on the Piano Works of Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc" (University of North Carolina, 1994), Barbara Eileen Scheidker, "Cultural Influences on the Piano Music of 'Les Six'" (University of Texas, 1995), Marc Andrew Wood, "The Influence of on the Music of Francis Poulenc" (University of London, Goldsmiths' College, 1997), Daniel E. Weiser, "The Visual Stimulus: The Influence of the Visual Arts on the Musical Compositions of , Erik Satie, and Francis Poulenc" (Peabody Conservatory of Music, 1998), Kevin Mark Clifton, "Poulenc's Ambivalence: A Study in , Musical Style and Sexuality" (University of Texas, 2002). 3

chanson and folklore which creates confusion for the reader. McKinney, by restricting his analysis to Poulenc's Les Soirees de Nazelles, supplies a cursory view of this question.

The last thesis dealing with popular aesthetic is Marc Andrew Wood's study of the influence of Stravinsky on Poulenc. This work, although primarily on the

Stravinsky/Poulenc relationship, includes a useful, if brief, chapter on circus and music-hall and their place in the lives of early-twentieth-century composers.

On the other hand, the monographs consist overwhelmingly of studies on Poulenc's biography,6 interviews7 and epistolary writings as well as memoirs by friends. Other types of books dedicated to Poulenc include collections of essays with a primarily interdisciplinary approach10 and the general overview of Poulenc's life and works.11 And

6 Jean Roy, Francis Poulenc (Paris: Editions Seghers, 1964); Henri Hell, Francis Poulenc: musicien francais (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1978); Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001). The latter is the most complete biography of Poulenc, with detailed footnotes documenting primary sources. 7 Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1954); Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis (Paris: La Palatine, 1963); Francis Poulenc, A batons rompus: Ecrits radiophoniques, precede de Journal de vacances, et suivi de Feuilles americaines, Lucie Kayas, ed. (Paris: Actes Sud, 1999). The next two monographs were written by Poulenc: Francis Poulenc, Emmanuel Chabrier (Paris: La Palatine, 1961); Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies (Paris: Cicero Editeurs, 1993, cl964). These primary sources were tremendously important to the reconstruction of Poulenc's relationship to Parisian popular entertainment. Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc — Echo and Source' - Selected Correspondence 1915-1963, Sidney Buckland, ed. (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1991); Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc: Correspondance 1910-1963, Myriam Chimenes, ed. (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1994). Chimenes' collection includes approximately 750 letters written by Poulenc and is of great value in gaining a greater understanding of Poulenc's various mindsets over the years. 9 Helene Jourdan-Morhange, Mes amis musiciens (Paris: Les Editeurs francais reunis, 1955); "Hommage a Francis Poulenc" in Bulletin de la Phonotheque Nationale: Supplement special au no. 1 (Paris, 1963); Maurice Houdin, "La jeunesse nogentaise de Francis Poulenc" in Bulletin de la Societe historique et archeologique de Nogent-sur-Marne (Seine) et du Canton de Nogent, 1964, 2(4): 70-78; Jean Nohain, La main chaude (Paris: Julliard, 1980); , Satie, Ravel, Poulenc (New York: Hanuman Books, 1987); Jacques Soule, Francis Poulenc dans sesjeunes annees: Souvenirs (Paris? Mormant, 19~). The memoirs dedicated solely to Poulenc are short articles and the monographs include Poulenc among other composers in their recollections. Despite their brevity, these memoirs were of critical value in providing insight into Poulenc's youth. 10 Sidney Buckland and Myriam Chimenes, eds. Francis Poulenc: Music, Art and Literature (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 1999), essays look at Poulenc's interaction with music, painters and poets; Richard D.E. Burton, Francis Poulenc (Bath, England: Absolute Press, 2001), author explores the dichotomy between Poulenc's homosexuality and his Catholicism; Alban Ramaut, ed. Francis Poulenc et la voix: texte et contexte (Saint-Etienne, France: Publications de l'Universite de Saint-Etienne, 2002), conference proceedings examining Poulenc's various relationships with the voice and the text. 4

yet, although a consensus exists within Poulenc scholarship that the composer made use of

the idioms of popular Parisian entertainment in a number of his compositions, little in-depth

research has been done to establish a clear understanding of what this aesthetic consists of

and how it was applied in his works. Perhaps it is the perceived simplicity and

unsophisticated elements of Parisian entertainment, as found in the cafe-concert, the music-

hall, the fairground and the circus, that deter us from further exploring this connection in

Poulenc's oeuvre. However, if one understands the political and cultural background of

France during the early years of Poulenc's career, one can begin to comprehend why

composers of that era believed that borrowing from the popular was vital to the revival of

their art.12 As well, a clearer insight into Poulenc's youth and upbringing provides an

explanation for his use of the popular in many of his compositions.

Another essential issue that must be addressed when considering the presence of

lowbrow aesthetic in Poulenc is the role of nostalgia and patriotism in the composer's life.

11 , Francis Poulenc et ses melodies (Paris: Editions Buchet/Chastel, 1978) provides a valuable performer's guide to Poulenc's French melodies; Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) introduces Poulenc in a highly personal manner and does not claim to be authoritative; , Poulenc (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1995) profiles Poulenc's life and works; Benjamin Ivry, Francis Poulenc (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), written by an American critic and journalist, this monograph contains biographical information about Poulenc's life as an openly gay man, but bases a number of his claims on anonymous sources and society rumour and goes as far as stating that Poulenc was a collaborator during the Second World War; Emmanuel Reibel, Les de Poulenc (Paris: Editions Aug. Zurfluh, 1999) looks at Poulenc's concertos and their eclectic characters. Although the following works deal with issues surrounding le groupe des Six, valuable observations regarding Poulenc and his works during that time are given: Eveline Hurard-Viltard, Le groupe des Six ou le matin d'un jour de fete (Paris: Librarie des Meridiens, Klincksieck et Cie, 1987) exposes the myth of Les Six by exploring each member's musical style; Catherine Miller, Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel et le groupe des Six: rencontres poetico-musicales autour des melodies et des chansons (Sprimont: Mardaga, 2003) explores the dynamic relationships that existed between the three poets and Les Six. 12 For a detailed study of France's political situation and its government's cultural policies and the impact and reaction of composers for/against this climate, see Jane F. Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual: Music and Ideology in France 1914-1940 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), especially her discussions regarding Les Six and Poulenc (pp. 152-169, 188-191, 249-265). For a similar study during the Belle Epoque and the impact of the Dreyfus Affair on French /composers, see Jane F. Fulcher, French Cultural Politics and Music from the Dreyfus Affair to the First World War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). 5

The presence of these two elements in both the life and works of Poulenc became a determining factor in his reoccurring use of Parisian entertainment. As a young man beginning his career, Poulenc quickly found a place within the musical world by becoming a member of le groupe des Six and associating with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. His personality and his strong sense of humour as well as his lack of traditional and his propensity to feel comfortable with both lowbrow and highbrow art forms were the perfect combination for his acceptance within the French avant-garde of the 1920s. A number of his works that contained lowbrow Parisian aesthetic was marked by a strong

"patriotic nostalgia," a phrase I use to express Poulenc's combination of nostalgia with a distinctly French aesthetic infused with patriotism, as found in works such as Cocardes

(1919), Les Maries de la tour Eiffel (1921), Le Bal masque (1932), Deux poemes de Louis

Aragon (1943) and Le disparu (1947). The use of popular idioms by Poulenc was primarily restricted to Parisian entertainment with which he had become familiar during his childhood. The resulting consequences of World War I and of globalization on France were seminal in the decline of the Parisian entertainment with which Poulenc had become familiar during his youth. The collective nostalgia that transpired in France during the inter-war years and the country's need to regain an international identity played an essential role in the formation of Poulenc, the composer. Throughout his career, Poulenc adapted the popular styles of performers and composers who were already established before the Great

War and whom he had seen and heard as a child and teenager. Although surrounded by

American and , Poulenc, from the beginning, demonstrated an affinity for all that was French at its core and more specifically, Parisian. Personalities such as

Felix Mayol (1872-1941), the young Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972), Henri Christine 6

(1867-1941) and Vincent Scotto (1874-1952)13 all fit within Poulenc's "patriotic nostalgia" since these people represented the essence of French identity. Poulenc's individuality was linked to early-twentieth-century Paris (1900-1919), and more specifically to elements of its popular culture which had not yet been influenced by post-war international trends. In the early part of his career, Poulenc sought inspiration from the Parisian popular music of his youth, celebrating his French identity while evoking nostalgia for a style that was quickly changing.

During the 1930s, Poulenc's focus changed direction. The worldwide economic depression of the early 1930s, the unrest in the French government and the rise to power of the Front populaire, a socialist political movement, demanded an adjustment for all French composers. Many of Les Six (especially , , and

Germaine Tailleferre), as established by Jane F. Fulcher, became active members of the

Front populaire and created works that supported its policies regarding the backing of

French workers.14 These societal changes did not easily fit with Poulenc's beliefs and compositional style. Whereas his political sympathies had veered to the Left during the

1920s (at a time when the government was strongly right-winged), they became more conservative and moderate during the 1930s.15 During this period (1933-1940) we notice a

See Chapters 3 and 4 of this thesis for more details regarding these performers and composers. Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual, pp.223-241. 15 Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc: Correspondance, p.420 Letter from Poulenc to Marie-Blanche de Polignac (15 August 1936): "Je maudis la deche qui fait qu'on joue du piano a Carcassonne, Monsieur Blum qui fait peur aux editeurs qui s'emmurent vivants dans leur coffre-fort.// Marie-Blanche, je ne suis pas Front populaire. Ai-je tort. Je suis un vieux Francais republican! qui croyait dans la liberte. Je hais M. de la Rocque mais j'aimais assez M. Loubet. Pour moi la Republique voyez-vous c'etait des hommes comme Clemenceau au testament duquel je pense souvent. Etre debout!WWIIDepuis bier cependantje fais pouce avec le gouvernement et suis pret a embrasser (pour une fois) Monsieur Zay car la nomination d'Edouard, si juste, si intelligente me fait sauter de joie. Ertfin un hommage a la competence, au gout, a l'mtelligence.// Marie- Blanche, comme c'est mal me connaitre que de croire que je n'ai pas de penchants populaires. Je croyais avoir donne depuis longtemps la preuve que les fronts populaires me sont chers et j'avoue que ce qui m'a plu 7

discontinuation in the composition of works containing the Parisian entertainment aesthetic.

The return of Poulenc to his paternal Catholic roots in 1936 following his pilgrimage to

Rocamadour,16 as well as his burgeoning interest in composing sacred music, are well documented and explain, in part, this suspension of the previous aesthetic. His artistic breakthrough and subsequent focus on French melodies additionally claimed his time and effort. The political climate of the 1930s also played a major role in this hiatus, as can be observed in the rise of his compositions containing a folklore aesthetic. Nevertheless

Poulenc was not able to find a place because he was "caught between the criteria established by both the Left and the Right - condemned by the Right for his former style

[and association with Les Six], and by the Left ... for his new one [his sacred Catholic compositions and his use of a rural rather than urban aesthetic]."18 In addition to these difficulties resulting from the socio-political climate, Poulenc began to endure regular bouts of depression and, in his correspondence, doubts regarding his place within the music world and a focus on his age became recurring themes. All of these elements in Poulenc's life dans Quatorze-Juillet c'est vraiment la salle. Tout cela est bien complique."; p.421 Letter from Poulenc to (17 August 1936): "Vous connaissez assez intimement je crois Mrs Auric et Milhaud. Oserais- je vous prier de m'appuyer aupres d'eux car j'ai en cartons une quinquologie sur les Atrides (vous connaissez le sujet) qui attend depuis de nombreuses annees le feu de la rampe ... //Aurons-nous a ecrire maintenant ce genre de lettre cher Henri. Je finis par le croire. Ah! Les amis glorieux!!!!!! // Tout cela d'ailleurs n'est pas mal et je suppose que specialement pour vous l'appui de Georges, de Da, de Koechlin etc... pourra vous etre utile.// Drole d'epoque. La famille, dans le fond (les bourgeois sont si officiels meme quand il s'agit du Front) regrette un peu que ma binette ne soit pas aujourd'hui dans le journal. Raymond est un tantinet penaud. On ne peut tout de meme pas satisfaire le monde et sa conscience." 16 Rocamadour is a commune in southwestern France, about 100 miles north of Toulouse. It is renowned for its breathtaking views, its religious sites (including numerous chapels) and its shrine to Our Lady of Rocamadour with the tomb of St. Amadour (Zaccheus of Jericho). Francis Poulenc visited the shrine of the Black Virgin in 1936 and inspired by this pilgrimage wrote Les Litanies a la Vierge noire. He returned many times throughout his life in order to place some of his compositions under the protection of Our Lady of Rocamadour. 17 For example, Villageoises (1933), Quatre chansons pour enfants (1934), (1934), Suite francaise (1935), Bourree au pavilion d'Auvergne (1937), Francaise (1939), Chansons villageoises (1942). This interest in the folklore aesthetic was also heard in Chansons gaillardes (1926) and the chansons of (1923), later deleted from Les Biches: Suite (1940). 18 Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual, p.251. For an explanation of urban and rural chansons, see Chapter 2. . 8

worked to increase his nostalgic mindset as can be perceived in a number of his compositions from the late-1930s onward. Beginning in this decade, Poulenc regularly revisited works from his early career (e.g. Cocardes, Toreador, Les Biches, Le Bal masque) or that of composers from the same period (e.g. Satie, ) and reorchestrated them. The onset of World War II, yet another global disaster in his lifetime, further emphasized this inclination by Poulenc to dwell in the past and marked his permanent return to the Parisian aesthetic.

The regular appearance of this popular aesthetic in Poulenc's oeuvre supports the fact that it was not simply a young man's attempt at shocking his public or at fitting in with the avant-garde. His unwavering love for Parisian entertainment, as testified during his personal interviews and his radio broadcasts, as well as the presence of this aesthetic in many of his compositions throughout his oeuvre, is closely tied to his memories of the past and his youth. Nostalgia, at times mixed with patriotism, was at the forefront of this aesthetic in Poulenc, even during his early career. It is this position that this thesis will explore through a number of Poulenc's compositions.

Research Challenges

One of the major difficulties involved in exploring the chanson from the early- twentieth century is the discrepancy that exists between the original sheet music, which usually consists of only the melody and , and the actual performance of the . As will be discussed in more detail later on, the performers heard at the various Parisian

19 For example, no. 7 (1935), Les Biches: suite - based on his 1923 ballet of the same name (1939), Deux preludes posthumes et une Gnossienne - of Satie's works (1939), Banalites (1940), Melancolie (1940), in A-flat-major (1943), Paul et Virginie (1946), L 'Embarquementpour Cythere (1951), Capriccio: d'apres Le Bal masque (1952), Novelette sur un theme de Manuel de Falla (1959). 9

establishments often developed a unique style of that engaged the audience, a fact that can never be appreciated by simply looking at the sheet music. For example, one did not simply sing Viens poupoule, but did it in imitation of Felix Mayol, the performer who had created this cafe-concert anthem in 1902. Because of this reality, it became essential to track down period recordings. Most of the chansons that are readily available date from the

1930s onward and are of singers such as Charles Trenet, Georges Brassens, Edith Piaf and the later Maurice Chevalier. Recordings of Dranem (born Armand Menard), Polin (born

Pierre-Paul Marsales) or the young Chevalier are neither as prevalent nor as clear sounding.20 Many of these soundtracks were taken directly from 78s and were transferred onto compact discs, causing difficulties at times in distinguishing elements such as instrumentation or words. Despite these obstacles, the recordings became an integral part of my understanding of Poulenc's use of Parisian aesthetic in his works. Beyond the words and the music, there transpires an atmosphere ofjoie de vivre combined with nostalgia in these performances. Taking care not to impose my own nostalgic views of the repertoire, I was able to detect the blend of comic and melancholy that is so often described in the primary sources of the early-twentieth century. My six-week stay in Paris also gave me the opportunity to experience this ambiguity. As was explained to me by a true Parigot, the inhabitants of this city are individuals who value their privacy and can thus be perceived as distant. Yet, as I experienced first hand, they are also quick to strike up a conversation that easily moves from topics such as family and dreams to complaints regarding the

The reader will find a complete listing of the compact discs that were listened to during this research in the Bibliography. 10

government. This combination of characteristics is what helped me identify Poulenc's

Parisian aesthetic beyond the simple notes.

An essential resource to the present study was the six-volume collection of reproduced sheet music by Editions Fortin/Editions Paul Beuscher (2000). Each volume contains 301 of the most popular chansons from specific decades. The melodic line, the words and the accompanying chords, as well as the copyright date, the lyricist and the composer are all included for each song. For this research, volumes one (1879-1919) and two (1919-29) became essential in the compilation of data regarding the overall musical characteristics of the genre. During my research trip to Paris, I was also able to obtain a number of published scores of early-twentieth-century chansons that included the typical piano accompaniment that would have been performed at the cafe-concert or the family home. I chose to focus my attention on the chansons for which I had the written melody and the recorded music in order to narrow down the repertoire, which easily numbers in the thousands. That way, by concentrating on the most popular songs as well as those specifically mentioned by Poulenc, my argument for Poulenc's familiarity with this repertoire was solidified.

Another important aspect of this research is its close study of the chanson genre. No research has, thus far, engaged in the musical analysis of the repertoire of the chanson from the early-twentieth century. Secondary sources either examine the social history of the

21 Mary Ellen Poole's important Ph.D. dissertation (1994) on Parisian cabarets artistiques from 1881 to 1914 and their chansonniers (singer-) rectifies this deficiency by providing a thorough study of the chanson found in this venue. Yet for the purpose of this thesis, the cabaret artistique has little bearing. 11

chanson using primarily a Marxist approach, viewing the chanson as the people's voice or

discuss the French chanson through abundantly illustrated "dictionaries."23 Most secondary

sources approach the chanson peripherally through their research into Parisian popular

establishments such as the cafe-concert and the music-hall.24 When the chanson is

described in these books, the focus is placed on the content and style of its poetry, and the

music, if mentioned, is perceived primarily as a vehicle for the words and not worthy of

attention. The life and personality as well as the performing style of the various entertainers

are identified as being of greater importance than the repertoire. Two monographs of

importance to this research are Peter Hawkins' Chanson: the French Singer- from Aristide Bruant to the Present Day (2000) and Patrick Valerian's La chanson frangaise de 1730 a nos jours, vol.1 (1993). Even though Hawkins strictly focuses on the

singer-songwriter who became prominent primarily during the 1940s and 1950s, he clearly

establishes the place of the chanson within French society and provides an invaluable

academic study of a genre that has thus far been ignored. Valerian, although he uses a more

plebeian style of writing, equally offers a significant addition to the field by discussing the

performative aspects of the chanson.

Fortunately the Poulenc repertoire was easier to manage since published scores and

numerous recordings are readily available. Many works by Poulenc make use in passing of

the Parisian popular aesthetic, a result of his compositional technique that avoids

22 Pierre Brochon, La chanson sociale de Beranger a Brassens (Paris: Les Editions Ouvrieres, 1961); Robert Brecy, Florilege de la chanson revolutionnaire: de 1789 au Front Populaire (Paris: Les Editions Ouvrieres, 1990); Serge Dillaz, La chanson sous la Hie Republique (1870-1940) (Paris: Librairie Jules Tallandier, 1991). 23 France Vernillat and Jacques Charpentreau, eds. Dictionnaire de la chanson frangaise (Paris: Larousse, 1968); Jean-Claude Klein, Florilege de la chanson frangaise (Paris: Bordas, 1990); Jean-Pierre Pasqualini, ed. 100 ans de chanson (Paris: Editions Atlas, 1996); Louis-Jean Calvet, ed. Cent ans de chanson frangaise: 1907-2007, new and augmented edition (Paris: Archipel, 2006). 24 For a detailed bibliography of these secondary sources and contemporaneous monographs, see Chapter 3. 12

developments, preferring a cellular writing in which a concise musical idea dominates or multiple succinct musical themes are repeated in order to create unity. In order to narrow down the repertoire that included popular idioms, I chose to focus primarily on compositions containing a high degree of this aesthetic and for which Poulenc openly upheld a link with Paris or Nogent-sur-Marne. In doing so, the selection became not only manageable but also pertinent to the purposes of this thesis. One of the challenges that had to be met was the extraction of the many fragments that are found in numerous sources, especially Poulenc's interviews, radio broadcasts and personal letters, regarding the composer's relationship with Parisian entertainment. By combining this information with a thorough understanding of the social, political and economic climate in which Poulenc evolved, I succeeded in offering a fresh conception of this French composer.

Chapter Outlines

The first chapter of this thesis focuses on Poulenc's youth. By presenting for the first time the complete biographical information regarding Poulenc's views and activities with regards to Parisian entertainment, I will provide a comprehensive analysis of the composer's childhood and early adulthood experiences. Following this study, I will explore and explain the concepts of patriotism and nostalgia as they apply to Poulenc and his oeuvre. Chapter 2 will focus on the general artistic life in Paris from the Belle Epoque to the late 1920s with a particular concentration on the intersection of lowbrow and highbrow aesthetics in the various arts of that time and the effects of and responses to the Great War.

Moving from the general to the specific, I will then explore how this vibrant life impacted

Poulenc through his membership with Les Six as well as his friendship with Jean Cocteau 13

and Erik Satie and the particular case of Le Boeufsur le toit, one of the foremost meeting places of the early 1920s.

In Chapter 3 an overall view of Parisian entertainments with an attention to the types that were to predominantly influence Poulenc will be given. The cafe-concert or caf'conc'

(as termed by Parisians), the Parisian music-hall, the circus, the fete foraine or country fair and the bal musette will be examined. Through concise histories, an explanation of the various characteristics of each venue and an overview of the main performers and acts found in these establishments, the reader will gain a better understanding of the environments that Poulenc visited during his youth (and beyond).

Following these historical and biographical chapters, the next part of the thesis will investigate specific works by Poulenc that contain the Parisian popular aesthetic following a chronological approach. In the first section, the early compositions (1918-1932) will be analyzed while the later compositions (1933-1963) will close this research. But prior to these chapters, a close examination of Poulenc's radio broadcasts from 1947 to 1949 with an emphasis on those concentrating on French popular music as well as the history and general characteristics of the chanson dating from the late-nineteenth century to the 1930s will provide the background information necessary for the analysis.

Conclusion

My purpose for this research was to provide the reader with a new view of Francis

Poulenc. Having earlier prepared two independent studies, one on Poulenc's

Dialogues des Carmelites and the other on his choral work Quatre petites prieres de saint

Frangois d'Assise, I became intrigued with the many succinct remarks I read regarding 14

Poulenc's relationship with Parisian popular culture. My own personal interest in the

French chanson and early-twentieth-century Paris led to my desire to explore Poulenc's own relationship with this popular genre. I felt that the cursory manner in which this aesthetic was dealt demanded that it be further explored. The following thesis investigates the overall interaction that existed between lowbrow and highbrow art forms, the possible reasons behind this prevalent practice during the early-twentieth century and, more specifically, its impact on Poulenc's oeuvre. Through this probe into the popular culture of

Paris, it became evident that nostalgia, and to a different extent patriotism, were driving forces behind this search for a French voice. Although Poulenc was not alone in his appropriation of the popular, his recurring nogentais style and his obvious respect for the genre of the chanson made him stand apart from many others. Chapter 1 - Youth, Patriotism and Nostalgia

The first half of the twentieth century was marked by a series of worldwide events - two world wars, a global economic depression interspersed with periods of deceptive stability - that became defining points in the lives of the people who lived through them.

Francis Poulenc grew up during the Belle Epoque, lived his adolescent years during the

First World War, became an adult during the Annies Folles and reached maturity during the

Great Depression and the Second World War. These experiences demarcated the man and musician that Poulenc was to become. In this first chapter, the focus will be placed on

Poulenc's early years in order to gain a better understanding of the role played by some of these social and political climates on the composer. This will set the stage for an investigation into how these factors had an impact on the use of Parisian popular aesthetic by Poulenc in his oeuvre.

Francis Poulenc's Youth

Poulenc was born 7 January 1899 in a large building at 2 place des Saussaies, within walking distance of the Place de la Madeleine and the Elysee Palace, in the heart of Paris.

It is between this Parisian home and his maternal grandparents' house in Nogent-sur-Marne, an eastern suburb of Paris, that Poulenc spent the majority of his youth. Francis was born twelve years after his sister Jeanne. By that time, his family's comfortable income - a result of his father's family business in industrial chemicals, Etablissements Poulenc freres, which evolved into the present-day international conglomerate Rhone-Poulenc25 - provided him with a financial security that was to remain constant throughout his whole life.

25 For a complete history of the Poulenc family business, see Pierre Cayez, Rhone-Poulenc 1895-1975: Contribution a I'etude d'un groupe industriel (Paris: Armand Colin/Masson, 1988).

15 16

In order to better understand Poulenc's youth, it is necessary to become familiar with French social hierarchy of the period. In the Belle Epoque, there existed three social classes: the peasant, the worker and the bourgeois. The last-named category first began as a middle class that stood between the old aristocracy and the lower classes/the people.

Through the gradual decline of the nobility strata following the French Revolution, this bourgeois social class began to distinguish itself from the middle and lower social classes.

It came to be subdivided into four further groups: the grande bourgeoisie, the bonne bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisies moyenne and populaire.26 Although a definite hierarchy was not easily perceptible within the bourgeoisie certain variables played a major role in the social place of an individual: his economic assets (fortune), his social assets (birth), his cultural assets (level of education), and his profession.

The grande bourgeoisie consisted primarily of individuals who were descendants of the old French aristocracy and who pursued its elitism and way of life (vie mondaine). One will find such people described in Marcel Proust's literary world, especially^ la Recherche du temps perdu. Many of these nobles went into business, mainly the banks and the financial world. Thus the grands bourgeois maintained an economic power and became, in many instances, industry captains (e.g. banks: Vernes, Mallet, Neuflize, Rothschild; textile industry: Dansette, Motte; iron and steel: Schneider, Wendel). A category of "new" grands bourgeois appeared when enterprising men made themselves into industry leaders (e.g.

Louis Renault, Marius Berliet) instead of inheriting their wealth and social position. The other area in which this social class was prominent was as higher governmental officials

26 These categories and the ensuing information are taken from Michel Winock, La Belle Epoque: La France de 1900 a 1914 (Paris: Editions Perrin, 2003), pp.108-134. 17

such as diplomats, senior administrators and judges, where social position still outweighed qualifications. The bonne bourgeoisie consisted of a category of rich university graduates - at times richer than the grands bourgeois - who held positions such as enterprise leaders, notaries, and property owners, members of the liberal professions (e.g. doctors, lawyers), senior civil servants, state engineers, officers and magistrates. Finally the bourgeoisie moyenne and the bourgeoisie populaire represented the majority of this social class. The moyenne class consisted overwhelmingly of employers, yet a large number were also employees, especially of the State. The bourgeoisie populaire consisted primarily of shopkeepers, craftsmen, employees and salesclerks.

Based on these definitions of bourgeoisie, we can conclude that Poulenc and his family belonged to the bonne bourgeoisie. Poulenc's sister's marriage to Andre Manceaux, a Parisian notary, in 1913 and their purchase of a chateau in Normandy in 1927 where

Francis often visited her27 prove the importance placed by the Poulenc family on social assets such as marrying well and within your class. Further evidence includes the insistence placed on the education of Francis by his father. The latter refused to let his son pursue music studies before he completed his traditional education at the lycee Condorcet, from which he obtained his baccalaureat in 1917 without distinction, since his interests obviously laid elsewhere. Jean Nohain, the French author and a classmate of Poulenc in those days, reported the following in his memoirs:

Dreaming only of music and at that only of "his" music, he totally did not care for subjects such as the Oubanghi [a central African river], isosceles triangles, or the quantitative and qualitative study of red cells which our professor M. Huot taught. ... Francis Poulenc was not a dunce, hopeless and

27 Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), p.471. 18

tiresome, like some poor boys that we have all encountered. He was the "disinterested" student whom our scholarly preoccupations left utterly impassive and flabbergasted. ... Later on, we often recalled the answers he provided the "teachers" who had had the impertinence to question him: — Monsieur Poulenc. Yes. You! What's the Aube? — The Aube... It's a tributary of the Seine? — Well yes, very good, monsieur Poulenc. The Aube is a tributary of the Seine. Right bank or left bank? This insistence, having displeased Poulenc, he answered with a fed up gesture:

— That depends on which side you're on.28

During an interview that was part of a recorded concert at the on 14 May

1959, Poulenc recalled how his father had to promise him a camera if he succeeded in passing his final examination for his bachelor's.29 It would seem that this bribe became the motivator for Poulenc to study and barely pass his tests - he failed geography and mathematics while finishing first class with an essay on Diderot and an oral exam on

Montesquieu. As pointed out by Winock, obtaining a secondary education, which needed to be paid for, and its bachelor's degree "was a very efficient manner for the bourgeoisie to defend its autonomy."30 Thus Poulenc's father may have insisted on his son completing his lycee education more for social reasons than a desire to see his son follow in his footsteps

28 Jean Nohain, La main chaude (Paris: Julliard, 1980), pp.100-101. "Ne revant qu'a la musique et qu'a 'sa' musique, il se foutait totalement du cours de l'Oubanghi, des triangles isoceles ou de l'etude quantitative et qualitative des globules du sang dont nous entretenait notre professeur, M. Huot. ... Francis Poulenc n'etait pas un cancre dans le sens minable ou penible de quelques pauvres garcons que nous avons tous rencontres. II etait l'eleve 'desinteresse' que nos preoccupations scolaires laissaient absolument impassible et pantois. ... Que de fois, par la suite, nous avons evoque tous les deux les reponses qu'il avait faites aux 'enseignants' qui avaient eu le mauvais gout de l'interroger : — Monsieur Poulenc. Oui. Vous! Qu'est-ce que l'Aube? — L'Aube... C'est un affuent de la Seine? — Mais oui, tres bien, monsieur Poulenc. L'Aube est un affluent de la Seine. Rive droite ou rive gauche? Cette insistance etait deplaisante. Et Francis Poulenc a repondu avec un geste las : ~ Ca depend de quel cote on se place." 29 Francis Poulenc and Friends, produced by Olivier Charvet, Classic Archive TV series, for Ideale Audience and IMG Artists, EMI Classics, 2005. Note: A camera would have been a normal gift to give Poulenc since his father was in charge of the photography branch (on rue Vieille-du-Temple) of the family business. 30 Winock, La Belle Epoque, p.120. "Pour Antoine Prost, cet enseignement secondaire et le baccalaureat a l'appui ont ete, au cours de cette periode, un maniere tres efficace pour la bourgeoisie de defendre son autonomie." 19

within the family business. With a bachelor's degree as opposed to a Conservatory education, Poulenc could retain his cultural assets, thus making him eligible for a good marriage and the preservation of his social status within the bonne bourgeoisie.

Since his father could not have anticipated the numerous changes brought about by the First World War, Francis was brought up in the manner that fit the bonne bourgeoisie social class. Every year the family could afford the luxury of holidays. We know in detail of at least two of these vacations through Poulenc's Journal de vacances dated 1911 and

1912.31 The first one took place in the summer at the Hotel Sacaron in Luchon, a small town in the Pyrenees, for a period of approximately three weeks, while the second one took place in the spring in Biarritz, a seaside resort in southwestern France near the Spanish border. As expressed by Winock, holidays, originally an aristocratic activity, were now imitated by the bourgeoisie who, during the summer migration, rented vacation homes or spent time at their seaside or country estates.32 Although Poulenc's family did not possess such a house, we do know that they spent the majority of their time each summer in

Nogent-sur-Marne, at the maternal grandparents' home. As for Poulenc, he purchased such a country estate in 1927 which he named Le Grand Coteau. This property was situated in

Noizay, approximately 24 km from Tours, and became his sanctuary for composing music away from the distractions of Paris.

For the complete Journal de vacances, see Francis Poulenc, A batons rompus: ecrits radiophoniques; precede de Journal de vacances, et suivi de Feuilles americaines, Lucie Kayas, ed. (Paris: Actes Sud, 1999). 32 Winock, La Belle Epoque, p.133. "Parmi les grandes pratiques de loisir de la Belle Epoque, evoquons d'abord le sport. Ainsi, la bicyclette fait fureur depuis les annees 1890. [...] Autres sports chics : le tennis, de stricte elegance; ralpinisme; rescrime, le golf... Surtout, la classe de loisir a mis a la mode les stations balneaires. La villegiature, d'origine aristocratique, est desormais imitee par les bourgeois, qui disposent souvent d'une residence a la campagne ou a la mer, ou bien qui louent des maisons de vacances. La migration estivale devient une habitude, que monopolise la bourgeoisie." 20

Music held an important place within early-twentieth-century French society, with the piano oftentimes being the focal point in the home. Poulenc's mother who was a well- versed amateur pianist, and his sister's singing lessons introduced him to music early on.

His mother, Jenny Royer, regularly played the piano for her family with her favourite composers being Mozart, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann. Poulenc often said that her musical sense was impeccable with a total lack of artistic snobbism. Although she played the aforementioned composers she also "permitted herself what she called her small fantasies, such as certain pieces by Grieg or the celebrated Rubinstein Romance."^ As for

Poulenc's father, Emile, he never missed a performance of the Concerts Colonne, or a premiere at the Opera or the Opera-Comique. His favourite composers were Beethoven and

Berlioz, followed by Cesar Franck and .34 At two years old, Poulenc received a small child's piano which he loved: "At two, I sight-read on this piano everything I believed to be music such as store catalogues and old railroad timetables."35

The maternal side of the family was known for its Parisian and artistic heritage as well as its strong interest in the arts. Many ancestors had been cabinet makers, tapestry weavers and makers of bronze statues. His mother's brother, Marcel Royer, was an avid theatre

Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1954), p. 13. "Mais, denuee de snobisme artistique, ma mere se permettait ce qu'elle appelait des petites fantaisies, a savoir quelques pieces de Grieg ou la celebre Romance de Rubinstein." 34 Ibid., pp.20-21. "Mon pere, qui ne manquait jamais une repetition des Concerts Colonne, une premiere a l'Opera ou a 1'Opera-Comique, preferait a tout: Beethoven et Berlioz, puis Cesar Frank [sic] et... enfin... Massenet. L'Enfance du Christ et Marie-Madeleine lui mettaient indistinctement les larmes aux yeux." 5 Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis (Paris: La Pallatine, 1963), p.36. "On m'a donne, en effet, a l'age de deux ans, un adorable petit piano, laque blanc avec des cerises peintes dessus. Le cher petit piano, comme je l'ai aime! A huit ans, il etait encore range dans rarmoire aux jouets, mais a neuf ans, stupidement, je l'ai juge indigne de moi, et on l'a donne. Je dechiffrais, a deux ans, sur ce petit piano tout ce que je croyais etre de la musique, a savoir des catalogues de grands magasins, de vieux indicateurs de chemin de fer!" 21

subscriber. He went to the theatre every night and considered himself an amateur painter.

Poulenc recounted how, as a child, he would listen from under the table to his uncle

Papoum's critique of Parisian life and its variety shows while they believed him busy playing with his mechanical toy train.37 This love for music was to continue throughout his childhood and, as previously mentioned, would take precedence over his school work. His mother, noticing his strong interest in music, provided him with his first piano lessons at the age of five. By the age of eight, Mile Boutet de Monvel, a niece of Cesar Franck, took up the role and gave him daily one-hour lessons following school. By 1914 he became a student of Ricardo Vines,38 the renowned Catalan pianist who would be responsible for introducing Poulenc to many other great musicians.

To Poulenc all that ever mattered were his interests in music, contemporary literature (both writers and poets) and painting. Poulenc admitted that by the age of eight he was an avid reader of Le Theatre illustre and L Illustration thedtrale and he was as familiar with actors/actresses such as Rejane, Sarah Bernhardt, Lucien Guitry and Eve Lavalliere as other children were with the general Dourakine or Sophie Fichini, characters of the famous children's books written by nineteenth-century author La Comtesse de Segur.39 This statement is further supported by Jacques Soule, a childhood friend, who told of his youth

Interview with Mme Rosine Seringe, November 3, 2006 in Paris. Mme Seringe is Poulenc's niece as well as the Secretary for the association Les amis de Francis Poulenc. She continues to be of tremendous help and support to all Poulenc researchers. Poulenc, Entretiens, p. 13. "Cache sous une table, avec mon chemin de fer mecanique, j'ecoutais sans me lasser tout ce qui se disait, a l'etage au-dessus, de la vie parisienne des boulevards." 38 Ricardo Vines (1875-1943) championed the works of contemporary composers such as Debussy, Manuel de Falla and Ravel. He taught piano to Poulenc from 1914-1917 and was key in introducing Poulenc to Auric, Cocteau, Falla, Satie, and . 39 Poulenc, Entretiens, p.13. "Le Theatre illustre me fascinait, et je lisais en cachette les pieces parues dans Y Illustration thedtrale. A huit ans, Rejane, Sarah Bernhardt, Lucien Guitry, Lavalliere m'etaient aussi familiers que, pour d'autres enfants, le general Dourakine ou Sophie Fichini." 22

with Poulenc at Nogent-sur-Marne. In his souvenirs of Poulenc, Soule recalled how

Poulenc would consistently improvise at the piano in order to accompany himself in the telling of a story:

Often, following the afternoon tea, we would go to his room where he would immediately place himself in front of an upright piano. I was surprised to see his large hands with their round fingers run along the keyboard with such agility: and, listening to him play with his already characteristically light touch, I would wonder if this was indeed the same Francis whom I had just observed miss so many easy hits at tennis.40

Thus [Poulenc] imagined that the boy and the young girl in question had decided to meet at the shirt factory and he immediately improvised a theme at the piano, a real musical comedy which included scenes such as the acceptance of the rendez-vous by the girl, the anxious wait of the boy at the factory, the arrival of the blushing girl and finally after a moving love duet, the curtain fell. Francis sang both roles in his particular voice and I listened in mute astonishment.41

Even then Poulenc, the conteur, is established. As will be further discussed in Chapter 3,

Poulenc will retain this innate ability to tell stories, a skill that will continue to amaze and enchant his friends. Soule also commented on Poulenc's incredible knowledge and love for contemporary literature and poetry:

When I think of the artistic tastes demonstrated by Francis Poulenc in his youth, it seems to me that, without renouncing the heritage of the past, he was interested almost exclusively in the works of living contemporary artists or those who had departed recently, Debussy in music, Mallarme in poetry. He quickly asserted himself as a man of his time, who wanted to write the

40 Jacques Soule, Francis Poulenc dans sesjeunes annees: Souvenirs (Paris? Mormant, 19—), p.2. "Souvent, apres le gouter, nous montions dans sa chambre ou il disposait d'un piano droit devant lequel il ne tardait pas a s'installer. Je m'etonnais alors en voyant ses grandes mains aux doigts ronds courir sur le clavier avec agilite: et en l'entendant jouer avec ce toucher de velours qui le caracterisait deja, je me demandais si c'etait bien la le meme Francis que je venais de voir rater au tennis tant de coups faciles." 41 Ibid., p.3. "II imagina done que le garcon et la jeune fille en question avaient decide de se rencontrer dans cette chemiserie et il improvisa aussitot au piano sur ce theme une veritable comedie musicale comprenant la scene ou la jeune fille acceptait le rendez-vous, l'attente anxieuse du garcon dans la chemiserie, l'arrivee de la jeune fille toute rougissante et finalement apres un emouvant duo d'amour le rideau tombait. Francis chantait les deux roles avec sa curieuse voix et j'etais muet d'admiration." 23

music of his time, and who was looking for his artistic joys in the creations of musicians, poets, writers and painters of his time.42

Already in his youth, one notices the diverse background and personality developing in the future composer. The few primary sources that exist concerning Poulenc's childhood posit an eclectic image of this composer. He appears as someone who enjoyed all kinds of entertainment - opera, concerts, avant-garde shows, music-halls, cafes-concerts - without necessarily demonstrating a strong preference for any one in particular. In a lecture that took place at PUniversite des Annales on 7 March 1935, Poulenc remembered how, coming back from school, he would linger at the windows of music stores; and how in Nogent during his holidays "he would tremble at the exploits of the anarchists, he would take in the odours of the prairie and its buzzing insects, and where at night he would secretly devour the adventures of Rocambole or Arsene Lupin."43 Literary characters such as Maurice

Leblanc's Arsene Lupin, a gentleman thief, Gaston Leroux's Cheri-Bibi, an ex-con and leader of a secret society of thieves, and Ponson du Terrail's Rocambole, an adventurer from the wrong side of the law who ends up doing good, were created out of the prevailing social spirit of questioning authority.44 Poulenc's open-mindedness to all types of events occurring in the world around him was stimulating the musical personality he would exhibit

Ibid., p.6. "Quand je reflechis aux gouts artistiques dont faisait preuve Francis Poulenc dans son jeune age, il m'apparait que, sans renier Pheritage du passe, il s'interessait presqu'uniquement aux oeuvres d'artistes contemporains vivants, ou morts depuis peu, Debussy en musique, Mallarme en poesie. II s'est affirme rapidement comme un homme de son temps, qui voulait ecrire la musique de son temps et qui recherchait ses joies artistiques dans les creations des musiciens, poetes, litterateurs et peintres de son temps." Maurice Houdin, "La jeunesse nogentaise de Francis Poulenc" in Bulletin de la Societe historique et archeologique de Nogent-sur-Marne (Seine) et du Canton de Nogent, 1964, 2(4) :71. "Heureuse epoque ou, simple eleve du lycee Condorcet, il revenait chez ses parents, Faubourg St-Honore, flanant a la vitrine des marchands de musique! Heureuses vacances ensoleillees de Nogent ou il tremblait au recit des exploits des bandits anarchistes, ou il s'enivrait des senteurs de la prairie toute bruissante d'insectes et ou la nuit le surprenait devorant en cachette les aventures de Rocambole ou d'Arsene Lupin." Note: more details will be provided regarding these names in Chapter 5. 44 For a more detailed discussion of Poulenc's personal views of the Belle Epoque, see Chapter 5, pp.158-161. 24

later on. Poulenc rarely seemed willing to devote himself to one artistic area exclusively.

Instead he chose to pursue all avenues and explore all the various possibilities offered in his time and his Parisian environment. In 1953, Poulenc told Stephane Audel during an interview:

I have oftentimes been reproached for my suburban side. There has been suspicion regarding my authenticity and yet nothing is truer in me. Our two families had their businesses in the neighbourhood of Le Marais, surrounded by luxurious hotels, a few meters from the Bastille. Since childhood, I have associated, without discrimination, in a common love, the bal musette and the Suites of Couperin.45

This impartiality regarding the various French genres of musical styles was to remain ever present in Poulenc. His allegiance to French, and particularly Parisian, arts was to become part of the foundation of his musical language.

The young Poulenc's world consisted primarily of Paris and its close suburb,

Nogent-sur-Marne. Throughout his life, Poulenc would continue to feel this allegiance to his native city making him a true Parigot, a person genuinely happy and comfortable primarily in Paris. Poulenc as Parigot is a description that becomes essential in our understanding of the composer. His attachment to the French capital greatly affected his music as a whole and more specifically his compositions possessing a popular aesthetic.

Remembering his childhood, Poulenc said to Claude Rostand:

La Madeleine, you see, is my native city, and le Marais, my village. And then,... a little further, continuing east of Paris, there is my countryside: the dear Nogent-sur-Marne where I spent my childhood. What you sometimes call my bad-boy side quite naturally developed in Nogent.46

45 Poulenc, Moi et mes amis, p.34. "On m'a souvent reproche mon cote faubourien. On en a suspecte l'authenticite et cependant rien n'est plus vrai chez moi. Nos deux families avaient leurs maisons de commerce dans le vieux quartier du Marais, bonte d'hotels admirables, a quelques metres de la Bastille. Des Penfance, j'ai associe, sans discernement, dans un commun amour, le bal musette et les Suites de Couperin." 4 Poulenc, Entretiens, p.l7. "La Madeleine, voyez-vous, c'est ma ville natale, et le Marais mon village. Et puis... un peu plus loin, en continuant vers Test de Paris, il y a aussi ma campagne: le cher Nogent-sur-Marne 25

This description of the various environments of his childhood indicates the importance they possessed for Poulenc. Those were the three major districts in which he spent his childhood and they represented his world. In these environments, Poulenc was exposed to various musical genres, both popular and serious. In 1909, the composer was first introduced to

Debussy's music, and thus to contemporary works, when he heard Danses sacrees et profanes for harp and string during a concert with his family. He remembered thinking, "It is so pretty! It is somewhat off key." 7 From that moment, he tried to recreate on his piano the sounds he had heard and, at the age often, secretly bought Debussy scores.

In his Journal de vacances of 1911-1912 he not only provided insightful observations of the performances of Carmen and Tosca which he attended with his parents during his holidays as well as the singing heard at mass, but also of the various architectural structures he saw.48

These entries from the twelve-year-old Poulenc show a child who was not only knowledgeable regarding the various artists of his time but also critical of their performances and of the costumes used for the productions. He was very observant and consistently used these skills to enhance his knowledge base. Although a poor student,

Poulenc was well-versed in the French classics such as Moliere, Racine and Corneille, and able to recite numerous passages from memory.49

ou j'ai passe toute mon enfance. Ce que vous appelez parfois mon cote 'mauvais garcon' s'est developpe tout naturellement a Nogent." 47Ibid.,p.24. "Commec'estjoli! C'estunpeufaux." Poulenc, A batons rompus, pp.25-28, 30. 49 Ibid., p.33. "Pour nous egayer, dans la voiture, j'ai recite du Moliere, du Racine, du Corneille. ... Puis j'ai imite M. Aiscaballe, Mile Drulon, Mile Doria Galipaux. Enfin, les marchandes des rues, les camelots. Tout de meme, nous ne nous sommes pas ennuyes." Poulenc also knew by rote Mallarme's Apparition. 26

Poulenc, who was too young to participate directly in the war, left almost no evidence of its impact on him or his family. Only during his interviews with Audel did he make mention of that war:

1916 is a fundamental year in the history of French art, in all areas: painting, music, sculpture, poetry... Following two years of war that had plunged Paris into a kind a lethargic state, we had, if I dare say, gotten used to this tragic state of affairs. During the 1914 war, civilians suffered only from few small material deprivations... and the like. Artistic life had thus restarted, and the avant-garde was raising its head.50

Thus it would seem that, at least for Poulenc and his family, there was no financial or economic burden imposed by the First World War. We know from the accounts of Soule that the family continued to visit Nogent-sur-Marne during the summer months with little or no changes to the usual activities - bicycling, tennis, social gatherings. The extent of the impact of the war on Poulenc's regular adolescent life can be somewhat measured through

Soule's account of an event that occurred in the summer of 1916. Soule recalled how

Poulenc wanted to organize an afternoon of dancing in costumes for himself, his friend and the five young women with whom they played tennis. Poulenc said he would take charge of everything: costumes, music and dance program, but Soule, embarrassed by his lack of dance skills, reminded him that it was prohibited to dance during wartime. Thus in the tradition of the fete foraine they replaced the dancing with the use of tableaux vivants.51

Poulenc's father who was present at this gathering took colour photos of the participants.

50 Poulenc, Moi et mes amis, p.130. "1916 est une annee capitale pour l'histoire de l'art francais, dans tous les domaines : peinture, musique, sculpture, poesie... Apres deux ans de guerre qui avait plonge Paris dans une sorte de lethargie, on avait, si j'ose dire, fini par s'habituer a ce tragique etat de chose. Pendant la guerre de 1914, le civil ne souffrait que de petites privations materielles... et encore. La vie artistique avait done repris, et l'avant-garde redressait la tete." 51 Soule, Francis Poulenc dans ses jeunes annees, p.3. "Je crois que e'est au cour de Pete 1916 qu'il vint me voir un matin... II voulait organiser avec moi et les cinq jeunes filles avec lesquelles nous jouions au tennis une matinee dansante en costumes. II se chargeait de tout, costumes, programme des danses, choix de la musique. Ce fut la maison de M. et Mme Tilliard a Fontenay-sous-Bois qui fut choisie comme lieu de cette 27

Poulenc lost his parents during his adolescent years - his mother through a sudden pulmonary illness in 1915 and his father, according to Mme Seringe, of a broken heart in

1917. These losses had a tremendous impact on him. He was very close to his mother, who had always supported his artistic endeavours, and her death was very difficult for him.

With the death of his father less than two years later, Poulenc, a young man of eighteen, went to live with his sister's family and was finally able to pursue his music career - which might have been more difficult to accomplish had his father lived since he had insisted that his son obtain a traditional education before a musical one.52 In looking for guidance in his new career as composer, Poulenc enquired about possible composition teachers. In 1917,

Vifiez sent him to who redirected him to Paul Vidal, professor at the

Conservatoire de Paris. Evidence of the strain that existed between the various factions and philosophies in the music world of the time is noticeable in Vidal's reaction to Poulenc's dedication of his Rapsodie negre to Erik Satie. Upon seeing this proof of Poulenc's affiliation with Satie, afumiste and old student of the Schola Cantorum, Vidal had a fit of rage and sent Poulenc away.53 Poulenc then met with Ravel, again with little success. It was not until 1921, on Darius Milhaud's advice, that he began sporadic composition lessons garden-party. Pour ma part, craignant de me montrer trop pietre danseur, j'imaginai de faire observer a Francis que pendant la guerre la danse etait interdite et que ma mere serait peut-etre opposee a ma participation au spectacle prevu. Francis, desireux de mener son projet a bien, tout en tenant compte de mon observation, decida de renoncer aux danses et de les remplacer par des 'tableaux vivants.' Son pere vint a notre reunion et prit des photographies en couleurs sur plaques." Note: for the definition of tableaux vivants, see Chapter 3, footnote 175. 52 Interview with Mme Rosine Seringe, November 3, 2006 in Paris. 53 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.55. Letter from Poulenc to Ricardo Vines (26 September 1917): "Recommande par un de mes amis, lui-meme tres camarade de Paul Vidal je vais voir ce dernier pour lui causer de mon entree au Conservatoire.// Au debut de ma visite il est assez aimable, me demande quels professeurs j'ai eus jusqu'ici etc. etc. puis il me demande si je lui ai apporte un manuscrit. Je lui passe alors le manuscrit de ma Rapsodie negre. II la lit attentivement, plisse le front, roule des yeux furibards en voyant la dedicace a Erik Satie se leve et me hurle exactement ceci: 'Votre ceuvre est infecte, inepte, c'est une couillonnerie infame. Vous vous foutez de moi, des quintes partout; et cela est-ce cul cet Honoloulou? Ah! Je vois que vous marchez avec la bande Stravinsky Satie et Cie, eh bien bonsoir' et il m'a presque mis a la porte. Me voila done sur le carreau ne sachant que faire, qui aller consulter, etc..." 28

with that continued until 1925. But in the meantime Poulenc's group of acquaintances had grown to include a number of the avant-garde's members: Satie,

Stravinsky, Serge Diaghilev, Picasso, , Georges Auric, Max Jacob and Jean

Cocteau.

One of these pivotal contacts was Adrienne Monnier and her bookshop/lending library La Maison des Amis des Livres. It was in 1917 that a close childhood friend,

Raymonde Linossier,55 introduced him to this small bookshop on rue de l'Odeon. Jacques

Prevert appropriately described this bookstore in the following manner:

A shop, a small store, a stall from the country fair, a temple, an igloo, a theatre's wings, a wax and dreams museum, a lecture room and sometimes simply a bookstore with books to sell or to lend and return, and clients, les amis des livres, who have come in to browse, buy, take away books. And read them.56

This small bookshop was to become for the next few decades one of the most renowned librairies of Paris especially when it came to obtaining the latest avant-garde publications.

Opened in November 1915, the bookstore quickly gained a reputation for its congenial atmosphere and its regular readings of works by their authors. Poulenc described it thus:

If you opened the door of Monnier's bookstore between the hours of four and seven in the afternoon, most of the time you would find Leon-Paul

54 For more details regarding these lessons with Koechlin, see Robert Orledge, "Poulenc and Koechlin: 58 lessons and a friendship" in Francis Poulenc: Music, Art and Literature, Sydney Buckland and Myriam Chimenes, eds. (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 1999), pp.9-47. 55 Raymonde Linossier (1897-1930) was a lawyer and sister of Alice Ardoin and Suzanne Latarjet. She studied law and orientalism. Passionate about the latter, she worked for the Guimet Museum from 1923 until her sudden death on 30 January 1930. Childhood friend of Poulenc, she introduced him to Adrienne Monnier's bookstore and was a determining influence of Poulenc's literary tastes. During the summer of 1928, Poulenc enrolled the aid of Alice to ask Raymonde's hand in marriage (see Correspondance, pp. 287- 89) but was turned down. Thus Raymonde's death was especially difficult for Poulenc to bear. He often mentioned how much he missed her valuable advice and kept a photograph of her with him at all times until his death. He also dedicated many of his works to her memory. 56 Adrienne Monnier, "Preface" m.Rue de l'Odeon (Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1960), p.ll. "Une boutique, un petit magasin, une baraque foraine, un temple, un igloo, les coulisses d'un theatre, un musee de cire et de reves, un de lecture et parfois une librairie toute simple ayec des livres a vendre ou a louer et a rendre, et des clients, les amis des livres, venus pour les feuilleter, les acheter, les emporter. Et les lire." 29

Fargue there, who was the guiding light, Valery Larbaud and James Joyce. They were the faithful ones, the regulars; and then the most varied types of writers often crossed the threshold: Valery as often as Max Jacob, [Paul] Claudel as often as Apollinaire.57

It is in this literary environment at rue de l'Odeon that Poulenc met and heard poets such as

Fargue, Paul Eluard, Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire, and writers such as Paul

Valery, Andre Gide and Paul Claudel read their works, some of which had not yet been published. Later on, these informal dialogues were to greatly inspire Poulenc in his persistent choice of contemporary poets for the compositions of his numerous melodies.59.

He admitted to being more comfortable with poets whom he had personally known and heard rather than the "classical" ones. Out of these meetings at La Maison des Amis des

Livres came two intimate artistic movements: les Bibistes (derived from Raymonde

Linossier's one-page "novel" Bibi-la-bibiste - dedicated to Poulenc - of 1917) and les

Potassons (from 1918 to 1923 and limited to a select few patrons of Monnier's bookshop).

As Monnier described in "Souvenirs de Vautre guerre":

Bibism was a sort of Dada before its time. It displayed a taste for the baroque and the primitive. It cherished primitive arts and those forms of popular art that expressed themselves in animal skins, boxes made of shells, surprise postcards, pictures made of postage stamps, constructions out of cork, etc. Where Dadaism had put tragedy, Bibism put tenderness.

Potasson. - Variety of the human species that is identifiable by its kindness and its feeling for life. For the Potassons pleasure is positive; they are immediately in the know, they are good-hearted and game for anything. When the Potassons meet, everything goes well, everything can be put right, they enjoy themselves effortlessly, the world is bright, they cross it from one end to the other, from the huge animals of the beginning - they have seen

57 Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis, p. 131. "Si vous poussiez la porte de la librairie Monnier entre quatre et sept heures du soir, vous y trouviez, la plupart du temps, Leon-Paul Fargue, qui en etait Fame, Valery- Larbaud [sic] et James Joyce. C'etait les fideles, les habitues; et puis passaient frequemment le seuil les ecrivains les plus differents: Valery aussi bien que Max Jacob, Claudel aussi bien qu'Apollinaire." 58 Some of these melodies and the relationship between Poulenc and poets such as Apollinaire, Eluard and Jacob will be further discussed in Chapters 5 and 6. 30

them, and they were there - until the end of ends when everything begins again, always with good appetite and good humour.

The light-heartedness and good humour that pervaded these meetings were well-matched to

Poulenc's personality - his sense of humour, his sociability, his storytelling abilities and his joie de vivre. Even the reference to "bon appetit" relates well to the composer who was

known for his love of the bonne cuisine.

The real impact of the war came for Poulenc when he was forced to complete his

three-year military service from 1918-1921, stemming from a law passed by the

government during the war. This mandatory service was extremely difficult for the young

man who had barely embarked on his new music career and who was making friends with

some of the most exciting artists of his time. In his correspondence from the second half of

1918 when he was mobilized the furthest from Paris, Poulenc expressed his melancholy and

loneliness multiple times:

Unfortunately for me, I have no agreeable comrade with me, making my isolation weigh even more. As well the constant thoughts that connect me to my friends of Paris and relentlessly torment me, to such an extent that I feel the imminent moment where I will give up my whole spirit as food for the hypocrites.60

Monnier, "Souvenirs de l'autre guerre" in Rue de I'Odeon, p.48. "Le bibisme cherchait a instaurer le gout du baroque et du primitif. On y honorait les arts sauvages et ces formes d'art populaire qui s'expriment par des fantaisies sur peluche, coffrets en coquillages, cartes postales a surprises, tableaux en timbres-poste, constructions en bouchons, etc. La ou les dadas ont mis le tragique, bibi mettait la tendresse." pp.47-48; "Potasson. - Variete de l'espece humaine se distinguant par la gentillesse et le sens de la vie. Pour les potassons, le plaisir est un positif: ils sont tout de suite a la page, ils ont de la bonhomie et du cran. Quand les potassons s'assemblent, tout va bien, tout peut s'arranger, on s'amuse sans effort, le monde est clair, on le traverse de bout en bout, du commencement a la fin, depuis les grosses betes des origines - on les a vues, on y etait - jusqu'a la fin des fins ou tout recommence, toujours avec bon appetit et bonne humeur." Note: For a more extensive description of these movements, see Sophie Robert, "Raymonde Linossier: 'Lovely soul who was my flame'" in Francis Poulenc: Music, Art and Literature, pp.87-139. 60 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.64. Letter from Poulenc to Ricardo Vines (3 September 1918) "Malheureusement pour moi je n'ai aucun camarade agreable avec moi, de sorte queTisolement me pese encore plus. D'autre part la constante pensee qui me relie sans arret a mes amis de Paris et d'ailleurs me ronge chaque jour, a tel point que je sens l'instant imminent maintenant ou je vais dormer tout mon esprit en pature aux cafards." 31

I am writing you from a little town in the country [Vaillenauxe], frightfully depressing. I am worn down and alone to face my sad thoughts. This time all work seems impossible to me.61

And this evening, at your house Mademoiselle, one will be playing the piano, one will be reading some Fargue, one will be with friends, in the warmth of sympathetic surroundings. How badly this makes me feel to think of all these joys while I am here shivering in a hovel which lacks doors. This time it's the last straw. Never have I been so unhappy. I am in a hole where there isn't even a piano. Yesterday, I will admit it to you because you are a good friend, I cried like a child when I thought of Paris, of my friends; I can't see the end of all this and this is what despairs me.

Truly the countryside is something frightful for young persons, especially in circumstances such as those in which I find myself.63

If you only knew how bored I am here, far from my friends and everything. Fortunately I have the prospect of soon leaving this frightful place, otherwise one would beat one's head against the wall.64

As Carl B. Schmidt points out, the common threads found in Poulenc's letters during his military service were his "genuine dislike for being stationed away from Paris and his growing circle of friends and acquaintances."65 One finds a dramatic change in the tone of his letters the following year (1919) with his reassignment first 20 km from Paris and then to a desk job in Paris from July 1919 to January 1921, at which time he was demobilized.

61 Ibid., p.78. Letter from Poulenc to Comte Etienne de Beaumont (Late December 1918) "Je vous ecris d'une petite ville de campagne effroyable de tristesse. Je me mine a rester ainsi en tete a tete avec mes tristes pensees. Cette fois tout travail me semble impossible." 62 Ibid., p.78. Letter from Poulenc to Adrienne Monnier (28 December 1918) "Et ce soir, chez vous Mademoiselle, on jouera du piano, on lira du Fargue, on sera entre amis, au chaud dans un cadre . Que cela me fait mal de penser a toutes ces joies alors que je suis ici a grelotter dans une masure sans portes. Cette fois c'est le comble. Jamais je n'ai ete aussi malheureux. Je suis dans un trou ou il n'y a pas meme un piano. // Hier, je vous l'avoue parce que vous etes une tres bonne amie, j 'ai pleure comme un gosse en pensant a Paris, a mes amis; je ne vois pas la fin de tout cela et c'est ce qui me desespere." 63 Ibid., p.80 Letter from Poulenc to Ricardo Vines (31 December 1918) "Vraiment la campagne est une chose effroyable pour des etres jeunes, surtout dans des circonstances comme celles dans lesquelles je suis." 4 Ibid., p.81. Letter from Poulenc to Edouard Souberbielle (31 December 1918) "Si vous saviez comme je me rase ici loin des amis et de tout. Heureusement que j'ai la perspective de bientot quitter ces lieux affreux sans cela ce serait a s'en foutre la tete contre les murs." Note: Souberbielle (1899-1986) was an organist and composer; close friendship with Poulenc from 1916 to 1919. 65 Schmidt, Entrancing Muse, p.53. 32

Yet even through this difficult and restricted time, Poulenc persisted in his choice of music as a career. His compositional output grew and a number of his works were performed in

Paris.

In his search to establish himself as a composer, Poulenc's early compositions demonstrate many influences of the dominant currents. For example, his first work,

Rapsodie negre (1917) was "a reflection of the taste for negro art which had flourished since 1912 under the impetus of Apollinaire."6 His (1918) was a clear example of Stravinskian wind writing, his second Pastorale of 1918 used Debussy's impressionistic parallel fourths and fifths, his Mouvements perpetuels (1918) demonstrated

Satie's use of ostinato bass and his Promenades (1921) possessed elements of .

The composer's first great success with the public at large came in 1923 with the creation in

Monte Carlo of his ballet Les Biches, a collaboration with Diaghilev's . This composition, as well as his Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone written in the previous year, came from an exploration of the neo-classical movement of which Stravinsky had been a major instigator with Symphony of Wind Instruments (1920) and (1922/23).

Yet in combination with these experiments of various contemporary musical styles, Poulenc also began developing his own style. In Toreador (1918), his first vocal work based on a poem by Cocteau, Poulenc explored the use of the music-hall/'cafe-concert aesthetic for the first time. Poulenc repeated this in Cocardes (1919), Valse (1919) and Les Maries de la

Tour Eiffel (1921). Even with the exploration of a number of the developing movements

66 Poulenc, Moi et mes amis, p.50. "Cette oeuvre, reflet du gout pour l'art negre qui sevissait depuis 1912 sous l'impulsion d'Apollinaire..." 33

that were occurring in Paris during his early career, Poulenc's style was to soon focus on

French classicism, Parisian entertainment and French melodies traditions.

The popular entertainment of Paris and Nogent-sur-Marne was to always retain its importance for Poulenc. When he recalled his childhood, Poulenc admitted to sneaking out of the house - with the help of a trustworthy cook - at the age of thirteen in order to attend performances of Jeanne Bloch67 at the Folies dramatiques, or Maurice Chevalier68 at the

Petit Casino and the Carillon. His desire to attend these performances was such that he once sold a pen to a school friend in order to afford two tickets for the music-halls, the

Eldorado and the Scala, and he even once went as far as to sell a Beethoven sonatas score in order to obtain enough money to pay for entry at the Folies Bergere to applaud

Mistinguett.69 His enthusiasm for Jeanne Bloch was such that, while listening to her sing in

Jeanne Bloch (1858-1916) was renowned for her short stature and obese waist. Starting in the 1870s, she performed at cafes-concerts such as FAlcazar d'hiver, le Parisiana and . Dressed in her general's uniform with a riding whip in her hand and a kepi on her head, she knew how to make her audience laugh, never hiding her size and using it to her advantage (e.g. she sang alongside Claudius who was tall and thin, and even alongside the little person Delphin). 68 Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972) was born in Paris and made his cafe-concert debut at the age of twelve at the cafe des Trois-Lions. Following a number of gigs in different cafes-concerts, he became Mistinguett's partner at the Folies-Bergere and then performed at the Casino de Paris which led to an international career. He performed in two operettas at the Theatre des Bouffes-Parisiens: Dede and Ld-haut. And he also starred in films such as Le silence est d'or (1947) and Les enfants du capitaine Grant (1963). For more information regarding Maurice Chevalier, see the following sources: Francois Vals, Maurice Chevalier (Paris: Carpentier, 2002), Edward Behr, Thank Heaven for Little Girls: The True Story of Maurice Chevalier's Life and Times (London: Hutchinson, 1993), David Bret, Maurice Chevalier: up on top of a Rainbow (London: Robson Books, 1992), Claudine Kirgener, Maurice Chevalier: Itineraire d'un inconnu celebre (Paris: Vernal/P. Lebaud, 1988), Pierre Berruer, Maurice Chevalier (Paris: Plon, 1988), Andre Rivollet, Maurice Chevalier: de Menilmontant au Casino de Paris (Paris: B. Grasset, 1927). Maurice Chevalier also wrote many memoirs including: Ma route et mes chansons (Paris: Flammarion, 1998), this is an autobiography of Chevalier first published in 1946, then in 1950; Bravo, Maurice! (Paris: Julliard, 1968), Meme a cheveux blancs (Paris: Presses de la Cite, 1969), Les pensees de Momo (Paris: Presses de la Cite, 1970), My Paris (New York: Macmillan, 1972). 69 Poulenc, A batons rompus, p.44. "Incroyablement jeune, j'ai hante les music-halls et, des 1912 (j'avais alors treize ans), j'ai savoure les delices des cerises a l'eau-de-vie du Petit Casino, ce cher Petit Casino qui devient helas... un cinema de plus... que c'est bete. // Mes parents m'offraient souvent le concert mais il [me] fallait des tresors d'astuce pour m'offrir le cafe-concert. // Un stylo revendu a un camarade du lycee Condorcet m'assurait deux entrees a l'Eldorado et a la Scala, et une fois - oh profanation -J'ai pu revendre sur les quais, grace a la complicite de notre cuisiniere, un recueil de sonates de Beethoven, ce qui, ensuite, me permit d'applaudir Mistinguett aux Folies-Bergere." 34

Prostitution and Vierge fletrie, he dreamed of writing an opera for her.7 And his love and admiration for Chevalier, which will be explored later on, was to remain throughout his life and become influential in some of his later works, especially his opera-bouffe Les Mamelles de Tiresias.

The other reason Poulenc felt a connection to the world of the popular was because of Nogent-sur-Marne. This childhood space was, according to Poulenc:

(...) a paradise, with its open-air dance-halls, its purveyors of french-fries, and its bals musettes that we baptized "dancings" in 1913. ... It is there that I learned the tunes of [Henri] Christine and [Vincent] Scotto which became my folklore. The bad-boy side of my music, you see, is not artificial, as is sometimes believed, because it is associated with my very fond childhood memories.7

These references to dances, bals musettes, Scotto and Christine further confirm Poulenc's knowledge of and attraction to the popular aesthetic. His love for popular Parisian culture continued into his early adulthood when he became a member of le groupe des Six. The group and many of their friends would meet at Milhaud's home every Saturday evening and

after dinner, lured by the steam-driven merry-go-rounds, the mysterious booths, the Daughter of Mars, the shooting-galleries, the games of chance, the menageries, the din of the mechanical organs that relentlessly and simultaneously ground out the music-hall and revues tunes, [they] would

Mistinguett (born Jeanne Bourgeois, dite Miss; 1875-1956) was a renowed music-hall artist who starred in innumerable revues. She became the best known performer of the inter-war years, appearing at the theatre and the cinema. For more information regarding Mistinguett, see the following sources: Claude Dufresne, Tout ce que Mistinguett m 'a dit (Neuilly-sur-Seine: M. Lafon, 2005), Elizabeth Coquart, Mistinguett: la reine des Annees Folles (Paris: Albin Michel, 1996), David Bret, The Mistinguett Legend (London: Robson, 1990) as well as Mistinguett's autobiography entitled Toute ma vie (Paris: Julliard, 1954). 70 Poulenc, Entretiens, p. 136. "Avec quel enthousiasme je me souviens de l'enorme Jeanne Bloch dans Prostitution, Vierge fletrie, dontjerevais de faireun opera..." 71 Ibid., p.18. "Pour en revenir a Nogent, c'etait pour moi le paradis, avec ses guinguettes, ses marchands de frites et ses bals musettes qu'on baptisa vers 1913 « dancings » (on prononcait « dansinges » sur les bords de la Marne). C'est la que j'ai connu les airs de Christine et de Scotto qui sont devenus, pour moi, mon folklore. Le cote mauvais garfon de ma musique, vous voyez, n'est pas artificiel comme on le croit parfois, puisqu'il se rattache a des souvenirs d'enfance tres chers." 35

visit the Fair of Montmartre, or occasionally the Cirque Medrano to see the Fratellinis in their sketches.72

Poulenc admitted that he pursued this regular attendance at the music-halls until the age of thirty.73 This continuous relationship with Parisian popular entertainment of the early- twentieth century was to deeply influence the musical language of the composer.

His eclectic musical language demonstrates this ability to combine past and present, nostalgia and avant-garde. His first compositions with a popular aesthetic are filled with patriotism. Undoubtedly inspired by Cocteau's words, Poulenc was also very aware of and familiar with the popular Parisian world. His knowledge of performers and their repertoire as well as his regular attendance at these establishments demonstrate not only his curiosity but also the importance he placed on this style of entertainment. It was more than simple voyeurism or an attempt to fit into a lower social class. Poulenc truly felt a connection to this genre and believed in its worth to French culture - his radio broadcasts of the late 1940s have become a testimony to this admiration as will be explored in Chapter 4.

Humanism/Nationalism/Patriotism

In order to better understand the role of patriotism in Poulenc's life, a brief synopsis of the rise of nationalism and patriotism in France is worth considering. At the same time these ideals cannot be fully appreciated without an explanation of the conflict that existed

72 Darius Milhaud, Ma vie heureuse (Bourg-la-Reine: Editions Aug. Zurfluh, 1998), p.84. "Apres le diner, attires par les maneges a vapeur, les boutiques mysterieuses, la Fille de Mars, les tirs, les loteries, les menageries, le vacarme des orgues mecaniques a rouleaux perfores qui semblaient moudre implacablement et simultanement tous les flonflons de music-hall et de revues, nous allions a la Foire de Montmartre, et quelquefois au cirque Medrano pour assister aux sketches des Fratellini qui denotaient tant d'imagination et de poesie qu'ils etaient dignes de la commedia deH'arte." 73 Poulenc, Entretiens, p.135. "...je crois bon de dire que, de quinze a trente ans, j'ai frequente sans arret le music-hall." 36

within governmental politics regarding the role of France toward the rise of humanism and nationalism.

The 1789 French Revolution with its slogan "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" brought with it a set of dichotomies that have remained constant within the country's social and political framework. Although the Revolution promoted humanism - freedom and equality for everyone - its application in the real world quickly proved problematic. As Tzvetan

Todorov states, the French were faced with the innate contradiction between "citizen" and

"man" as well as "nationalism" and "humanism."7 Earlier in the eighteenth century, before the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau had established the opposed goals of the citizen and the man. In the first instance, the citizen must be a social being dedicated to his nation, his social group, whereas the man must become an individual who possesses universal values.

This opposition between love of country and love of humanity is one that the French

Revolution attempted to accommodate. As Todorov points out, "Those very voices that claimed affinity with Rousseau in 1789 turn[ed] out to be impervious to his teaching: the

Revolution aim[ed] to satisfy both man and citizen."75 Many of the early actors in the establishment of the new government tried to satisfy both the cosmopolitan and the nationalist/patriotic views. The dichotomies that had been pointed out by Rousseau were reconciled in their minds by giving France a place of honour within the European continent and even the world. France became the universal example for all other countries to follow.

By obtaining this role, Frenchmen could be both patriots devoted to France and humanists,

74 Tzvetan Todorov, On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism and Exoticism in French Thought, translated by Catherine Porter (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993), pp. 171-91. 75 Ibid., p. 186. 37

since their country was the example that had to be followed in order to gain the universal values of liberty, equality and fraternity. In defending French interests, they were defending the world at large.

Following the defeat of the French to the Germans (Prussians) in 1870 during the

Franco-Prussian War and the ensuing disastrous Commune, the Third Republic was formed.

It was the fifth governmental system since the Revolution of 1789.77 The main goal of the

Third Republic was to alleviate the Catholic and monarchist influences. To accomplish this goal, the government instilled a free mandatory and public education system. With this system in place and a strong group of young indoctrinated teachers, the republican spirit was easily disseminated. As pointed out by Winock, "the elementary school had profoundly anchored in the minds morals, a civic spirit and patriotism..."78 Although the secondary education found in the lycees and colleges was not as accessible and retained a superior social status for this period, the mandatory elementary education made the literacy of the majority of French society possible as witnessed in the correspondence of millions of soldiers during the First World War. The importance of the written media as a form of communication during the early-twentieth century, a result of the freedom of the French press as decreed in 1881, can also partially be explained by this high level of literacy which led to a burgeoning mass culture. The number of newspapers that were published and distributed increased dramatically in the early years of the twentieth century. Papers existed for all social groups and their various tastes and interests. Amongst the most popular for

76Ibid.,p.l88. 77 The preceding governmental systems were the First Empire, the Second Restoration, the Monarchie de juillet and the Second Empire. 78 Winock, La Belle Epoque, p.306. "Au demeurant, l'ecole primaire a profondement ancre dans les esprits une morale, un esprit civique et un patriotisme..." 38

general information were Le Petit Parisien, Le Matin and Le Journal. The high society read

L 'Echo de Paris and Le Temps. And if one was more interested in militant activities, one could read Le Gaulois for royalist activities, L'Action frangaise for monarchism,

L 'Humanite for socialism, and La Fronde for .

In the literary world, one journal endeavoured to combine the various movements of the period for their readers. In 1909, La Nouvelle revue frangaise (NRF) was established for the purpose of publishing French writers and poets who represented a "pure literature, indifferent to public tastes, and refusing any political alignment."79 This search for literary works which were independent from the personal ideology of the publishers made it possible to read works from Paul Claudel immersed in Catholicism side by side with works by Andre Gide which were full of sensuality and forbidden desires. Poulenc had a subscription to this journal and was an avid reader of its content. Soule recalled that

Poulenc incited him on many occasions to buy a certain copy of the NRF in order to read certain worksby authors of the avant-garde.

Yet, prior to the stable economy and the improvement in lifestyles post-1900,

France was having difficulty in establishing a stable form of government that would accomplish the desired outcomes of the Revolution - "Liberie, Egalite, Fraternite." The loss of lands (especially -Lorraine) to Germany in 1870 incited a movement of

79 Ibid., p.330. "Tous partagent une meme exigence, celle d'une litterature pure, indifferente aux gouts du public, refusant tout alignement politique: 'La NRF, ecrit [Jacques] Copeau en 1912, n'a point de patrons a menager. Elle fait profession de liberie. Sa tache est de dire ce qu'elle croit juste ou ce qu'il est hardi de penser sur le temps, et contre lui. De chez nous, je n'entends bannir que la mediocrite, la secheresse et la mauvaise foi politique, ou la politique tout court.'" 80 Soule, Francis Poulenc dans sesjeunes annees: Souvenirs, p. 12. "Francis me fit connaitre encore d'autres poetes, Saint Pol Roux le magnifique, Leon Paul Fargue, Rabindranath Tagore. Sur ses conseils, j'avais achete les poemes de Leon Paul Fargue et un jour ou je manifestais a Francis mon enthousiasme pour ce recueil, il me dit doucement: 'Oui, c'est bien mais tout de mime ne le metspas trop haut.' II Je ne sais pas par quelles voies Francis Poulenc avait appris l'existence des auteurs 'd'avant-garde' edites par le de France et surtout par la Nouvelle Revue Francaise,.. .mais je lui resterai toujours reconnaissant..." 39

Revanche (revenge) that maintained strong appeal in certain groups up to 1914. A number of events placed a strain on the Third Republic and caused it to come close to dissolution a few times before 1900. The monarchist, boulangist, anarchist and nationalist movements as well as the Dreyfus Affair created dissension and, at times, chaos within the young government. The monarchists supported a return of the monarchy in the person of Jean d'Orleans, the due de Guise, great-grandson of Louis Philippe ler. The boulangists, on the other hand, championed general Georges Boulanger from 1886 to 1889 with the goals of revenge against Germany and greater socialist policies as well as, like the monarchists, overturning the Third Republic. The anarchist movement was made up primarily of poor individuals who believed that because of the social inequalities, they had a right to revenge, which was accomplished overwhelmingly through terrorist acts such as the bombing of the

Chambre des deputes by Auguste Vaillant on 9 December 1893. Many of these anarchists

(e.g. Ravachol, Jeronimo Caserio, Vaillant, Emile Henry) were active in the 1890s and ended up being condemned to death for their crimes. The nationalist movement developed a strong following after the Franco-Prussian war and maintained its momentum up to the

First World War. Its major players included Maurice Barres,81 Paul Deroulede82 and

81 Maurice Barres (1862-1923) was a French novelist and nationalist politician. As an advocate of the supremacy of the individual self, he wrote the trilogy of novels Le culte du moi (1888-91). Finding that cultivation of the ego called for action as well as analysis, Barres turned to a nationalism that grew into vengeful hatred of Germany, fanned by strong racist feeling and by love for his native Lorraine. The trilogy Le roman de Venergie nationale (1897-1902) embodied his nationalistic views. After World War I, Barres remained a patriotic extremist. 82 Paul Deroulede (1846-1914) was a French poet and politician. An ardent nationalist and advocate of revenge against Germany, he helped found the revanchist Ligue des Patriotes, supported General Georges Boulanger and campaigned against Alfred Dreyfus. After trying to overthrow the government in 1899, he was exiled in 1900 but allowed to return in 1905. His patriotic poems include the collection Chants du soldat (1872). 40

Charles Maurras. The principal aim of these nationalists was to establish a strong French identity against all other countries. These nationalist figures were primarily characterized as writer-politicians, anti-Semitists, xenophobic and Revanchard. Influenced by these ideologies, the Dreyfus Affair of 1894 was to become a rallying point for two opposing camps: the dreyfusards (intellectuals, socialists, radicals, antimilitary moderate republicans under la Ligue des droits de I'homme) and the anti-dreyfusards (the anti-Semitic, religious nationalist right under la Ligue de la Patrie francaise)}4 Accused of spying for the

Germans in 1894 based on the evidence that the writing found in some documents resembled his own handwriting, Jewish army Captain Alfred Dreyfus was condemned to exile on Vile du Diable in Guyane, and the matter was forgotten until 1896 when a new suspect was put forth. Proof that false evidence had been added to Dreyfus' record by a colonel of the French army caused uproar and division within French society, beginning with Emile Zola's open letter "J'accuse" in George Clemenceau's85 paper VAurore.

Despite the government and the army's continued denial of a cover-up, Dreyfus was freed and reinstated into the army in 1906.

Charles Maurras (1868-1952) was a French political writer and reactionary. Moving spirit and principal spokesperson oi I Action francaise, he was an antidemocrat, racist, monarchist, and worshiper of tradition and of the organic nation-state. 84 For a complete study of the effects of the Dreyfus Affair, both short-term and long-term, on French musicians, see Jane F. Fulcher, French Cultural Politics and Music from the Dreyfus Affair to the First World War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). 85 Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) was a French political figure, twice premier (1906-09, 1917-20). Failing to get reelected to the chamber of deputies in 1893, he devoted himself to journalism, writing a daily article in his newspaper La Justice and founding L 'Aurore (1903) in order to defend Dreyfus. Elected as a senator in 1902, he became premier in 1906. After his defeat he started his newspaper L'homme libre (changed to L'homme enchaine in 1914) where he attacked the government's lack of military preparedness against Germany. Succeeding as premier and war minister in 1917, Clemenceau renewed the dispirited morale of France, persuaded the allies to agree to a unified command and pushed the war vigorously until the final victory. Leading the French delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, he insisted on Germany's disarmament and was never satisfied with the Versailles Treaty. Defeated in the presidential election of 1920, he retired to his native Vendee. 41

But even with all these obstacles, the Third Republic succeeded in surviving and thriving. The late-nineteenth-century violence demonstrated by the various aforementioned movements was transformed into a moderate political movement, which searched for a greater unity and force against the growing German threat. It called upon the numerous

French patriots to put their differences aside in order to present a solid front. In politics this was observed in the unification of the numerous political parties under I'union sacree behind the leadership of Raymond Poincare at the start of World War I.

This call for unity and patriotism was in direct conflict with the nationalist movement that had grown during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries with

Maurice Barres, a renowned writer and one of French nationalism's most famous spokesmen, at its helm. Starting in the 1890s, Barres advocated for an absolute nationalism, one that was based on determinism and conservatism. He placed emphasis on the

Frenchmen's common past. It was the common blood/ancestry (especially) as well as the shared heritage that determined an individual's nationality and thus loyalty - "With a professorial chair and a cemetery, we have the essence of a fatherland."86 According to

Barres, one could not modify one's nationality at will: "If I were to be naturalized as a

Chinese and conform scrupulously to the prescriptions of Chinese law, I would not stop forming French ideas and associating them in French."87 This ethnocentricity, which eventually led to xenophobia, was also found in Barres' 1893 pamphlet "Contre les etrangers." Its message was translated in French society through a growing discomfort

Quoted from Barres, Scenes et doctrines du nationalisme, I, p.45 in Todorov, p.230. Quoted from Barres, Ibid., pp.43-44 in Todorov, p.230. 42

with foreigners, immigrants and increased anti-Semitism that would peak with the Dreyfus

Affair of 1894.

The amalgamation of the words "nationalism" and "patriotism" in many studies is problematic. A growing number of scholars, as pointed out by Carlo Caballero, are insisting on establishing the differences between the two terms.88 Eugen Weber, in his book

The Nationalist Revival in France, 1905-1914 identifies this difference between patriotism and nationalism as follows:

Patriotism may be defined as love of a particular place, of a particular way of life above all others. But this love does not imply a desire to foist it on others; it is more likely to imply a reluctance to share. And so, patriotism, far from being expansive or offensive, is intrinsically a defensive attitude. This is not true of nationalism. "The abiding purpose of every nationalist," writes George Orwell, "is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality." If this is so, it is clear how patriotism may become nationalism - or may be led to take up an attitude not very different outwardly from the obvious manifestations of nationalism. A defensive patriot who feels or fears a threat to the object of his affections may bristle and react the same as an offensive nationalist.

This distinction between "patriotism" and "nationalism" plays a pivotal role when discussing Francis Poulenc. Although in practice and in politics, as demonstrated by Weber for the period of 1905-1914, this difference was not so easily noticeable, in the case of

Poulenc it is more accurate to qualify his actions and views as patriotic rather than nationalist. Throughout his life, Poulenc rarely discussed his political views or even demonstrated an interest in the politics of his country. Although Louis Durey, a member of

88 Carlo Caballero, "Patriotism or Nationalism? Faure and the Great War," Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol.52, No.3 (Autumn 1999), p.596. See footnote 7 of Caballero's article for a list of sources discussing this etiological difference. 89 Eugen Weber, The Nationalist Revival in France, 1905-1914 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968), p.2. 43

Les Six, was deeply involved with the growing Marxist movement of the 1930s, and Darius

Milhaud was a Jew who went into exile in America during World War II, Poulenc seldom discussed political issues in his correspondence.90 Poulenc was an artist whose life revolved around Paris. His music was often described as French and, as previously mentioned, was highly influenced by an aesthetic rooted in Parisian and French heritage and culture. His consistent references to all that is French in his music are proof of his patriotism, his deep love for his country's traditions. His incredibly complete knowledge of

French literature, paintings, poetry and music (both high art and popular) signals his commitment to all that defines France as a cultural entity. Yet even this unilateral focus did not prevent him from showing an interest in the new aesthetics of the twentieth century. He was curious about twelve-tone and atonal music - he visited Schoenberg at his home in

February 1922 with Milhaud and later on, he became familiar with ' experiments in and had an active correspondence with . He knew and admired the music of Bach, Schubert, Schumann, Bartok and Mozart yet he was more strongly influenced by Chabrier, Satie and early Stravinsky. His music was to remain rooted in French culture throughout his life.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a relatively new term. It was invented by a Swiss physician, Johannes

Hofer, in the late-seventeenth century (his doctoral dissertation which introduced the term was written in 1688). This doctor combined two Greek roots - nostos, to return home, and algia, a mournful or painful condition - to form the word nostalgia. For the first hundred

90 For a detailed account of the role that members of Les Six played during the rise of the socialist movement in the 1930s, see Jane F. Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual: Music and Ideology in France 1914-1940 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp.223-36. 44

years, nostalgia was a medical term used to describe a condition experienced (at first) by

Swiss soldiers who became sick (melancholic) for their home while on tour of duty in a foreign country. So nostalgia became synonymous with homesickness. In his thesis, Hofer states:

Nostalgia is born from a disorder of the imagination, from which it follows that the nervous sap always takes the very same direction in the brain and, as a result, excites the very same idea, the desire to return to one's native land... The nostalgic are affected by but few external objects, and nothing surpasses the impression which the desire to return makes on them: while in a normal state the soul can become equally interested in all objects, in nostalgia its attention is diminished; it feels the attraction of very few objects and practically limits itself to one single idea.91

This medical explanation for the 'disease' of nostalgia was expanded upon during the eighteenth century by theorists such as J. Locke (1690), Theodor Zwinger (1710) and F.

Hutcheson (1728). Their research put forth the idea that nostalgia was related to memory,

"...tying an idea and an accidental occurrence so closely together that every repetition of that occurrence necessarily revives the idea related to it."92 Later in the century John

Gregory (1765) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (c.1778) associated the rise of these particular memories to the sense of hearing, with music at the forefront, and a desire for a lost childhood:

We generally hear with pleasure the music we have been accustomed to in our youth, because it awakens the memory of our guiltless and happy days. [...] The reason is, we have first heard these airs at a time when our minds were so deeply affected by some passion, as to give a tincture to every object that presented itself at the same time; and though the passion and cause of it are entirely forgot, yet an object that has once been connected with them,

Quoted from Johannes Hofer, of Mulhouse, Dissertatio medica de nostalgia (Basel, 1688) in Jean Starobinski, "The Idea of Nostalgia," Diogenes, Vol. 14 (1966), p.87. 92Ibid.,p.91. 45

will often awake the emotion, though it cannot recall to remembrance the original cause of it.

We shall seek in vain to find in this air any energic accents capable of producing such astonishing effects. These effects, which are void in regard to strangers, come alone from custom, reflections, and a thousand circumstances, which, retraced by those who hear them, and recalling the idea of their country, their former pleasures, their youth, and all their joys of life, excite in them a bitter sorrow for the loss of them. The music [ranz-des- vaches] does not in this case act precisely as music, but as a memorative 94

sign.

As the nineteenth century advanced and a growing movement of romanticism developed, nostalgia became less of a medical condition than a psychological phenomenon. It was more and more associated with lost youth, lost chances, loss of nature and commemoration.

The Romantics came to view nostalgia as incurable. Returning home would not be enough to cure this disease. As Emmanuel Kant said, ".. .what a person wishes to recover is not so much the actual place where he passed his childhood but his youth itself. He is not straining toward something which he can repossess, but toward an age which is forever beyond his reach."95 With the progress made in medicine during the late-nineteenth century, the number of medical diagnoses of nostalgia diminished and the view of nostalgia changed. As Svetlana Boym notes, What was cherished was the incompleteness, the fossil, the ruin, the miniature, the souvenir, not the total recreation of a past paradise or hell. As Celeste Olalquiaga observed for the nineteenth-century imagination, Atlantis was not a 'golden age' to be reconstructed but a 'lost civilization' to engage with through ruins, traces and fragments. The melancholic sense of loss turned into a style, a late nineteenth-century fashion.

93 Quoted from John Gregory, A Comparitive View of the State and Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World, London, 1777 (7th ed.), pp.164-166, in Starobinski, "The Idea of Nostalgia," p.92. 94 Quoted from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dictionary of Music, trans. W. Waring and J. French, London, n.d. (c. 1778), p.267, in Starobinski, "The Idea of Nostalgia," p.92. Quoted from Emmanuel Kant, Anthropologic in pragmatischer Hinsicht, 1798, I. XXXII, in Starobinski, "The Idea of Nostalgia," p.94. 96 Svetlana Boym, The Future of Nostalgia (New York: Basic Books, 2001), p.16. 46

Thus the concept of nostalgia came to be included into the everyday speech of the twentieth-century person, and "its acquired poetic meaning has little by little taken on a pejorative connotation: the word implies the useless yearning for a world or for a way of life from which one has been irrevocably severed."97 By the early-twentieth century, nostalgia grew in stature so that "...a provincial ailment, mal dupays, became a disease of the modern age, mal du siecle."9&

Of course nostalgia is still not a clear-cut idea. Many layers of explanation can be construed depending on the manner in which it is approached and to whom it is applied. As

David Lowenthal suggests, people can be attracted to the past because (1) it is familiar thus comfortable, (2) it can give the present purpose, (3) it enhances communal and national identity, (4) it enriches the present or (5) it can be a way to escape the present." Added to these multiple layers, Fred Davis talks about the sociology of nostalgia, how North

American society has succeeded in fashioning a generational nostalgia through music, clothes, speech and attitudes by transforming them into symbols representing a particular group of people.100 And Boym separates nostalgia into two tendencies: (1) restorative and

(2) reflective. The first type refers to the restoration of the "true" past - "rebuild the lost home and patch up the memory gaps" - and stresses the nostos, the return home. It claims to deal with the objective truth and does not view itself as nostalgia. It also characterizes the nationalist revival movements and is applicable to post-war France and its obsession

Starobinski, "The Idea of Nostalgia," p. 101. Boym, The Future of Nostalgia, p.7. David Lowenthal, The Past is a Foreign Country (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). D Fred Davis, Yearning for Yesterday: a Sociology of Nostalgia (New York: The Free Press, 1979), p.41. 47

with the construction of memorials and the rebuilding of villages, towns and cities. The latter type, "reflective nostalgia," lingers on algia, the pain. It focuses on the longing and

"delays the homecoming". It wants to maintain the distance between the subject and the object, concentrating on the past and its ruins without a desire to rebuild what is lost.

Instead it cherishes the fragments of the memory and enjoys the space in time that exists between that memory and the present, the impossibility of a return. It is much more individual and cultural in its nature.102 Poulenc's later relationship with the popular seems to stem in part from this reflective tendency of nostalgia.

Another view of nostalgia comes from the French philosopher, Vladimir

Jankelevitch. Jankelevitch explores both the "closed" and "opened" features surrounding nostalgia. In a sense nostalgia is closed because it is solely focused, at first it would seem, on the need to return home which is represented by a geographical space. Yet upon further exploration one realizes that nostalgia has "deceived" its sufferer because the search has not been for a specific place but rather a specific time - a youth that has come and passed, the idea already postulated by Kant in the late-eighteenth century. As in the epic Odyssey,

Ulysses' quest to return home ends up being filled with deception since he was actually hoping to return to the young Penelope and the country of his youth. As Jankelevitch states,

"the nostalgic oscillates between two regrets: the regret, when he is away, for his lost country; the regret, when he returns, of missed adventures."103 This observation indicates the cyclical nature of nostalgia and the impossibility for resolution because of the

101 This reaction to WWI will be further discussed in Chapter 2. 102 Boym, The Future of Nostalgia, pp. xv, 41,49. 103 Vladimir Jankelevitch, L'irreversible et la nostalgie (Paris: Flammarion, 1974), pp.297-298. "Le nostalgique oscille done entre ses deux regrets : le regret, au loin, de la patrie perdue; le regret, au retour, des aventures manquees." 48

irreversibility of the timeline. This imbedded contradiction of nostalgia, as expressed by both Boym and Jankelevitch, may explain the opposition that one finds in the early career of Poulenc and his experimentation with both the avant-garde movement and the conservatism of his musical language. As a young man, Poulenc would have been both excited about starting his new career and his adult life, while being nostalgic about what he was leaving behind - his childhood, his parents' home, the lack of responsibilities, his friends - especially during his three-year military service.

Jankelevitch concludes his thoughts on nostalgia by arguing for music's special place in the conflict that we experience with nostalgia: "music, a temporal discourse, is irreversible like life; yet, unlike life, the musical work can be reiterated." The possibility of repetition of a composition through an encore or the playback of a record, even if the second time around the work differs qualitatively from the first time, this questionable control over time and indirectly over nostalgia, gives music power. Music has the ability to make a temporal reference, whether it be specific or not, to a time when one knew happiness and peace. This theory ties in directly with the eighteenth-century studies of

Gregory and Rousseau who believed in a direct link between music (especially heard during childhood) and memory. Even the creation of folklore and popular songs collections suggests nostalgia for the past, a desire to retain what is feared to become lost to the present.

Because of the irreversibility of time, it is probable that composers who utilized quotes from their folklore or popular music were attempting to make the past come back to life. Thus

Poulenc's use of the popular Parisian entertainment style in some of his works can be

104 Ibid., p.305. "...la musique, discours temporel, est irreversible comme la vie; mais, a la difference de la vie, l'oeuvre musicale est reiterable..." • 49

understood as a nostalgic attempt to maintain this genre despite the growing internationalism and Americanization of Paris and its music.

Although nostalgia is typically applied to the older generation, it is also possible to apply it to a younger generation. In Poulenc's case, when considering the impact of the

First World War on French society and the active patriotic movement that existed pre-1914, the notion of a patriotic nostalgia is understandable. Taking into account Poulenc's childhood, his extensive knowledge of French culture, his interest in the past and the avant- garde and his association with Cocteau, in addition to the social framework of 1920s

Parisian life and the growing internationalism, one realizes that the young man that Poulenc was would have been capable and willing to encourage the retention of Parisian entertainment culture. His strong Parisian roots would have been enough to support this desire during his early career. While many of the early compositions by Poulenc, especially those related to Les Six and Cocteau, were considered as simply an attempt to shock the audience out of its complacency and the works of a minor composer (a composer of musique legere), Poulenc's continuing appreciation of Parisian popular culture throughout his life leads us to believe that, even with the obvious publicity stunt of some of his collaborations, his enthusiasm and respect for this style of specifically French music was never in question. Chapter 2 -Artistic Life in Paris from the Belle Epoque to the Late 1920s

Late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Paris was one of the most exciting and dynamic cities in the world. Numerous artists from all walks of life were willing to associate with one another and combine their knowledge, skills and ideas to create new styles. The many artistic movements that saturated this period mingled and influenced the creative process of several musicians, painters and writers. One of the defining characteristics of this period was the intersection that existed between lowbrow and highbrow art forms. This inclusion of lowbrow aesthetic in "serious" art was prominent and will be further examined in this chapter in order to gain an appreciation for the world in which Poulenc developed his compositional techniques.

The Great War of 1914-18 and its solid nationalism/patriotism, the ensuing impact on Parisian society (the rise of collective nostalgia) and the various responses by artists equally characterized Poulenc's milieu. Ballets such as Erik Satie's Parade and the collaboration of Les Six to Jean Cocteau's Les Maries de la tour Eiffel, as well as the atmosphere that permeated Parisian life during the 1920s as exemplified by the famous bar- restaurant Le Boeuf sur le toit all played crucial roles in Poulenc's young adult life. An investigation of the activities and social relationships of that time will help elucidate our case for Poulenc's use of lowbrow aesthetic in his oeuvre.

The Intersection of Lowbrow and Highbrow Arts

The levels created by society for the discussion of art are multiple and have varied over the centuries. The definitions of what lowbrow and highbrow consist have been re­ evaluated many times and possess different classifications depending on the culture explored. In European culture lowbrow or popular art has generally been associated with

50 51

the people, the general population who was usually uneducated. In 1921, the French sociologist Charles Lalo characterized popular forms in the following manner: "the absence of professionals who specialize in and live from their art; no paying and aristocratic public; lack of abstract theoretical knowledge; the presence of an almost uniquely oral and local tradition which transmits the rules and usages accepted by all."105 This description in its mirror form can become the definition of highbrow or serious art: one that is characterized by its specialized professionals, its paying and aristocratic public, its theory-based knowledge and practice, and its written and 'universal' transmission of rules to an elite group of chosen few.

Yet when examining the cafe-concert and music-hall culture, we notice that a mixture of these two definitions is necessary. The music found in these establishments was characterized by a growing dependence on professionals who made a living from their art, by a paying public which could include aristocracy, by composers who may or may not have had Conservatory training and who still strongly relied upon the oral tradition while exploiting the use of sheet music. These details then lead us to differentiate between the

"urban" chansons and the "rural" chansons. The first group of chansons is found in the cities and consists primarily of the songs performed in the cafe-concert and music-halls of

Paris, whereas the second group consists of the songs that belong to French folklore still practiced in the rural provinces of France. Again in 1921, Lalo noticed the change in opinion regarding popular art:

105 Charles Lalo, L'art et la vie sociale (Paris; Gaston Doin Editeur, 1921), p.139. "Les formes populaires offrent plusieurs caracteres communs: absence de professionnels specialises et vivant de leur art; point de public payant et aristocratique; ignorance de toute theorie abstraite sur la technique adoptee; presence d'une tradition a peu pres uniquement orale et locale, qui seule transmet des regies et usages acceptes de tous." 52

This popular art, despised yesterday, today has become an object of venerated, even superstitious, respect with all scholars and many artists. This art appears more spontaneous, closer to nature, removed from the known conventions whose origins we know and judge as historical and artificial: there is thus an element of innocence, health, permanence, even eternity. As such, it can pass as the source from which the superior art must rejuvenate from time to time, if it does not want to perish from isolation, pretence and convention: it is the transfusion of new blood, sovereign against the anaemia of the salons or the exclusive groups. It is thus that contemporary music has forced itself to renew its , rhythms and themes with a return to folklore.106

Although referring to popular folklore or "rural" chansons, Lalo's observation was also relevant to the growing use of the popular or "urban" chansons and Parisian entertainment by musicians such as Poulenc. The combination of highbrow and lowbrow arts was one that occurred frequently in early-twentieth-century Paris. At the turn-of-the-century in Paris a growing interest in the popular arts was affecting various painters, musicians and poets.

The desire to overcome the influences of Wagnerism and Impressionism was dominating the French artistic world. In response to the excesses of late-nineteenth-century

Romanticism, many artists decided that a return to simplicity, which was usually associated with popular culture that was perceived as being more in touch with reality and everyday experience, was necessary. Many renowned artists borrowed from the popular in order to

"refresh" their art form.

In painting, le Douanier Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) provided the visual arts with an alternative to Impressionism. His use of bold colours and clear forms mixed with an

Ibid., p.141. "Cet art populaire, autrefois meprise, est aujourd'hui Pobjet d'une veneration respectueuse et meme superstitieuse chez tous les erudits et chez beaucoup d'artistes. II nous apparait comme plus spontane, plus proche de la nature, plus degage des conventions dont nous connaissons trop Porigine historique et artificielle: il a done quelque chose de naif, de sain, de permanent, meme eternel. A ce titre, il peut passer pour la source vive ou Part superieur doit se retremper de temps a autre, s'il ne veut pas perir d'isolement, d'artifice et de convention: e'est la transfusion d'un sang nouveau, souveraine contre Panemie des salons ou des cenacles.// C'est ainsi que la musique contemporaine s'est efforcee a renouveler ses tonalites, ses rythmes, ses themes, en retournant au chant populaire." 53

element of primitivism found in the choice of his subjects became a precursor to Fauvism and Cubism. Paintings such as Un soir de carnaval (1886), Un centenaire de

I'independence (1892), La bohemienne endormie (1897) and Negre attrape par un leopard

(c.1908) combine the ideas of landscape/nature and human figures with a sense of underlying gloom and threat. This combination of cheerfulness and darkness with sadness set the tone for many of the subsequent works that borrowed from popular idioms.

This is noticeable in a number of Georges-Pierre Seurat's, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's and

Pablo Picasso's works of art from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century where circus performers on bare-backed horses, cancan dancers, harlequins and acrobats were frequently used as subjects. Such paintings as Seurat's La Chahut (1889-90), Toulouse-

Lautrec's Jane Avril (1889-90) and Clownesse assise (1896) or Picasso's La Famille des

Saltimbanques and Acrobate it la boule (both from 1905) demonstrate a mixture of

l AO contentment and melancholy within the characters' faces. During the synthetic cubist period, painters such as Picasso and Georges Braque borrowed from the popular through the technique of collage. The use of cut paper, fragments of newsprint, magazines and wallpaper side by side with paint created a blend of common life elements which were given a new perspective (e.g. Picasso's Ma Jolie - 1911-12, which used a contemporary popular music-hall song as its basis). A similar technique was used in the poetry of

Guillaume Apollinaire during that same period. The poet succeeded in transposing

107 Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years, 4th ed. (New York: Vintage Books, 1968), pp.91-96. 108 Jean Starobinski, Portrait de I'artiste en saltimbanque (Geneve: Editions d'art Albert Skira, 1970), pp.102- 103,124-127. 109 Jeffrey S. Weiss, "Picasso, Collage and the Music-hall" in Modern Art and Popular Culture: Readings in High & Low, Adam Gopnik and Kirk Varnedoe, eds (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and the Museum of Modern Art, 1990), pp.83-84. Weiss also discusses the use of popular songs in Picasso's paintings from 1912: Trilles et Baisers in Sheet Music and Guitar, and Sonnet in Violin and Sheet Music and Guitar, Sheet Music, and Glass. 54

Picasso's circus and pink periods into poems such as Crepuscule, Saltimbanques, Un fantome de nuees and Salome.110 As well, Apollinaire wrote Calligrammes (1913-18), a

group of poems whose words created pictures through their disposition on the page and

exhibited an influence of not only the modernist movement of the period but also the

newspaper and poster displays that had become a common sight on Parisian streets.

In music the occurrence of the popular has always been present with usually an

emphasis on folk tunes. Yet in the early-twentieth century, although folklore continued to

make itself heard in works by composers such as Vincent d'Indy (Symphonie sur un chant

montagnard francais, 1886), Joseph Canteloube (Chants d'Auvergne, 1907, 1923-30) and

Debussy ("Au clair de la lune" in , 1881; "Marseillaise" in Feux d'artifice from

Preludes bk.2, 1912-13), an interest in the more urban popular forms of music was

transpiring. Already in the late-nineteenth century, Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) was

composing songs such as Ballade des gros dindons, Villanelle des petits canards, and

Pastorale des cochons roses, which contained the entertainment aesthetic found in many

Offenbach operettas and cafe-concerts of the time. The adaptation of the cafe-concert

aesthetic was also found in Ravel's Histoires naturelles of 1905 where the cadence of

everyday speech was used. Yet the most significant composer of that period in relation to

the intersection between popular and sources was Erik Satie. From the 1890s

onward Satie, who made a living by playing the piano at Parisian cabarets artistiques such

as Le Chat Noir and Auberge du Clou, began to borrow the popular aesthetic for his

compositions. In 1899-1900 Satie began exploring the possibilities of the popular in his

110 Shattuck, The Banquet Years, p.318 and Naomi Ritter, Art as Spectacle: Images of the Entertainer since Romanticism (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989), pp.151-176. 55

miniature opera Genevieve de Brabant and his pantomime Jack-in-the-box. In the early- twentieth century Satie composed a number of cafe-concert chansons and pursued his interest in a play with music Le piege de Meduse (1913, orch. 1921) and his renowned ballet Parade (1917).111 Of course Satie was not the only musician to explore the popular world but in early-twentieth-century Paris he was at its forefront and with Jean Cocteau's

Le Coq et I'Arlequin (1918) his reputation as such was magnified.

Lalo postulated in his 1921 study that the general population of this era was searching for ways to escape its mediocre everyday life and found it in popular art, whereas the "city aristocrats and the indifferent bourgeois" were the ones who demonstrated an

119 interest in the "higher" forms of art. The growing exoticism prevalent in the late-1910s and 1920s through the various music-hall acts and jazz bands aimed at a mostly international public was tempered by nostalgia for an earlier and more uniform French culture, as can be observed in the famous acts of Georgius (born Georges Guibourg, 1891-

1970) and his attempt at a cafe-concert revival during the 1920s.113 The rise of the celebrity star that occurred in the late-nineteenth century with the incredibly famous performers

Theresa (born Emma Valendon, 1837-1913) and Paulus (born Jean-Paul Habans, 1845-

1908) was an indication of elitism within the popular arts.114 Yet as Lalo pointed out "a truly popular art is only the one that chooses this elite amongst the people, without borrowing it from some aristocracy of an economic, religious or political order, or without 111 For more details regarding Satie's relationship with Parisian entertainment and analyses of his works with a popular aesthetic, see Alan M. Gilmor, Erik Satie (London: MacMillan Press Ltd, 1988) and Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: from Cabaret to Concert Hall (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). 112Lalo, L'art et la vie sociale, p.148. 113 This revival will be further discussed in Chapter 4. 114 For a detailed account of Theresa's life and rise to stardom, see Pierre-Robert Leclercq, Theresa, la diva du ruisseau (Paris: Carriere, 2006) as well as Theresa, Memoires de Theresa ecrits par elle-meme ou encore Memoires de Theresa de VAlcazar (Paris: E. Dentu, editeur, 1865). For information on Paulus, see Paulus, Trente ans de cafe-concert (Paris: La vie illustree, 1906). 56

letting this elite dominate and direct." In popular Parisian entertainment this observation was reflected in the choice to raise both Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett to the status of stars. Their lower-class Parisian origins remained one of the major reasons for the attraction they generated with the public and their continued success even at an advanced age.

It is difficult at first glance to determine exactly the magnitude of this blend of mass and elitist art in Paris since it is often mixed with the contradictory concepts of nostalgia and avant-garde. This union of cultures regularly occurred in reaction to social situations.

Either the artist was presenting a backward glance to an earlier time filled with nostalgia, or he was developing an art that was perceived as being totally new and thus seen as avant- garde. And of course determining which of these two approaches was actually used by the artist is not always straight-forward. Even with primary sources at our disposal, an artist was not always clear in his objective for a particular work; he did not always retain his original purpose and, at times, mixed these opposing ideologies.

In Poulenc's case, especially during his early career, this fusion of the popular with art music came about due to both the avant-garde movement as well as the growing nostalgia felt by French society following World War I. This dualism was especially felt by

Poulenc at the beginning of his music career. He was faced with both the desire and the necessity to create a name for himself as a composer, since he possessed no formal training and few contacts in the field. He had to find a way to succeed even in the face of these

Charles Lalo, L'art et la vie sociale, 1921, p.153. "De toutes facons, l'art le plus populaire suppose une elite, des qu'il merite le nom d'art. Un art vraiment populaire est seulement celui qui choisit cette elite dans le peuple, sans remprunter a quelque aristocratie de l'ordre economique, religieux ou politique, ou sans la laisser dominer et diriger par celle-ci." 57

difficulties. Thus his association with Satie, Stravinsky, Cocteau and his inclusion in le groupe des Six could only help get his name known.

At a time when the aristocracy was still opening its doors to various artists,

Poulenc's connections provided him with access and commissions. Although the pre-war patronage system had been more influential due to the greater wealth enjoyed by many of these members of the high bourgeoisie, the relationship that existed between artists and

French Parisian aristocracy continued well into the 1930s.116 Following World War I, many nouveaux riches, those who had succeeded in making a fortune during the war through their ingenuity rather than their family roots, had taken over a part of the economy, leaving less for the aristocrats. Yet a number of salonnieres continued to hold a place in the Parisian artistic world through weekly evening meetings, some of which were dedicated to music specifically, and commissioned works for private events. The support and influence wielded by these women remained, at least throughout the 1920s, a key system for composers to use in order to have their music heard by their peers and other members of society.

Poulenc's adopted aunt, tante Lineard who was the widow of the sculptor Paul

Lineard and a friend of the family, introduced Poulenc to the members of the Parisian noblesse. According to Madame Rosine Seringe,117 aunt Lineard - despite her meagre means - was well received by the aristocrats. She was agreeable, pleasant and intelligent - qualities sought after by the nobility. Through her knowledge of the various artistic movements of the times, she kept them abreast and was able to put in a good word for

116 For a detailed account of the Parisian patronage system from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, see Myriam Chimenes, Mecenes et musiciens: du salon au concert a Paris sous la Hie Republique (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 2004). 117 Interview with Mme. Rosine Seringe, November 3, 2006 in Paris. 58

Poulenc's works. Of the many salons of the period, Poulenc developed a personal relationship with Madame Misia Sert, the Princesse Edmond de Polignac, the comte and comtesse Etienne de Beaumont, Marie-Laure the vicomtesse , and especially Marie-Blanche comtesse Jean de Polignac. These various personalities were dedicatees of a number of Poulenc's works and the vast correspondence between them is testimony of a friendship that went beyond that of simply patron-employee.

Of course these relationships are an example of the effects of the war on Parisian society. Many others composers, such as Milhaud, Manuel de Falla, Stravinsky and Satie, were also recipients of these affiliations and gained much through them. Yet with Poulenc the associations in certain instances continued beyond his career needs and developed into respectful associations. The composer's ability to quickly adapt to all walks of life - from the aristocracy to the simple Frenchman - made it possible for him to transform acquaintances into lifelong friendships.

His friendship with Cocteau gave him the opportunities to participate in a number of avant-garde works that provided him with the reputation of a light composer. Yet his collaboration with Cocteau's projects did ring true with his own compositional style.

Poulenc repeatedly mentioned throughout his life the admiration he had for Chabrier - he even wrote this composer's biography in 1961 and fondly named him his "musical grandfather" - and Satie for whom he always maintained admiration even after their fallout in 1924. A significant point here is that both these composers were mostly auto-didactic and highly influenced by the popular music of their time, in the same manner as Poulenc.

This attraction to the popular aesthetic was obviously present from the beginning, making it 59

credible that Poulenc's participation in these avant-garde projects was more than simply for shock value.

This consistent balancing act between tradition and modernity, as well as the dichotomy that existed between highbrow and lowbrow, is exemplified by Apollinaire. As

Roger Shattuck points out,

[Apollinaire] desired to affirm both tradition and innovation as his true loyalties; he sought a means of presenting a poem not only as a succession of lines, but as a simultaneous experience; and he was inclined by temperament to mix together earthy humour, tenderness, uncensored dreams, erudition, and sophisticated modernism.119

Apollinaire represented the amalgamation of art forms, especially painting and writing.

Through his observations and knowledge of the growing cubist movement led by Picasso and Braque, Apollinaire developed what he named simultanism: "it represented] an effort to retain a moment of experience without sacrificing its logically unrelated variety. In poetry it also mean[t] an effort to neutralize the passage of time involved in the act of reading."120 The search in cubism to represent an object from all its possible points of view was translated by Apollinaire in his poetry in two main ways: first, the play of multiple meanings of a word which can give the reader different interpretations; second, the visual disposition of the poem (lack of punctuation marks, poems written in a circular or artistic fashion such as in Calligrammes). This integration of tradition and modernity was also part of the revival of the ballet form with the appearance of Serge Diaghilev and his Ballets russes in 1909.

Shattuck, The Banquet Years, p.315. Ibid.,p.306. 60

In music as in literature and painting there were new currents developing. Claude

Debussy opened the doors to with the rejection of functional harmony. Alongside Debussy there was with his taste for the exotic, his ability for the creation of remarkable orchestration and his sensitivity for the fantastic. The arrival of Diaghilev in Paris gave these composers, and many others including Poulenc, the opportunity to create ballets that met with varying results. Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps of 1913 and Erik Satie's Parade of 1917 were ballets that greatly influenced the young Poulenc.

The First World War

The declaration of war and mobilization of the troops on 1 August 1914 did not change the face of Paris immediately. The French never expected that the war would last for over four years. Once they realized that this war would not be like the others before it, the impact on French society was great. As Kenneth Silver established, "the image of

France as fun-loving, unserious, and self-indulgent at the fin de siecle was a widely held stereotype and was often used by the forces of reaction to chastise the nation for its anti- authoritarian waywardness."121 Yet when faced with war, the Third Republic put many of its differences aside and under the leadership of Poincare created as of 4 August 1914

/ 'union sacre, where all forms of party politics had to cease in order to make place for

France's defence. What it meant in reality was that the Left had to capitulate to the Right and prove its patriotism since it had promoted peace with Germany in the last decade.

Nationalists saw this new war with Germany as an opportunity for the French population to

121 Kenneth E. Silver, Esprit de corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914- 1925 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), p.18. 61

finally break away from its "German yoke" and what they viewed as decades of continuous infiltration of German ideas.122 In 1915, Leon Daudet, second-in-command to Charles

Maurras at Action Frangaise, the extreme-Right, Royalist newspaper, wrote his book Hors du joug allemand: Mesures d'apres-guerre. In this book, Daudet targeted Wagner especially for the influence he had maintained over French culture since the Franco-

Prussian war. Daudet advocated for the elimination of unhealthy foreign influences on

French culture. "It was high time," he wrote, "that the warlike and liberating date of 1914 put up a barrier to this inundation. One of the most beautiful privileges of arms is the restoration of values of all kinds, and especially intellectual ones, that were previously neglected or renounced."123

The impact of this war was also felt in the arts. In the visual arts, cubism and fauvism were especially targeted as "unhealthy foreign influences" that needed to be purged from French culture. Many of these painters - such as Picasso and Braque - who were foreigners and did not go to war as other French artists did, had to be very careful not to become labelled as cowards or bodies and anti-French, which meant they kept a low profile during the war. They changed their artistic style and views in order to fit within this new

For more information regarding France and the beginning of World War I, see Gordon Wright, France in Modern Times: from the Enlightenment to the Present, 5th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995), pp.246-258, 288-311; and Carlo Caballero, "Patriotism or Nationalism? Faure and the Great War," Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol.52, No.3 (Autumn 1999), pp. 610-611. For a better understanding of pre-war politics, see Eugen Weber, The Nationalist Revival in France: 1905-1914 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968). For the reaction of the musical world to the union sacree see Jane F. Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual: Music and Ideology in France 1914-1940 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005),Chapter l,pp.l9-85. 123 Leon Daudet, Hors dujoug allemand: Mesures d'apres-guerre (Paris: Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, 1915), p.16. "II etait temps que la date guerriere et liberatrice de 1914 mit une barriere a ce debordement. Un des plus beaux privileges des amies est de restaurer les valeurs de tout genre, et principalement intellectuelles, anterieurement negligees ou reniees." 62

social regime. In music, a number of composers also reacted to this growing sense of inevitable change. While a lieutenant in the French army, wrote to his wife:

All that will now belong to "prewar things," that's to say things which will be separated from us by a wall, a veritable wall.... We are going to have to start living all over again, with a new conception of life, which is not to say that everything made before the war will be forgotten, but that everything made after it will have to be made differently.124

The realisation that their world was changed because of the war forced a number of musicians to redefine themselves. The older generation such as Saint-Saens and Faure obviously continued in the same vein as before the war, but Debussy - who had been expressing his opinion against the influence of Wagner on French music through newspaper articles - took the opportunity offered by the war to write five works that either promoted the French style based on the music of Couperin and Rameau (his three chamber sonatas) or that emphasized the opposition between France and Germany {Noel des enfants qui n 'ont plus de maisons and En blanc et noir). Through these compositions Debussy was moving away from Impressionism and his imitators the "debussystes." Ravel followed a similar path during the war. While in service with the army, Ravel wrote ,

La Valse and . All of these compositions demonstrated a new interest in the

French past (e.g. the eighteenth century and the French Renaissance chanson) and

10< traditional forms, paralleling Debussy's search. Another reaction to the war was the formation of aLigue nationale pour la defense de la musique frangaise in March 1916 with

Roger Nichols, The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917-1929 (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2002), p.31. 125 On Debussy's and Ravel's reactions to the war, see Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual, pp.52-70; Nichols, The Harlequin Years, pp.21, 25, 223-224. As well, for Debussy's nationalism before WWI, see Jane F. Fulcher, French Cultural Politics and Music from the Dreyfus Affair to the First World War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 170-194. 63

Saint-Saens, d'Indy, Gustave Charpentier and Theodore Dubois as the members of its main committee. This League aimed

by every means to expel and then hunt down the enemy; to prevent in future the recurrence of baneful infiltration. Even if there can be no question, for us and our young successors of repudiating the "classics," which constitute one of the immortal monuments of humanity, it is our task to condemn modern PanGermanism to silence. [...] First, we must banish from our land, for many years to come, the public performance of contemporary Austro-German works which are still in copyright, as well as their interpreters, Kapellmeisters and virtuosos, their Viennese operettas, their ever multiplying cinematographic films, their more or less faked phonographic discs, and unmask their manoeuvring, the pseudonyms of those popular song composers who, even as we write, are escaping the censor; we must see to it that the enemy "does not pass."126

Although this attitude was not unanimously accepted, it indicates the mood that prevailed within a large segment of the French population and composers.127

Parade

In May 1917 a group of artists got together to produce a ballet that would create outrage within its audience: Parade. Although the root of its origins is debatable, the creators included Satie (music), Cocteau (scenario), Picasso (costumes, sets) and Leonide

Massine (choreography). As Roger Nichols surmises, there was "a determination on all fronts that the new ballet should be different, surprising and even shocking."128 Diaghilev's injunction to Cocteau, "Etonne-moi" was not forgotten. This new production by the Ballets russes was inspired by the everyday, thus casting aside the previous Impressionism

(Debussy's ) and Orientalism (Stravinsky's Petrushka, L'Oiseau de feu) of pre-war

126 Nichols, The Harlequin Years, p.25. 127 For Ravel's refusal to join this league, see Nichols, The Harlequin Years, p.26; for a detailed examination of Faure's position, see Caballero, "Patriotism or Nationalism?" pp.593-595. 128 Nichols, The Harlequin Years, p.37. 64

ballet performances. As Silver observes, "when they heard Satie's dance-hall melodies, saw Picasso's Cubist set and costumes, and watched Cocteau's strange little story unfold, many in the audience were not at all amused."129 In early May 1917 the French army was being slaughtered and in some areas this was leading to mutiny. The idea of presenting a ballet with cubist elements, which were at the time considered as German-influenced as well as foreign and dangerous, and supported by Russians who were on the brink of a revolution, was daring to say the least.

Yet to a greater extent Parade was an attempt to return to a previous French identity once one moved beyond the surface of the ballet. There was a return to simplicity through

Satie's music which was inspired by the popular fairs that occurred throughout France. The presence of the Chinese conjuror had more to do with the athletic acts found in the circus and music-halls than with the Orient. The same can be said of the American Girl and the acrobats, which are all references to commonplace contemporary music-hall performances.

The title of the ballet - parade ("movie trailer" in present-day vocabulary) - refers to the technique used on the fairgrounds to entice people to come see the acts found in the various tents. Managers would call out to the potential audience in order to lure them inside the travelling theatres. This was the basic outline of the plot in Parade. The problem lies in the fact that the managers are unsuccessful and the public mistakenly believe that what they see outside is the whole act.

Numerous interpretations have been posited regarding the meaning behind this ballet.130 From the plot summary outlined above, there is an obvious theme that arises: the

129 Silver, Esprit de corps, p. 116. 130 Regarding these various interpretations, see Daniel Albright, Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), pp.185-197, 202-215; Fulcher, The 65

combination of popular and theatrical cultures. Yet the underlying meanings of this idea are multiple, which explains the continuing attraction of scholars of various fields to this ballet.

Depending on the point of view taken and the focus of the study - Satie's, Cocteau's or

Picasso's contribution - the interpretation will differ. Nichols, based on Cocteau's letters, determines that the poet's purpose was to provide the audience with the message that there would be life beyond the war. He ascertains this through a number of Cocteau's writings in which the latter emphasizes the need for laughter and to move beyond foolishness.131

Following Cocteau's declaration that Parade was the greatest battle of the war, Nichols agrees, "Parade was indeed a great battle: to preserve the French spirit and to proclaim that art is greater than war, and a sense of humour more valuable to humanity than hate."132 Yet by dismissing the other participants in this collaborative project, Nichols misses out on some other key elements of this ballet.

Nancy Perloff in her detailed musical analysis of Parade focuses on the relationship between popular entertainment and nostalgia. As she points out, "Cocteau's theme of the unsuccessful sideshow reveals his vision of a nostalgic, melancholy core beneath the surface charm of popular entertainment."133 Perloff also explores the relationship with

Parisian entertainment that Satie employs in his musical score. Her analysis ties in with a growing sentiment of French society at that time. The disillusionment regarding the war, the uncertainty concerning its end and outcome produced a society that relied heavily on

Composer as Intellectual, pp.70-84; Nichols, The Harlequin Years, pp.35-39, 136-138; Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment and the Circle of Erik Satie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), pp.112- 152; Silver, Esprit de corps, pp.116-133. 131 Nichols, The Harlequin Years, p.38. "Laughter is natural to Frenchmen: it is important to keep this in mind and not be afraid to laugh even at this most difficult time." [Cocteau, published article, May 1917]; "I was able to see how the war rid us in Paris of foolishness, which found enough to do elsewhere." [Cocteau]; Para de: "the greatest battle of the war." [Cocteau]. 132 Ibid., p.38. 133 Perloff, Art and the Everyday, p. 114. 66

nostalgia to face the coming difficulties. Yet the exclusion of Picasso from this discussion again leaves out some important factors.

Some scholars include all three participants in their discussions but tackle the issue from diverse perspectives. Daniel Albright concentrates his study on the impact of the modernist movement in Parade and describes it as "an exercise in coordinated incongruity"134 where every artist worked separately during the creation of the ballet. Jane

F. Fulcher directs her attention to the influence of the political climate on the choices made by the various artists. She argues that Picasso and Satie, as opposed to Cocteau, had the intent "to subvert nationalist and official classic rhetoric, or to extract illicit meanings from the 'classic,' and thus open up new perspectives on wartime culture." In so doing, they would create a work that provided a commentary on the government's political and cultural policies regarding wartime propaganda. Finally, Kenneth Silver, taking on Cocteau's position, believes that Parade

is a parable of the travails of the avant-garde, whereby the public is not interested in making the kind of effort necessary to appreciate new (and true) art. Instead, despite the exertions of the propagandists and artists themselves, the audience remains oblivious to the spirit of a profound work, satisfied to ignore or condemn it on the basis of a superficial encounter.136

Silver is of the opinion that Cocteau hoped that by blending some of the opposing artistic ideas of the time - slapstick and poetry, Latinism and laughter, patriotic overture curtain with Cubist mise-en-scene - he would create a new French path. In the end, although all of these observations are valid and equally plausible, it is probably a combination of all of them that motivated the creation of Parade. Every person involved in this production came

Albright, Untwisting the Serpent, p. 185. Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual, p.71. Silver, Esprit de corps, pp.117-118. 67

with a different point of view, both socially and artistically, and varying personal reasons for his involvement in such a project.

We do know that Poulenc viewed this work by Satie with great interest and admiration. As he told Stephane Audel in his interview of 1962-63:

In April 1917, Diaghilev, for one more time, created a sensation with his Ballets russes, by producing Erik Satie's ballet, Parade, with the designs of Picasso. I was captivated! With the injustice of my twenties, even though I adored Debussy, I accepted to disown him a little because of my thirst for this new spirit [esprit nouveau] that Satie and Picasso brought us.137

This conception of the 'new spiritVaspriV nouveau appears in the accompanying ballet notes written by Apollinaire. This expression, although thought at first glance to suggest revolutionary activities, actually referred to "the start of a new era in the arts; a classical and patriotic era of lucid, restrained modernity..."138 It was first made popular by Charles

Sarolea in his book Le Reveil de la France {The Reawakening of France) from 1916, in which France's "new sense of strength, control and equilibrium"139 was celebrated. This search for control and lucidity was to have a great impact on Poulenc during his early career.

Les Annies Folles

The end of the 1914-18 war marked the beginning of Poulenc's career as an independent young composer. The Annies Folles, an era that was known for its frivolity and carefree spirit, but also for its conservative rappel a I'ordre (call to order), were to

137 Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis (Paris: La Palatine, 1963), pp.47-48. "En avril 1917, Diaghilew fit, une fois de plus, eclater une bombe avec ses Ballets russes, en creant a Paris le ballet d'Erik Satie, Parade, dans des decors de Picasso. Je fus subjugue! Avec l'injustice des vingt ans, quoique idolatrant Debussy, j'acceptai de le renier un peu car j'avais soif de cet esprit nouveau que nous apportaient Satie et Picasso." Note: Poulenc has mistaken the month (should be May 1917) and he was eighteen at that time. 1 Silver, Esprit de corps, p. 123. 139 Ibid., p. 123. 68

deeply mark the composer he was to become. The contradiction of the two predominant ideas of the decade - liberty and conservatism - would affect every aspect of French society during the 1920s. A detailed account of the period is provided by the French painter

Fernand Leger who wrote the following to Andre Mare in 1921:

1918, Peace: man exasperated, tense, impersonalized for four years, finally lifts his head, opens his eyes, looks, relaxes, recovers his taste for life: excitement/delirium over dances, expenditures, finally being able to walk straight, yell, scream, spend. An outburst of strong forces fills the world. The small canary, the red flower are still there, but we do not see them anymore. Through the open window, the violently lighted opposite wall enters your home. Huge letters, four-meter high figures are projected into the apartment. Colour takes its place: it will dominate everyday life. The 1921 man, returned to normal life, keeps within him the physical and moral tensions of the difficult war years. He is changed. The economic struggles have replaced the battles of the front. Industrialists and tradesmen confront each other through the use of colour as a publicity weapon. A debauchery without precedent, a coloured disorder explodes onto the walls. No law, no brake appears to temper this overheated atmosphere that wears out the retina, blinds, causes madness; where are we going?140

It is obvious from this letter that French society was experiencing difficulties in adapting to the new world order. Following World War I, French society was faced with a devastating truth; although the war had been won, the society needed to be rebuilt and an identity crisis marred the 1920s. Looking to redefine themselves, the French were unsure: should they move ahead with progress and the modern age, or attempt to rebuild the society in the

140 Quoted from Fernand Leger: Lettre a Andre Mare publiee dans le catalogue de l'Exposition Fernand Leger au Musee des Arts decoratifs. Juin-octobre 1956 in Jean-Paul Crespelle, La vie quotidienne a : la Grande Epoque 1905-1930 (Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1976), pp.121-122. "1918, la Paix: l'homme exaspere, tendu, impersonnalise pendant quatre ans, enfin leve la tete, ouvre les yeux, regarde, se detend, reprend gout a la vie: frenesie de danses, de depenser, de pouvoir enfin marcher debout, crier, hurler, gaspiller. Un dechainement de forces vives remplit le monde. Le petit serin, la fleur rouge sont encore la, mais on ne les voit plus. Par la fenetre ouverte, le mur d'en face violemment eclaire entre chez vous. Des lettres enormes, des figures de quatre metres sont projetees dans l'appartement. La couleur prend position: elle va dominer la vie courante. L'homme de 1921, rendu a la vie normale, garde en lui cette tension physique et morale des dures annees de guerre. II est change. Les luttes economiques ont remplace les batailles du front. Industriels et commercants s'affrontent en brandissant la couleur comme une arme publicitaire. Une debauche sans precedent, un desordre colore font eclater les murs. Aucune loi, aucun frein ne viennent temperer cette atmosphere surchauffee qui brise la retine, aveugle, rend fou; ou allons-nous?" 69

image of a previously successful era? Many of the initial illusions brought on by the armistice made it difficult to accept the reality. As Claude Fohlen explains:

This 1918 victory was as much unexpected as it was glorious to its survivors. An unparalleled victory, following an unparalleled war, which we believed to be the last, "la der des der." A French victory especially, as believed by the contemporaries, because the battles and the final outcome occurred on French soil, the French army supported all the decisive conflicts on all fronts, oftentimes supported failing allies, consented to the greatest sacrifices. Is this not the reward for so many long years of humiliation after the 1871 defeat? Is this not the beginning of an era of French preponderance? Many post-war misunderstandings and difficulties are found in these illusions of the armistice.141

"Germany will pay." In the general upset of Europe, in the presence of ruins and debts of an unknown proportion up to this day, the winner could not claim from the loser the compensations he expected to receive.142

In this environment of misunderstanding, discontent and economic turmoil, French society searched for ways to respond. The loss of their place of honour among world powers was difficult to accept and many Frenchmen experienced the nostalgia surrounding their desire to return to a time before the Great War.

In response to the mutilation of their country, the people elected a conservative parliament in 1919, the first right-wing majority since the foundation of the Third Republic.

Whereas Germany had little physical damage to deal with, France, on whose soil most of

141 Claude Fohlen, La France de 1'entre-deux-guerre (1917-1939) (Belgique: Casterman, 1966), p.23. "Cette victoire de 1918 est aussi inattendue que glorieuse pour tous les survivants. Victoire unique, apres une guerre unique, dont on pensait qu'elle etait la derniere, ia der des der.' Victoire francaise surtout, pensent les contemporains, car les combats et la division finale ont eu pour theatre la France, l'armee francaise a supporte tous les chocs decisifs sur tous les fronts, a soutenu des allies souvent defaillants, a consenti les plus grands sacrifices. N'est-ce pas la recompense de longues annees d'humiliation apres la defaite de 1871? N'est-ce pas le debut d'une ere de preponderance francaise? Bien des malentendus et difficultes de l'apres-guerre se trouvent dans ces illusions de l'armistice." 142 Ibid., p.35. "'L'Allemagne paiera.' Dans le bouleversement general de l'Europe, en presence de mines et de dettes sans commune mesure avec ce qu'on avait vu jusque-la, le vainqueur ne pouvait reclamer au vaincu ce qu'il en attendait." For a complete account of the 1919 Paris peace talks and their difficulties and results, see Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World (New York: Random House, 2003, •C2001). 70

the war had been fought, had an incredible number of villages, towns, even cities to rebuild

(especially on the eastern front); and the government's plan was to restore these places to their pre-war image. As Theodore Zeldin indicates:

No attempt was made to consider the national economic interest, to decide, for example, whether a destroyed sugar factory should be replaced by another one, rather than something else. No distinction was made, in allocating compensation, between productive re-equipment and the reconstitution of consumer assets. Twenty-nine milliard [sic] gold francs were distributed in war compensation, which was obviously an exaggerated sum, for it was equal to one-tenth of the total private wealth of France in 1914. The idea was that German reparations would pay for it. The committees which assessed damages were therefore generous in their estimates, if only from patriotism; and in addition some found scope for fraud or embezzlement. Germany of course did not pay. Instead of levying a tax on property throughout the country, to share the burden, the state therefore raised the money by loans. The money market was unable to withstand this, and by 1925 the state was virtually bankrupt. Inflation meant that the victims of war damage were replaced by victims of the collapse of the franc.143

Where one could buy bread for 20 centimes a kilogram in 1914, the price went up to 1 franc

75 centimes a kilogram in 1921; butter went from 3F75/kg to 18F30/kg, sugar from 75c/kg to 3F25/kg and potatoes from 20c/kg to 60c/kg.144 Although, through the numerous workers' strikes that occurred in those years, the average wage and social benefits improved, the rise in prices cancelled out these gains. As well, the fact that so many young men had been killed in the war meant that the old politicians survived and pursued their political lives with little resistance. As Zeldin described it, France was run by a gerontocracy, a governing body of old men who, in some cases, had been born around the year of the inception of the Third Republic. Such politicians included Poincare,

Clemenceau and Edouard Herriot who were still active during the 1920s. As Zeldin puts it:

Theodore Zeldin, France 1848-1945, vol.2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), p.1087. Jean-Paul Crespelle, La Folle Epoque: des Ballets russes au Surrealisme (Paris: Hachette, 1968), p.10. 71

Most of the politicians of the inter-war years offered the country virtually the same programme and solutions that their predecessors had done in the nineteenth century. Indeed most of them had established themselves as ministers long before 1914, and since they continued to win elections, the mass of the people accepted and probably shared their traditional attitudes.145

A rallying cry by the writer Paul Leon in his 1918 book, La Renaissance des mines, "C'est la France d'hier qui doit renaitre d'emain!" [It is yesterday's France that shall be reborn tomorrow!] supports the notion that France needed to be restored to its previous self. As

Romy Golan explains so clearly in Modernity and Nostalgia,

In 1918, the French emerged victorious from, yet also deeply traumatized by, a conflict and destruction that took place almost entirely on their soil, leaving its natural and built environment an oppressive site (and sight) of memory. Yet while the Germans - facing the humiliation of defeat and living on the brink of civil war during the early years of the Weimar Republic - had no choice but to confront the consequences of war, victory gave France the luxury of a rappel a I'ordre (call to order) whose political and cultural agenda was largely aimed at repressing the trauma of war. As a result, instead of the tabula rasa predicated by high modernism, or even the celebration of the rowdy atmosphere of the famously Roaring Twenties with Paris as Hemingway's Moveable Feast, we find a collective ethos driven toward the restoration of what had been before the war: a world stilled, and a vision infused - from the paintings of ex-fauves and cubist-turned- naturalists, to those of the so-called naifs, all the way to the surrealists - by nostalgia and memory.146

From patriotism to socialism, from revanchiste propaganda to call for collaboration with

Germany, French society was divided in its desire and manner in which to move beyond the war. Whereas modernists from all walks of society were calling on Frenchmen to grasp and accept the various changes, whether in technology, politics, literature, arts, economics or industries, the conservatives were appealing to the population's sense of patriotism and

French identity. A rise in interest for nature, local habits and regional traditions could be

145 Zeldin, France 1848-1945, p.1092. 146 Romy Golan, Modernity and Nostalgia: Art and Politics in France between the Wars (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995), p.ix. 72

observed in a number of art forms, promoted by the "down-to-earth simplicity and restraint" of the rappel a I'ordre. The commemorative monuments that saturated the French landscape following the war strengthened the image of the poilu or foot soldier that had stood against the French enemy. Up to eighty-five percent of these memorials were commissioned from local craftsmen.147 French society was searching for a way to heal itself from the hard times and bad memories of the war that had created a discontinuity within the French social framework. As Fred Davis indicates:

Allowing then that we are susceptible to feelings of anxiety and concern for our future selves when we are brought up short by some untoward historic event [e.g., wars, economic depressions, massive natural disasters, deaths and assassinations of great national leaders] or intrusive social change [e.g., fuel and food shortages, crisis in governmental legitimacy, counterculture movements], it can be seen how at the most elemental level collective nostalgia acts to restore, at least temporarily, a sense of sociohistoric continuity with respect to that which had verged on being rendered discontinuous. And this period, when the nostalgic reaction waxes strong, may afford just enough time for the change to be assimilated into the institutional machinery of a society (e.g., into the realms of law, politics, religion, and education) as it could not at first and, were it left wholly up to purely private feeling, might not for some thereafter.

Through a collective nostalgia, the French society was mourning its loss and for a decade found solace in the recollection of its previous self. As Janelle Wilson establishes in her

2005 study, a collective nostalgia "can serve the purpose of forging a national identity, expressing patriotism. It also might reflect selective remembering and selective forgetting that occur at the collective level. Nostalgia oozes out of popular culture." French nationalism, as that of other nations, developed by focusing on certain aspects of its past

147 Ibid., p.30. On war monuments and commemorative policies in France, see Jay M. Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.78-116. 148 Fred Davis, Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia (New York: The Free Press, 1979), pp. 103- 104. 149 Janelle L. Wilson, Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2005), p.31. 73

while forgetting others. The need to rebuild their country and re-establish themselves within the world order promoted a collective remembrance movement.

Yet, in the growing atmosphere of internationalism found in Paris, people were caught between the attraction for and the resistance to the nouveau. As Wilson determined:

The 1920s saw the beginning of a youth culture. This youth culture broke from its parents' generation by how its members set fashions, oriented themselves toward their peer, and innovated social practices in dance, hairstyles, language, and social mores. The sweeping technological and social changes, such as the automobile, movies, and radio, revolutionized this generation of young people. The automobile enabled them to go to movies and public dances - separate from adults. The image of the short- skirted, bobbed-hair flapper smoking a cigarette and wildly dancing to jazz music has become synonymous with youth of the 1920s.150

Parisians were confronted with American jazz, South American dances, foreign circus troupes, Russian ballets, Tristan Tzara's Dadaism, American cinema; and at the same time they sought to rediscover their French roots and develop a culture that would differentiate them from other countries. The search for simplicity began in a number of ways. In the fashion world, following the war, Paris saw the rise of Coco Chanel who broke with tradition that had been set by Paul Poiret. As explained by William Wiser,

In the wake of Cubism, Chanel created cubes and rectangles out of a bare meter of fabric; she did away with the curved trace of bosom and buttocks, lifted hemlines, eliminated showy detail. The Chanel line was austere but graceful, and if not as lushly feminine as the Poiret costume, her clothes appealed to the modern, independent, and - like herself - career-minded woman. In the severity of her design, Chanel pursued what she called le luxe dans la simplicite.

This search for simplicity was pursued by Les Six, Satie and Cocteau during the early

1920s. As Silver explains, "The wartime preference for the austere over the frivolous, for

Ibid.,p.90. William Wiser, The Crazy Years: Paris in the Twenties (London: Thames and Hudson, 1983), p.74. 74

the classical over the Romantic, and for almost any artistic manifestation over

Impressionism partook, moreover, of a set of cultural referents that were deeply ingrained in

French, and especially Parisian, consciousness." Thus simplicity was to a great extent a remnant of the war where it had risen out of necessity while at the same time, a continuation of the pre-war debate regarding the definition of the French identity.

Where music-halls were becoming more and more elaborate in an attempt to please a growing foreign and especially American audience, the search for simplicity and clarity was an attempt to return to the roots of French identity. Cocteau's pamphlet Le Coq et

I'Arlequin of 1918 is the perfect example of this effort by the intelligentsia. As Silver states, this pamphlet "was not a book of , but a nationalist polemic intended to reaffirm Cocteau's patriotism."153 All of Cocteau's claims for a simple, lucid music that takes its roots in the popular Parisian world, his anti-Wagnerism, his anti-Impressionism, the association of Germany with Romanticism were close to Daudet's 1915 Hors dujoug allemand, a book which Cocteau probably knew since he was a close friend of Daudet's son

Lucien and a known admirer of the nationalist Maurice Barres. This endeavour to reconcile opposing factions - high/low, right/left banks, tradition/avant-garde - was to be prominent in post-war Parisian arts with Cocteau as one of its major proponents.

Thus for the post-war generation their world would consist of one filled with contradictory ideas struggling and striving to manifest themselves at the same time. These paradoxes would mark Poulenc for the rest of his life and career, creating a dual personality

Silver, Esprit de corps, p.212. Ibid., p.131. 75

he would describe as Janus-like. By the end of the decade, as Maurice Sachs mentioned in his memoirs, Au temps du Boeufsur le Toit, the carefree attitudes of many would change:

Spring 1929 And yet there is something frightfully sad in everything we do today. As if we had been too merry for too long and now everything feels its effect. We tell ourselves sometimes (it's horrible, I am ashamed when I surprise myself thinking such thoughts): Ah! A war, a revolution would be good! Something must change. We become idiotic. We are fattening both body and mind.154

May 1929 What we have been missing for ten years (but without realizing it) is a reason to live. Of course we lived to enjoy the Victory, but was that really satisfying? I am beginning to seriously doubt it. Because we had not caught our breath, we had thought of nothing and saw nothing as a result. But this spring in a stifling moral heat, in a motionlessness of the souls like the leaves before the storm, we look around fearfully. Where do we come from? Where are we going? We would almost say: Why are we?155

The end of the 1920s brought with it a reality check. The coming economic Depression, the rising inflation, the feeling in France that any rapprochement with Germany would equate to a capitulation to the Germans, English and Americans, the growing unrest amongst the blue-collar workers were but a few of the problems faced by French society. The young

generation, of which Poulenc was a part, that had not gone to war and grown up in the

shadow of its elders, had rebelled against its restrictions while feeling the pull of the

collective nostalgia.

154 Maurice Sachs, Au temps du Boeufsur le Toit (Paris: Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, 1987, cl939), p.218. "II y a pourtant quelque chose d'affreusement triste dans tout ce qu'on fait aujourd'hui. Comme si Ton avait ete trop gai trop longtemps et que tout s'en ressente. On se dit quelquefois (c'est affreux, j'en ai honte quand je me surprends a penser de pareilles choses): Ah! Une bonne guerre, une bonne revolution ferait du bien! II faut changer quelque chose. Ons'abrutit. On engraisse de corps et d'esprit. (Printemps 1929)" 155 Ibid., p.222. "Ce qui nous a manque pendant dix ans (mais sans qu'on s'en apercoive) c'est une raison de vivre. Bien sur on a vecu pour jouir de la Victoire, mais cela etait-il bien satisfaisant? Je commence a en douter terriblement.// Parce qu'on n'avait pas repris son souffle, on n'avait reflechi a rien, et rien vu par consequent.// Mais ce printemps dans une chaleur morale etouffante, dans une immobilite des ames qui est comme celle des grands feuillages avant l'orage, on regarde peureusement autour de soi.// D'ou vient-on? Ou allons-nous? On se dirait presque: Pourquoi est-on? (Mai 1929)" 76

In those early years of the twentieth century, France was consistently torn between forces. Whether it be its relationship with Germany, its political structures, its social classes, or its artistic visions, France was always in the throws of opposition. The constant battles between the retention and the rejection of its traditions affected all features of society and the arts in particular.

Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie and Les Six

Some of the major figures in Poulenc's early career included Cocteau, Satie and le groupe des Six and its ensuing friendships. The scandal caused by Satie's Parade in 1917 was still being felt and its impact on the young Poulenc was evident:

Parade is in fact a great day in art history. The union, I was going to say conspiracy of Cocteau-Satie-Picasso, initiated the great modern ballets of Diaghilev. It was not only the typewriters that scandalized in Parade. Everything was new - the argument, the music, the scene - and the audience of pre-1914 Ballets russes were dumbfounded by Picasso's unusual and cubist designs. It was not the strictly and openly musical scandal of le Sacre du Printemps. This time, every art form was attempting to liberate itself from its shackles. And the production held in 1917, during the war, was perceived by some people as a challenge to common sense. Satie's music, so simple, so raw, so naively skilful, in the manner of a painting by Douanier Rousseau, was scandalous through its free and easy manner. For the first time - it made up for it since then - the music-hall invaded art - with a capital A. Indeed, a one-step was danced in Parade. At that moment, the audience unleashed booing and applause.156

156 Poulenc, Moi et mes amis, pp.88-89. "Parade est, en effet, une grande date dans l'histoire de l'art. La conjonction, j'allais dire la conjuration Cocteau-Satie-Picasso a ouvert le cycle des grands ballets modemes chez Diaghilew. II n'y a pas que les machines a ecrire qui scandaliserent dans Parade. Tout etait neuf- argument, musique, spectacle - et c'est avec stupeur que les habitues des Ballets russes d'avant 1914 virent se lever le rideau de Picasso, deja tout a fait insolite pour eux, sur un decor cubique. Ce n'etait plus le scandale franchement, strictement musical du Sacre du Printemps. Cette fois, chaque art ruait dans les brancards. Et le spectacle monte en 1917, en pleine guerre, parut a certains un defi au bon sens. La musique de Satie, si simple, si crue, si nai'vement savante, comme un tableau du Douanier Rousseau, fit scandale par sa desinvolture. Pour la premiere fois - il s'est bien rattrape depuis - le music-hall envahissait l'art - avec un grand A. En effet, on dansait un one step dans Parade. A ce moment-la, la salle se dechaina en huees et en applaudissement." 77

The call by Cocteau to reject Debussyism and German music influences in order to find the

French voice and identity was heard and particularly heeded by the youngest members of

Les Six, Georges Auric and Poulenc (both born in 1899). Yet Cocteau's call was not new

since the pre-war artists, as demonstrated above, were already searching and exploring the

everyday in their various works. Cocteau's genius was to assemble the multitude of

exchanges, views and discoveries made in the various art practices under one roof and present it to the greater public.

In Le Coq et I'Arlequin, Cocteau presented his views, which in many instances were

a synopsis of the major French artistic currents experienced in Paris since the early-

twentieth century. His aim with this pamphlet was to define and in the process encourage a

distinctly French music that would take its roots in the everyday entertainment:

In the middle of the disturbances felt in the French taste and Exoticism, the cafe-concert stays relatively intact in spite of the Anglo-American influence. There a certain tradition is maintained and, although debauched, it is nonetheless of the French race. It is certainly there that a young musician could pick up the lost thread.

Cocteau who observed this borrowing from the popular entertainment of Paris in composers

such as Satie and Auric (the latter being the dedicatee of the pamphlet), hoped that other

musicians would follow suit since these beliefs matched his own ideas for the theatre.

Although an admirer of Stravinsky, Cocteau felt he needed to create a break from this great

composer in order to obtain a French music:

When I say "the Russian trap," "the Russian influence," I do not mean to say that I scorn Russian music. The Russian music is admirable because it is Russian. French-Russian music or French-German music is inevitably

157 Jean Cocteau, "Le Coq et I'Arlequin" in Le Rappel a I'ordre (Paris: Librairie Stock, 1948), p.29. "Au milieu des perturbations du gout francais et de Texotisme, le cafe-concert reste assez intact malgre l'influence anglo-americaine. On y conserve une certaine tradition qui, pour etre crapuleuse, n'en est pas moiris de race. C'est sans doute la qu'un jeune musicien pourrait reprendre le fil perdu." 78

bastardized, even if it is inspired by a Mussorgsky, a Stravinsky, a Wagner, a Schoenberg. I ask for a French music from France.15

This quest for a music that was not perceived as illegitimate was a reflection of the growing need by French society as a whole. Recently emerged victorious from a horrific four-year war, yet not really believing that its dues were coming, France had a desire to rebuild its international identity. To accomplish this goal, it was necessary for its people to distinguish themselves from the other nationalities and the emergent internationalism. Although

Cocteau and a great number of French musicians were fascinated by American jazz, as can be observed in the various commentaries of the period and the numerous compositions that borrow its idioms, the attraction quickly faded in a number of cases.

By 1920 Cocteau began to redress this admiration with American popular music.

First he wrote in the broadsheet Le Coq, "Adieu New York! Bonjour Paris!" a title that was

taken up in a work by Auric, Adieu New York! Auric further supported this Cocteau ideal

when he wrote in Le Coq: "But today, an indication of the fatigue of our time, we have had

to reinvent 'nationalism.' I want to think as I please, now that I am steady on my feet. The jazz- awoke us: now let's plug our ears in order to hear it no more."159 This year,

1920, is also the one when an article, published by in the January Comoedia,

entitled "Un livre de Rimsky et un livre de Cocteau: Les cinq Russes, les six Frangais et

Erik Satie," resulted in the "creation" of le groupe des Six. Although the group was

158 Ibid., p.26. "Quand je dis 'le piege russe', 'l'influence russe', je ne veux pas dire par la que je dedaigne la musique russe. La musique russe est admirable parce qu'elle est la musique russe. La musique francaise russe ou la musique francaise allemande est forcement batarde, meme si elle s'inspire d'un Moussorgsky, d'un Strawinsky, d'un Wagner, d'un Schoenberg. Je demande une musique franpaise de France." 15' Georges Auric, "Apres la pluie le beau temps" in Le Coq, l(June 1920). "Mais aujourd'hui, et ceci fixe bien la fatigue d'une epoque, nous avons du reinventer le 'nationalisme.' Je veux penser comme je l'entends, maintenant que me voici d'aplomb. Le Jazz-band nous a reveilles: bouchons-nous les oreilles pour ne plus l'entendre." 79

dissolved within three years of its inception, the friendships that were formed remained especially important to Poulenc.

The group consisted of Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric, , Louis

Durey, and Poulenc. The only real tie that existed among these members was friendship and to some extent Cocteau's will.160 Cocteau, who had promoted

Satie's music as a model of French style in 1918, saw (and grasped) the opportunity to expand his manifesto through the creation of this group of young French composers whose music sometimes reflected his ideal. For Poulenc, the group served as a catalyst for the development of his budding career. At the same time, although these composers' names were seen together on concert programs during that period, to assume that they shared a

common aesthetic would be erroneous. As Poulenc pointed out, "We never shared a

common aesthetic and our music has always been dissimilar. Our tastes and distastes did not correlate. For example, Honegger never liked Satie's music, and [Florent] Schmitt, whom he admired, was disliked by both Milhaud and me."161 Yet during the short time when the group worked together, it published a collection of six short piano pieces known

as des Six (1920), to which Poulenc contributed a waltz. They also produced a ballet

realiste, Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel, with a text by Cocteau.

This major collaboration, Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel, with Cocteau as the

instigator and writer, was produced at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees on 18 June 1921

For a detailed study of Les Six's aesthetic, see Eveline Hurard-Viltard, Le Groupe des Six ou le matin d'un jour defete (Paris: Librairie des Meridiens, Klincksieck et Cie, 1987). 161 Poulenc, Moi et mes amis, p.51. "Jamais nous n'avons eu d'esthetique commune et nos musiques ont toujours ete dissemblables. Gouts et degouts etaient chez nous contraires. Ainsi, Honegger n'a jamais aime la musique de Satie, et Schmitt qu'il admirait etait alors la bete noire de Milhaud et de moi-meme." 80

under the direction of Desire-Emile Inghelbrecht, with the Swedish Ballet of Rolf de Mare.

This ballet included ten musical numbers that drew considerably on popular styles:

Overture (14 July) G. Auric Wedding March (entrance) D. Milhaud The General's Speech F. Poulenc The Trouville Bathing Beauty F. Poulenc The Massacre (fugue) D. Milhaud Waltz of the Radiograms G. Tailleferre Funeral March A. Honegger Quadrille G. Tailleferre Ritournelles G. Auric Wedding March (exit) D. Milhaud

At first Auric was supposed to have composed the music by himself but, pressed for time,

the rest of Les Six was asked to contribute. Yet already one can notice that Durey declined

to participate and by now was gradually removing himself from the group's collective

activities. Cocteau's text is absurd, full of humour and borrows from a number of

movements of the period. The most incongruous events take place around the caricature of

a bourgeois rite: the wedding. The plot, as described by Milhaud,

...is quite simple: a young newly married couple, accompanied by their parents and an old friend, a General, have come to have their wedding banquet on the first-floor terrace of the Eiffel Tower. They partake of a banquet during which the General mimes a speech. A wedding-group photograph is taken, but every time the fateful words: "Watch the birdie!" are uttered; some unexpected apparition interrupts the proceedings. First of all it is the "Bathing Beauty of Trouville," then "Telegrams" - for the Eiffel Tower has been the handmaiden of the post office ever since its aerial was installed - and finally a lion appears that devours the General. This is only the beginning of the misfortunes that befall this unlucky wedding party, for it ends by being "massacred" as in games at the fair by the "Child of the Future."162

This play by Cocteau reveals many layers of interpretations which make it

impossible, even to this day, to determine the 'real' intention of its author. Elements of

Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), p.94. 81

dadaism/, music-hall/popular fair, nationalism and even Greek tragedy were all

intermixed to create a satire of the bourgeois class while at the same time expound on

French popular resources for the foundation of a French music. The absurdity of the action

- an ostrich actually coming out of the camera upon hearing the words, "Watch the birdie!"

— was a reflection of the dada/surrealist influences experienced by Cocteau in those years.

Always watchful of new trends, Cocteau never missed an opportunity to expand his creative

basis and be perceived as a man of his time, an avant-garde. Yet, contrary to Dadaism's

aim to strip away meaning from its productions, Cocteau had a purpose in his creations:

elevate the everyday because of its apparent Frenchness. His memoirs, Portraits-Souvenir

(1935), are a testament of his desire to retain the fond memories of his childhood, especially

the ones surrounding the circus and music-hall. Yet even before these memoirs, Cocteau

demonstrated nostalgia in his need to produce works in the theatres that gave priority to the

common arts. His desire to successfully combine the popular with the Art forms was at the

forefront of many of his projects of the late 1910s and early 1920s. This nostalgia will find

an echo in Poulenc who also sought to amalgamate his eclectic aesthetics in his

compositions.

In Les Maries Cocteau wove elements of the fair when the child "massacred" his

family. This was an actual game named jeu de massacre found in most fairs and thus

would have been familiar to the audience. Cocteau's child represented the player at the fair

who purchased five cloth balls and used them to knock down at least five marionettes

representing a wedding party: bride, groom, mother-in-law, etc. Features of the music-hall

were found primarily in the structure and construction of the play. The music-halls were

renowned for their eclectic programs which could include singers, clowns, acrobats, animal 82

acts and dance - to name but a few - and, based on this concept, Cocteau's 'scenes' followed one another with little or no relation to what preceded or followed. This eclectic nature of the play was also observed in his use of five musicians of various styles, even if under the same name, Les Six. The presence of two phonographs used to relate the dialogue of the characters (who themselves never utter a word) and to comment on the action was a cross between the revue defin d'annees (year-end revue), the Greek tragedy and the cinema. The revue found in the cafe-concert and the music-hall was overviewed by a compere and a commere whose purposes were to link the various scenes of the show. The

Greek tragedy had a chorus to accomplish a similar role, and the cinema with its silent films needed written words to provide the dialogues. It is based on these traditions that Cocteau created his phonographs. This play became an emblem of the high spirits of that time when

Les Six were still together. As Cocteau posited in 1951:

When I think of doing such a show today, I realize that it would be impossible. First of all it would be too costly; and there had to be something else - how shall I put it - we all had to live together a great deal, which isn't the way nowadays. People live together less, I think. At certain times in my life we were constantly with each other, talking, discussing the same things, trying out our work before presenting it. Now it is not like that - there is only solitude. And perhaps we used to put more of ourselves into that fun that goes into work that pretends to be serious but really is not. I mean that a poet owes it to himself to be a very serious man, and yet, out of politeness, to appear the opposite. I think that in this way we lent an air of fun to something that was perhaps more than fun.163

The spirit of the 1920s was to deeply imprint itself not only in Cocteau but also in

Poulenc as we will see when we examine more closely his relationship with the popular. A probable reason behind the profound impression left by this era on Poulenc can be found in

Francis Steegmuller, Cocteau: A Biography (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970), p.267. 83

the weekly get-togethers of Les Six. As Francis Steegmuller recounts in his biography of

Cocteau:

Vladimir Golschman, who conducted the orchestra at the Boeufsur le Toit and the rest of the "Spectacle-Concert" is one of many who have told of the pleasures of the Saturday night dinners that began about the time Cocteau was writing his Carte Blanche articles. Members of the clan, their guests, and their wives or women friends - the painters Valentine Hugo, Marie Laurencin, Irene Lagut, the pianist Marcelle Meyer - would meet at Cocteau's flat, or Lucien Daudet's, or Morand's, or the Hugo's, or Milhaud's or Poulenc's; someone would mix cocktails, and dinner would follow at a flat or a restaurant. Ordering in a restaurant was simple: the plat du jour was usually accepted, and the conventional dessert was a pot de creme au chocolat. The bill was equally divided. Both Milhaud and say that the earliest meetings took place at Milhaud's flat in Montmartre, moving on to the nearby restaurant Le Petit Bessonneau, and then to the Foire de Montmartre - the stretch of boulevard lined with fair booths between the Place Blanche and the Place Pigalle - or to the Cirque Medrano in the same quarter; but Hugo's diary lists also the restaurant Delmas in the Place de la Madeleine, a tearoom called Le The Butterfly in the rue St. Honore, an establishment known as Chez Rene, which began in the rue Demours and later moved out to the suburb of Robinson and was run by a character with a prison in his past who went under the name "Rene de Amouretti." Also favoured were the Montmartre restaurant of Madame Coconnier, whose son had been cook in Jean Hugo's officers' mess at the front, and a restaurant near the Bibliotheque Nationale named for its owner, one Gauclair, who owned a vineyard at La Rochecorbon in Touraine that supplied many a magnum for the clan. After dinner the group would go, if not to the Medrano or the street fair, to the Folies Bergere, or to an American film or an amusement park, Luna Park or Magic City, to watch the sideshows and the shooting galleries and have themselves photographed against comic backgrounds. The evening usually ended in somebody's flat, with music and poetry. Everyone agrees with Golschman about the fun.164

The joie de vivre that permeated these meetings was to definitely mark Poulenc's passage

from adolescence to adulthood. As Davis stipulated in his sociological study on nostalgia,

... for Western man the transition from adolescence serves, at the mythic level at least, as the prototypical frame for nostalgia for the remainder of life. It is almost as if the depth and drama of the transition were such as to

Ibid.,pp.246-247. 84

institutionalize adolescence in the personality as a more or less permanent and infinitely recoverable subject for nostalgic exercise.165

In his later years, Poulenc's "prototypical frame for nostalgia" will manifest itself in his personal letters as well as a number of his compositions. The impact of the relationships and friendships as well as the various artistic trends of that period will forever remain with

Poulenc. Although he will continue, as during his youth, to stay abreast of the new movements during the 1940s and 1950s, he will choose to retain, for the most part, the style he developed and the lessons he learned in the 1920s.

Le Boeufsur le toit

The soul of the early 1920s is probably best defined through an understanding of the position held by a small bar-restaurant by the name of Le Boeufsur le toit. Its owner and

founder, Louis Moyses, had at the beginning of 1921 established another bar-restaurant by the name of Gay a at 17 rue Duphot, which Cocteau and Les Six adopted as their new meeting place for their Saturday nights. The success of this hangout was so great that it had

quickly become too small for the size of the clientele. Seizing the opportunity, Moyses moved in December 1921 to a larger site where the bar and restaurant were expanded into

two locales at 28 rue Boissy-d'Anglas in the neighbourhood of Place de la Madeleine and

renamed Le Boeuf sur le toit after Cocteau's and Milhaud's recent ballet. A number of

accounts exist to support the fact that this cabaret's clientele was eclectic and came from all

walks of life. The most complete of these comes from Maurice Sachs' memoirs:

What made the Boeuf-sur-le-toit a success, other than the tact and intelligence of its creator, was the quickly spread opinion within Paris that one could meet every celebrity of the city there. As a matter of fact, Moyses

Davis, Yearning for Yesterday, p.59. 85

knew how to attract painters, poets, musicians and writers, the important people, their friends and an admiring youth. It was the only place (and I have never known another) where one could arrive in tails or gray flannel, the women in evening dress or tailored suit. The greater society willingly mixed with painters and actors, businessmen with writers. It was common to find workers in pullover coming from Montparnasse; a few would get drunk, everyone had their worries, but, I don't know how, a pleasant friendship prevailed. We would talk to each other from one table to the other. We amused each other. We either all knew each other or we quickly made each other's acquaintances. At first we danced to the sound of a piano played by Doucet who since then has become renowned with Wiener, the good Doucet played softly while reading adventure novels. Even the employees had become friends. The kind woman downstairs who lavished perfumes and baths was also a friend. She used to show us, in the fall, the beautiful medals from Lourdes and other places that she brought back from her religious pilgrimages. Moyses had well understood this mixture of elegance, spirit, laziness, good humour and politeness that forces city dwellers to choose one location over another for their long nocturnal meetings. We would arrive at the Boeuf around ten o'clock. We would not leave before one in the morning. And still some of us would remain after the doors closed. The young people who wished to see Cocteau, Picasso, Diaghilev, Max Jacob, Miassine, Picabia, Auric, Poulenc, Milhaud, Leger, Wiener, Lurcat, Leon-Paul Fargue, Marie Laurencin, Derain, Desnos, Aragon, Tzara, Maurice Rostand, Prince Yousoupof and so many others would frequently find them there. There in the noise of conversations and laughs, tout-Paris would meet. It would be in vain to try to enumerate all who crossed its threshold, from the princesse Murat to the comte de Beaumont, renowned for his balls; from the comtesse de Noailles to King Ferdinand of Romania, from Andre Breton, founder of Surrealism, to Rene Blair. No Parisian, no well advised visitor of Paris has missed going to the Boeuf-sur-le-toit. We could even meet Erik Satie, hermit-musician of Arcueil.166

166 Maurice Sachs, La decade de I'illusion (Paris: Librairie Gallimard, 1950), pp.22-24. "Ce qui fit le succes du Boeuf-sur-le-toit. outre le tact et l'intelligence de son createur, ce fut l'opinion qui se repandit vite dans Paris qu'on y rencontrait toutes les celebrites de la ville. En effet, Moyses sut attirer les peintres, les poetes, les musiciens et les ecrivains, les gens du monde, leurs amis et une admirative jeunesse. C'etait le seul endroit (et je n'en ai jamais connu d'autres) ou Ton pouvait aller en habit ou en flanelles grises, les femmes en decollete ou en tailleur. La societe s'y melait aux peintres et aux acteurs, les hommes d'affaires aux ecrivains. II n'etait pas rare d'y rencontrer des travailleurs en chandail descendus de Montparnasse; quelques-uns s'y enivraient, chacun avait ses soucis, mais il regnait, je ne sais comment, une amitie tres douce. On se parlait d'une table a l'autre. On s'egayait en commun. Ou bien on se connaissait tous, ou on faisait vite connaissance. On dansait d'abord au son d'un seul piano tenu par Doucet, qui est devenu celebre depuis avec Wiener, - le bon Doucet jouait joyeusement tout en lisant des romans d'aventures. Les employes de l'etablissement etaient devenus des amis aussi. L'excellente femme qui prodiguait, en bas, les parfums et les ablutions etait de nos 86

It is difficult to imagine in our present times a wider and more eclectic group of people not only together in the same room but also willing to develop congenial relations. Whether the

exchange of the "friendships" were as extensive as described by Sachs, there can be little

doubt that such a meeting place would have been conducive to an intermingling of ideas

from a wide range of areas. The substantial and diverse knowledge of varied arts already

exhibited by people such as Picasso, Satie, Auric and Poulenc would have been well-served by such gatherings. It is well known that Poulenc, even at a young age, was an avid admirer

of painting, literature (especially contemporary), and theatre as well as music (both highbrow and lowbrow). Thus these encounters from all walks of life functioned as a

catalyst in the development of Poulenc's style.

There are many examples that support the probable impact of the Bceufsur le toil on

Poulenc's emergent career. The music that one heard while at the bar was a mixture of jazz,

popular entertainment and classical such as Chopin and Bach. It would seem that there was

no taboo in regards to the music; all that was needed was a request by a patron of the bar or

the whim of the pianist. A painting by Francis Picabia, a dada/surrealist painter at that time,

hung above the piano of the Bceufsur le toit. L'Oeil cacodylate (1921), an oil painting

camarades. Elle nous montrait, a l'automne, les belles medailles de Lourdes et d'ailleurs qu'elle rapportait de ses pieuses vacances.// Moyses avait bien compris ce melange d'elegance, d'esprit, de paresse, de bonne humeur et de courtoisie qui force les citadins a elire un lieu plutot qu'un autre pour leurs longues reunions .// On arrivait au Boeuf vers dix heures. On ne le quittait qu'a une heure le matin. Encore y restait- on parfois quelques-uns lorsque les portes etaient closes.// Les jeunes gens qui desiraient voir Cocteau, Picasso, Diaghilew, Max Jacob, Miassine, Picabia, Auric, Poulenc, Milhaud, Leger, Wiener, Lurcat, Leon- Paul Fargue, Marie Laurencin, Derain, Desnos, Aragon, Tzara, Maurice Rostand, le prince Yousoupof et tant d'autres, les y trouvaient souvent.// La, dans le tumulte des conversations et des rires, tout Paris se rencontrait. II serait vain de vouloir enumerer ceux qui ont passe ce seuil, de la princesse Murat au comte de Beaumont, celebre pour ses bals; de la comtesse de Noailles au roi Ferdinand de Roumanie, d'Andre Breton, fondateur du surrealisme, a Rene Blair. Aucun Parisien, aucun visiteur avise de Paris n'a manque d'aller au Boeuf-sur-le- toit. On y rencontrait meme Erik Satie, musicien-ermite d'Arcueil." 87

incorporating a collage of photographs, postcards and cut paper, and a large untouched space, became a collective work. Most of the artists and renowned visitors of the bar applied their signatures - including Poulenc - to this large painting (148.6cm X 117.4cm), thus creating a testament to the spirit of the period.

Jean Wiener, the main pianist of the Gaya and the Bceufsur le toit remembers some of these events as follows:

It is possible to think that we may never see again what I witnessed a particular night at the Gaya, in 1920. I found a small notebook in which I had written these words: "At a table, Andre Gide, Marc Allegret and a lady. Beside them, Diaghilev, Kochno, Picasso and Misia Sert. A little further, Mile Mistinguett, Volterra and Maurice Chevalier. Against the wall, Satie, Rene Clair, his wife and Bathori. Then I notice Picabia talking with Paul Poiret and Tzara... Cocteau and Radiguet go say hello to every table. They hug Anna de Noailles who is joined by Lucien Daudet who has just walked in. He is with Marcel Herrand. Yvonne George, at the back, laughs loudly with Auric and the princess Murat. Leon-Paul Fargue is alone, standing, in front of the door: Jacques Porel waves at him to join his table. Fernand Leger gets up and asks us to play Saint-Louis ... Moyses tries to make his way through all these beautiful people. While passing behind me, he tells me that will be coming tonight following his concert. We can already be sure that he will ask for my place at the piano and that he will play Chopin mazurkas for the lovely ladies that will accompany him... In the meantime, Cocteau has come to sit in front of his makeshift drums and, his sleeves rolled up, he beats the cymbal, from time to time, and in rhythm accompanies us while we play Old Fashion Love which Poulenc religiously listens to, leaning against the piano... I did not see Ravel come in, but there he is with Helene Jourdan-Morhange: they must have come through the courtyard, too many friends blocking the doorway. They are looking for Misia's table.. ,"167

167 Jean Wiener, Allegro appasionato (Paris: Pierre Belfond, 1978), pp.44-45. "Et il m'est permis de penser qu'on ne reverra peut-etre jamais ce que j'ai vu certain soir au Gaya, en 1920. J'ai retrouve un petit carnet ou j'avais ecrit ces notes: 'A une table, Andre Gide, Marc Allegret et une dame. A cote d'eux, Diaghilev, Kochno, Picasso et Misia Sert. Un peu plus loin, Mile Mistinguett, Volterra et Maurice Chevalier. Contre le mur, Satie, Rene Clair, sa femme et Bathori. Puis j'apercois Picabia qui discute avec Paul Poiret et Tzara... Cocteau et Radiguet vont dire bonjour a chaque table. lis embrassent Anna de Noailles que Lucien Daudet, qui vient d'entrer, rejoint. II est avec Marcel Herrand. Yvonne George, tout au fond, rit tres fort avec Auric et la princesse Murat. Leon-Paul Fargue est tout seul, debout, devant la porte: Jacques Porel lui fait signe de venir a sa table. Fernand Leger se leve et vient nous demander de jouer Saint-Louis Blues... Moyses essaye de se frayer un passage au milieu de tout ce beau monde. En passant derriere moi, il me dit qu'Arthur Rubinstein viendra ce soir apres son concert. On peut etre sur deja qu'il me demandera de lui ceder la place et 88

Although his memory of certain details (e.g., the Gaya did not open until 1921) is not completely correct, the atmosphere he described is very similar to the one presented by

Sachs. The eclectic clientele, the grouping of people from various backgrounds, the assortment of music played at the establishment are all evidence of the openness of spirit

and mind that existed in the world frequented by Poulenc during his early career. Taking into consideration his age and stage of career development as well as his distinct personality, it is no wonder that the composer was to retain the effects of this era well into his later life.

qu'il jouera des mazurkas de Chopin pour les belles dames qui l'accompagnent...// En attendant, Cocteau est venu s'asseoir devant ses tambours et, toutes manches relevees, il frappe la cymbale d'un petit coup de baguette, de temps en temps, et bien en mesure, nous accompagnant Old Fashion Love que Poulenc ecoute religieusement, accoude au piano... Je n'ai pas vu entrer Ravel, mais il est la avec Helene Jourdan-Morhange: ils ont du passer par la cour, trop d'amis debout bouchent la porte. lis cherchent la table de Misia...'" Chapter 3 - Parisian Entertainment

Of all the pleasures experienced by the people, as proven by history time and time again, the most important one is stage entertainment. To this pleasure, one can add the appeals of the meeting, the noise, the lights, the music, the decors and others of comparable power. But the major attraction may consist in the fact that we abandon our daily life; we forget our home, business, preoccupations; we turn our eyes, our thoughts and our heart to imaginary beings and we associate with this or that character, living their emotions for a few hours.168

These words opening Andre Chadourne's 1889 historical account of the cafe- concert provide the reader with a contemporary outlook on the role of stage entertainment in late-nineteenth-century France. This need by French society to "abandon its ordinary life" even if for only a few hours was a recent social development and part of a movement towards a growing sense of the right to leisure times by the general population.169 The ever expanding cafe-concert was proof of the willingness of the French to spend their hard- earned money on entertainment, adopting a life style that had been mostly reserved for the higher social strata up to then. Yet the cafe-concert was not the only means of entertainment available. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the populace could also attend the circus, the bal musette, the foire (fair), the emerging music-hall, the operette, the cabaret artistique, the Opera, the Opera-Comique and the concert hall.

Although not all of these venues were accessible to all social classes, many were attended by a large segment of the population and while some grew in popularity, others dwindled

Andre Chadourne, Les cafes-concerts (Paris, 1889), p.l. "De tous les plaisirs d'un peuple, comme le prouve l'histoire depuis les temps les plus recules, le plus important est le spectacle. A cela concourent les charmes de la reunion, du bruit, de la lumiere, de la musique, des decors, et d'autres non moins puissants. Mais le principal attrait peut-etre consiste en ce qu'on abandonne la vie ordinaire; qu'on oublie son foyer, ses affaires, ses preoccupations; qu'on reporte ses yeux, ses pensees et son coeur sur des etres imaginaires et qu'on prend fait et cause pour tels ou tels personnages, en vivant de leurs emotions durant quelques heures." 169 For a detailed account of this new trend in France toward the increased availability of leisure time see Charles Rearick, Pleasures of the Belle Epoque: Entertainment & Festivity in Turn-of-the-Century France (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985).

89 90

until they disappeared. In this chapter, due to their importance to Poulenc, the primary

genres of Parisian entertainment that will be examined will include the cafe-concert, the music-hall, the circus, the foire and the bal musette. Although the history of many of these

establishments is extensive - in some cases, such as the circus and fair, going back to the

Middle Ages - the late-nineteenth century will serve as our starting point in order to

examine and better understand the relationship that developed between these aspects of

popular culture and the role they played in Poulenc's life.

Cafe-concert or Caf cone'

The cafe-concert can trace its origins to the musicos of the late-eighteenth century

where patrons could go listen to small , singers and even attend saynetes (small

scenes) while they ate, drank and socialized. Another type of establishment from the early-

nineteenth century was the goguette or caveau, which although often associated with the

beginnings of the cafe-concert, is actually a genre of singing society more closely linked to

the cabaret artistique because of the satirical nature of its performances. Any member was

welcome to perform a song that usually contained a subversive quality through its focus on

church, government or politics, a tradition that was taken up by Montmartre artists (e.g. the

cabaret singer Aristide Bruant, the playwright and songwriter Leon Xanrof, the poet and

singer Maurice Mac-Nab and the composer Erik Satie) at the end of the nineteenth century

in establishments such as Le Chat Noir and Le Lapin Agile.

170 The information regarding the origins and history of the cafe-concert is a synopsis of the following sources: Francois Caradec and Alain Weill, Le Cafe-concert (Paris: Atelier Hachette, 1980); Andre Chadourne, Les cafes-concerts (1889); George Chepfer, "La chansonnette et la musique de cafe concert" in Cinquante ans de musique francaise de 1874 a 1925, Ladislas Rohozinski, ed., 2 vols. (Paris: Librairie de France, 1925), ii. 227-270; Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment and the Circle of Erik Satie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); Andre Sallee and Philippe Chauveau, Music-hall et cafe-concert (Paris: Bordas, 1985). 91

In the early years following the French Revolution, the new government quickly began to perceive these establishments as threats to the new order. Thus severe restrictions were placed on all popular gatherings and the content of their song repertoire. Yet even with their growth hampered by the government, already in the 1830s three summer cafes appeared in the Champs-Elysees: cafe des Ambassadeurs, le Midi and I'Horloge. The open- air concept of these enterprises became popular to the many people who were strolling in the park. Tables and chairs were provided for the public who could choose to stop for a drink and relax. Opened from the months of May to October, these summer establishments soon grew. Competition led to the addition of musical acts, such as singers, for entertainment and canopies to accommodate inclement weather, leading to the designation cafe-chantant. By the 1840s and 1850s, "winter" enterprises were open in other parts of

Paris by the same proprietors of the Champs-Elysees cafes thus providing year-round entertainment (e.g. Chalet Morel d'hiver was a branch of the cafe le Midi).

Text censorship and police supervision remained constant throughout the nineteenth century, with musicians requiring the state's seal of approval on all songs before they were performed and artists needing to be vigilant to avoid the undercover police officers who attended shows in order to uncover any "suspect" repertoire. Added to these restrictions, the caf'conc' was not allowed to compete with theatres (e.g. the opera, the comedy, plays).

Its performers were forbidden to use costumes in their acts. Singers could wear only an evening dress when performing on stage. As well no spoken text, pantomime, dance, or use of accessories (such as wigs or canes) was permitted under threat of severe fines. When these limits were rescinded on 31 March 1867, an upsurge of cafes-concerts occurred.

Within a few months, the number of halls had doubled. Even the Franco-Prussian War of 92

1870-71 stopped this progression only momentarily. By the end of the nineteenth century, the cafe-concert had become one of the main manners in which Parisians (and Frenchmen)

spent their leisure time.

In the beginning, no formal programme existed in the cafes. The show consisted primarily of a series of singers, usually numbering a dozen or more, performing over a three- to four-hour period. As pointed out by Emile Mathieu in 1863, the personnel for most of the cafes-concerts consisted of a , a , three comics, a strong female

singer, another female singer of coloratura, a , two light female singers and two

comic female singers. The orchestra consisted of fourteen to twenty musicians; the

entertainment began around 7 pm and ended at 11 pm, while on Sundays and holidays the music started at 2 pm.171 The personnel also included the dames de la corbeille who were

women dressed in evening gowns and seated quietly in a semi-circle on the stage. They

served to decorate the stage, hide the professional musicians of the orchestra (who did not

necessarily want it known that they played in the cafes as well as the opera house172) and, of

course, attract more men to the show.

With the 1867 law modification, the cafe-concert finally provided more variety and

gave rise to numerous genres of singers. Artists from the theatre forain (travelling

fairground theatre), such as acrobats, animal and magic shows as well as circus acts, began

to perform in cafes, which led to the enlargement of the halls' sizes. By the 1870s and

171 Quoted from Emile Mathieu, Histoire du cafe-concert (Paris, 1863) in Caradec and Weill, he Cafe-concert, pp.12-13. "...le personnel artistique d'un de ces cafes-concerts est presque toujours ainsi compose: un tenor, un baryton, trois comiques, une forte chanteuse, une chanteuse a roulades, un contralto, deux chanteuses legeres et deux chanteuses comiques.// L'orchestre compte quatorze a vingt musiciens.//...Les soirees musicales commencent a 7 heures du soir et se continuent jusqu'a 11 heures; les dimanches et fetes on commence a deux heures de l'apres-midi." 172 Sallee and Chauveau, Music-hall et cafe-concert, p.l 1. Mme Varin, director of the Ambassadeurs came up with the idea of hiding the musicians behind planks in 1848, and it was Anna Picolo of the Horloge who decided to use the dames de la corbeille to hide them in a more visually appealing manner. 93

1880s, the programme was formalized and divided into apartie concert and one or more theatre pieces with the previously heard singers as well as some professional actors playing the various roles. In those years, there existed an overlap of artists between the cafe-concert and the opera/theatre. Not only were there musicians who performed in both venues, but there were also singers. For instance, in 1875, Max Bouvet, a celebrated baritone singer at the Opera and Opera-Comique, sang at the famous Eldorado. Another example of this overlap but this time from the cafe-concert to the theatre occurred when Mile Mily Meyer started her career at the Eldorado in 1876 and moved to the theatre, transforming the caf'conc' into a training ground for performers.173 It was common for the performers to modify their names depending on the venue in which they performed, an indication that a difference in perceived social status still existed. The partie concert consisted of the traditional tour de chant (a series of songs performed by the same artist) while the other

sections of the programme could include an interlude of dance, operetta, short musical

comedy, saynete and one-act play in the operetta or comic opera style. These types of programmes also became known as concerts-spectacles.

A multitude of singers who were now able to use costumes during their performances specialized in one of the various genres that developed during the late-

nineteenth century. The stronger personalities developed their own genre while most of the

others imitated them. The diseuse used a declamatory style with subtle vocal nuances and body gestures to emphasize the content of the song. (1865-1944) was the

most popular diseuse with a career that spanned from the late 1880s until the early 1920s.

173 Ibid., p.144. This relationship between cafes-concerts and opera houses and theatres is also discussed in Chadourne, Les cafes-concerts, pp.55-58. Chadourne also pointed to the overlap that occurred with operetta composers such as Lecocq and Lacome. 94

The comique troupier represented the naive and bumbling foot soldier, a role made popular by Polin (born Pierre-Paul Marsales, 1863-1927).174 The gommeuse, as performed by

Polaire (born Emilie Marie Bouchaud, 1874-1939) and Mistinguett (born Jeanne Bourgeois,

dite Miss, 1875-1956), was a coquettish beauty, skimpily costumed who also made faces

during her act. There were also those artists known for the style of chansons they performed: the chanteuse de valse (waltz singer) such as Paulette Darty (born Paulette

Josephine Combes, 1871-1939) for whom Erik Satie wrote Je te veux (1902), La Diva de

'I'Empire' (1904) and Allons-y Chochotte (1905-06); the chansons d'actualite/patriotique

(patriotic songs, which came in and went out of style depending on the social climate) sung by Amiati (born Maria-Therese Abbiate, 1851-1889) and Rosa Bordas (born Rosalie

Martin, dite "La Bordas"); the chansons idiotes et scabreuses (idiotic and licentious songs)

usually performed by the genre epileptique (epileptic) such as Dranem (born Armand

Menard, 1869-1935) who was relentless in his puns and his stage routine; and the fantaisiste

de charme (charm and fantasy) such as Felix Mayol (1872-1941).175

Many of these singers of Parisian popular music were still performing during

Poulenc's youth, and those most admired by Poulenc included Maurice Chevalier (1888-

1972), Felix Mayol, Dranem, Jeanne Bloch (d. 1916), Polin, Fortuge (born Gabriel Fortune,

1887-1923) and Mistinguett. One can notice that most of these artists would have been at

the height of their career before and slightly following the Great War of 1914-18. Another

point to be made is that all of the various singing genres continued to be consistently seen

174 The comique troupier style will be farther discussed in Chapter 6 when analyzing Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias. 175 For detailed biographies, video clips, song texts and other information regarding the chanson from the Belle Epoque until the 1950s, see the following website: Paul Dube and Jacques Marchioro, Du temps des cerises auxfeuilles mortes (Montreal, 2008), www.chanson.udenap.org. Accessed 10 July 2008. 95

and heard on the cafe-concert % stage during the early-twentieth century. By the time that

Poulenc was old enough to attend these performances, the cafe-concert was beginning its decline. Yet the numerous neighbourhood theatres that were within the vicinity of

Poulenc's Parisian home near La Madeleine continued the tradition. Poulenc's recorded presence at the Folies dramatiques, Petit Casino and Carillon, venues that primarily maintained the original format of the cafe-concert with drinks served during the performances, demonstrates his willingness to attend lowbrow establishments. But, from

Poulenc's recollections, it would also seem that it might have been easier for him as an

adolescent to attend these types of performances rather than the more expensive ones found

at the music-halls, as seen in the fact that he had to sell some of his possessions in order to obtain the money necessary to see acts such as Mistinguett at the Folies Bergere.116

The second part of the cafe-concert''s programme gave rise to a new musical genre known as revue. The revue's origins could be found in the mid-eighteenth-century

fairground where a compere and a commere linked the various scenes to one another.

When adapted by the cafconc' the revue was a one-act show and its purpose was to humorously review the events of the past year, whether political, social or artistic. By the

1890s the revue came to surpass all other genres of entertainment and became the main

attraction of the cafes-concerts which, in a number of cases, were gradually being transformed into music-halls (e.g. Folies-Bergere, Casino de Paris). At the same time the partie concert now consisted of sixteen to eighteen numbers of which maybe three or four were tours de chant. Despite the rise of critics regarding the displacement of the chanson by other forms of entertainment, the cafe-concert was to reach its apogee in the first decade

7 See Chapter 1 for more information. 96

of the twentieth century. Yet with the increased credibility of the music-hall, two-thirds of the cafes-concerts between 1910 and 1920 were converted to cinemas with the last caf'conc', Petit Casino, closing its doors in 1947.177

Part of the success of the cafes-concerts came from the fact that these establishments did not require a cover charge. All that was required was the purchase of a modestly priced drink and its renewal at the beginning of each tour de chants. Contrary to higher-end

establishments, smoking and drinking beer while "listening" to the performances were permitted. The atmosphere was quite informal, noisy and smoke-filled. In the early days, the setting consisted of isolated tables and chairs. By 1867, this was replaced by rows of

chairs with trays attached at the back for drinks. The public came and went as it pleased while gladly interjecting personal comments during performances, joining in the singing, talking loudly and laughing. The dress code was also lax compared to the more established theatres and opera houses. As the popular 1902 chanson Viens poupoule states, Saturday

1 no night the worker could afford to take his wife to the caf'conc' after their supper. The rough atmosphere often found in cafes-concerts became a major point of contention for its

critics: It is through the deformation of the melodic line, the clash of violent rhythms, the brutality of the cry replacing the voice, the excessive sound of the accompanying instruments that the chanson of the cafe-concert succeeds in producing its effect on the exhausted and dazed public that takes pleasure in this type of entertainment. To the attraction of obscenities and coarseness, one can add the appeal of the over-familiar enjoyed in these institutions, where we can keep our hat on our head and we can smoke while sipping a bock; where intoxicated by the nauseous atmosphere of the tobacco and the drinks, we can sing along the idiotic refrain shouted by the singer and supplemented by the nervous excitation of the brass, bass drum and drum.

177 Sallee and Chauveau, Music-hall et cafe-concert, p. 17. 178 Lyrics: "Le sam'di soir, apres l'turbin//L'ouvrier parisien//Dit a sa femm' comme dessert//J'te pai' l'cafe- concert" from Viens poupoule! (1902) performed by Felix Mayol. 97

The cafe-concert chansons are undoubtedly the principal cause of the deterioration of musical taste in France, and those who have retained some concern over the moral state of our nation and its intellectual development cannot help but to be profoundly saddened by the ever-increasing success of these coarse ineptitudes that propagate with the speed of an epidemic and reach, almost instantly, a great popularity that true works of art do not always reach, even after many years.179

In this critique by Victorin Joncieres of 1896, a number of issues surrounding the cafe- concert can be identified. It is an environment whose primary clientele was the lower and middle-class French labourer who went there after a hard day's work in order to relax and enjoy some leisure time, which was still considered a luxury at the end of the nineteenth century. The type of music heard in the cafe-concert was obviously not of the same calibre as what could be heard at the Opera or the Opera-Comique. The focus seemed to have been placed on the camaraderie and the "Gallic spirit" as well as the desire to enjoy the company of friends, neighbours and co-workers.

There existed a close relationship between the public and performers. The banter that occurred between these two groups was part of the familiarity that was expected in these cafes. Joncieres' concerns regarding his fellow Frenchmen's declining morality was echoed in numerous articles and books written at the fin-du-siecle, such as August

Montagu's Manuel politique du citoyen francais (1881) and Ernest Lavisse's storybooks for

Quoted from Victorin Joncieres, illustre, 1896 in Caradec and Weill, Le Cafe-concert, p.30. "C'est par la deformation du dessin melodique, le heurt des rythmes violents, la brutalite du cri remplacant la voix, l'exces de sonorites des instruments qui l'accompagnent, que la chanson du cafe-concert arrive a produire son effet sur le public abruti, qui se complait a ce genre de distraction. A l'attrait des obscenites et des grossieretes, vient s'ajouter celui du sans-gene, dont on jouit dans ces etablissements, ou Ton peut garder son chapeau sur la tete et fumer, tout en degustant un bock; ou grise par l'atmosphere nauseabonde du tabac et des consommations, on peut reprendre en chosur le refrain idiot, que vocifere le chanteur, avec 1'excitation nerveuse qu'y ajoutent les cuivres, la grosse caisse et le tambour. Les chansons de cafe-concert sont certainement la principale cause de la depravation du gout musical en France, et ceux qui ont garde quelque souci de l'etat moral de la nation et de son developpement intellectuel, ne peuvent qu'etre profondement attristes du succes toujours croissant de ces grossieres inepties, qui se propagent avec la rapidite d'une maladie epidemique et arrivent, pour ainsi dire instantanement, a la popularity que n'atteignent pas toujours, en de longues annees, de veritables ceuvres d'art." 98

children and school textbooks. The growth of individuals' rights and the move away from the Catholic Church spurred on not only these thoughts longing for a return to a previous morality based on the ethic of hard work but it also helped in the development of the entertainment business. As Charles Rearick states,

It is doubtful that the consumers of amusement in this period had much more "free time" than their predecessors; most of them probably did have more disposable income; but what is clearest and most significant is that they had a greater willingness to spend their money and time on entertainment and to risk others' moralistic disapproval.180

The growing secularism and the stronger Third Republic created an environment in which cafes-concerts could expand into the music-hall. Ironically this development led to the creation of a genre of entertainment that would again alienate the lower class in favour of the bourgeois. Some of the cafes-concerts began to expand in order to accommodate the larger shows - such as the circus acrobats, trapeze artists, boxing and wrestling (female as well as male, and even a kangaroo!) - and, in doing so, they also renovated to become more luxurious, following the tradition of the Opera. The size and lavish decors led to the attraction of a different social class, leaving the smaller neighbourhood cafes-concerts to the lower and worker classes. Already in 1883, Francisque Sarcey wrote in Temps:

The Grand Concert Parisien is quite fashionable. High society goes there every night in their evening best, wearing a boutonniere. They are more comfortable there than at the Tuesdays of the Comedie-Francaise. We can smoke, talk loudly, and laugh with the actresses on stage. We do not really listen. It is an entertaining role for the well-born young people who claim to carry within themselves the Parisian elegance and the French spirit. But these gentlemen are allowed to get their pleasure where they want and that does not concern me. The hall is full and it seems that the impresario makes good receipts. Do not be surprised if the real theatres can only flap one wing. What an inexplicable indulgence from the public for these establishments where only beer and chansonnettes are served. It rains

Rearick, Pleasures of the Belle Epoque, p.52. 99

chansonnettes. Singers succeed each other without intermission, perform their little act in the middle of a general disinterest and take their leave. What they sing has no name, we listen stunned and heartbroken to these ineptitudes.181

In the same article, Sarcey recalled how a young journalist told him that attending the concert required a certain getting used to, in the same way that one learned to smoke a pipe

- feeling nauseous at first but eventually becoming addicted to it.182 Despite these negative critiques found in the papers of the period, the popularity of the cafe-concert continued. Its changing setting and clientele led to a new genre of entertainment. Thus the establishments that maintained the caf'conc' status continued to provide the traditional entertainment to its usual clientele, while the new venues began to take on the name of music-hall and through some modifications of the basic features of the cafe-concert, opened its doors to a new group of people.

Music-hall

At the turn-of-the-century, an ambiguity existed between the terms cafe-concert and music-hall. Parisians used either word interchangeably when discussing their entertainment. Yet a growing distinction began to occur during the First World War. From

Quoted from Francisque Sarcey, Temps, 1883 in George Chepfer, "La chansonnette et la musique de cafe- concert" in Cinquante ans de musique frangaise de 1874 a 1925, ii. p.242. "Le Grand Concert Parisien est, me dit-on, tres a la mode. La haute gomme y vient tous les soirs en costume de gala, la fleur a la boutonniere. Elle y est plus a son aise qu'aux mardis de la Comedie-Francaise. On y peut fumer, causer a haute voix, rire avec les actrices en scene. On n'y ecoute pas davantage. C'est un role de divertissement pour des jeunes gens bien nes qui ont la pretention de resumer en eux les elegances parisiennes et 1'esprit francais. Mais ces messieurs ont le droit de prendre leur plaisir ou ils le trouvent, et cela ne me regarde pas. Salle comble, il parait que l'impresario fait des recettes enormes. Etonnez-vous si les vrais theatres ne battent que d'une aile. Quelle inexplicable indulgence du public pour ces etablissements ou Ton ne debite que de la biere et des chansonnettes. C'est une pluie de chansonnettes. Chanteurs et chanteuses se succedent sans entracte, disent leur petite affaire au milieu de l'inattention generate et se retirent. Ce qu'ils chantent n'a pas de nom, on ecoute stupefait et navre toutes ces inepties." 182 Ibid., p.242. "II faut, pour s'amuser au concert, une sorte d'acclimatation. Les premiers soirs, on s'y ennuie; on trouve ca stupide; peu a peu on s'habitue a ce genre d'esprit et on le trouve drole. II en est du cafe- concert comme de la pipe: on a longtemps des nausees avant de s'y plaire; on finit par ne plus pouvoir s'en passer." 100

1900 to 1914, the music-hall became increasingly respectable, and from 1919 until 1935 it reached its apogee. As Gustave Frejaville pointed out in 1922 regarding the origins of the music-hall:

If a few readers possessing a light spirit could believe that it is a purely English institution, it would be an illusion. The Parisian music-hall, despite its British name which it adapted during a crisis of snobbism, comes directly from the modest cafe chantant of the Second Empire. The cafe chantant quickly became the cafe-concert. Along the way, it adapted various elements of the circus show, the fairground exhibitions, the small theatres, the pantomime, the fantasy and even the opera's ballet. This remarkable evolution happened extremely rapidly.183

The wide range of variety presented in the shows and their growing extravagance became one of the significant differences between the music-hall and the cafe-concert. Music-hall performances could include clowns, gymnasts, rope dancers, stuntmen, contortionists, magicians, conjurors, mime artists, classical dancers, exotic dancers, freaks and animal trainers.184 There was even a man named Joseph Pujol who was known as Le Petomane

("Farting man"); his specialty was the "singing" of any song using his mastery over his

abdominal and anal muscles!185

Other major differences between the two types of establishments included the prohibition of smoking and drinking during the performances, which led to the inception of

a mandatory admission fee. The seats set up in rows and facing the stage, as well as the

183 Quoted from Gustave Frejaville, Au music-hall, 1922 in Sallee and Chauveau, Music-hall et cafe-concert, p.18. "Si quelques lecteurs d'esprit leger pouvaient croire qu'il s'agit d'une institution purement anglaise, ce serait une singuliere illusion. Le music-hall parisien, en depit du nom britannique dont il s'est affuble dans une crise de snobisme, vient en droite ligne du modeste 'cafe chantant' du Second Empire. Le cafe chantant est devenu tres vite 'cafe-concert'. Puis il s'est annexe, chemin faisant, divers elements de spectacle empruntes au cirque, aux exhibitions foraines, aux petits theatres, a la pantomime, a la feerie, et meme au ballet d'opera. Cette evolution remarquable a ete extremement rapide." 184 For a detailed description of the various performances present in the music-halls see Jacques Feschotte, Histoire du Music-hall (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1965), pp. 53-76: 185 For a complete biography of Joseph Pujol and his unique ability see Jean Nohain and Francois Caradec, Le petomane 1857-1945: sa vie, son ceuvre (Paris: J.J. Pauvert, 1967). 101

palace-like decor, encouraged the audience to pay attention to the show, replacing the dynamic interaction that prevailed in the cafes-concerts. The opulence, spaciousness and luxury that existed in the music-hall attracted a wealthier clientele as well as foreigners, especially Americans who flooded Paris following World War I. The growing internationalism was reflected as well in the acts themselves. A mounting number of foreign names and acts were featured in many of the big-named music-halls (e.g. Folies-

Bergere, Moulin Rouge, Scald) such as Matsui the Japanese Imperial Troupe, Juliano Bozza and his musical clowns, the Hoffmann Girls and Loie Fuller and her luminous dances.

The music-hall's eclecticism came from its borrowing of various art forms: theatre, ballet, pantomime and circus. From the theatrical tradition, the music-hall invented the

"sketches," either comic or dramatic. The appearance of celebrated actors, such as Sarah

Bernhardt, Eugene Silvain and Feodor Chaliapin, also helped to enhance the importance of the various establishments.186 The dances in the music-hall programmes did not possess uniquely popular roots as the ones found in the valse chaloupee, the fox-trot, the shimmy, the tango and the Java. Dances were also influenced in part by the ballet. The types of dances included classic and modern as well as exotic or folkloric. The appearance of celebrated soloist dancers as well as entire ballet companies also occurred, while les girls could be seen in some theatrical works such as the operetta. Various forms of the pantomime have also been featured on the music-hall stage: the classic figure of Pierrot blanc, the modern and realist pantomime as well as the Anglo-American pantomime with its acrobatics, fake sceneries and mime games.187 Finally, as mentioned above, the circus

186 Feschotte, Histoire du music-hall, pp. 115-116. 187 Ibid., p. 116-117. 102

acts were notorious to the music-hall with its acrobatics, animals, clowns, gymnasts, jugglers, illusionists and athletics. The emphasis placed by the music-hall directors on

special effects indicates one of the major goals of the establishment: to astound the

audience.

In the early days of the music-hall, the tour de chant still held a prominent position

within the programme.188 Lesser-known artists would either begin the programme by

singing two-three songs or perform their songs in between two numbers. The star of the

show who was always a singer would appear at the climax of the show - either at the end of

the first part (before the intermission) or at the beginning of the second part of the

programme. This performer would sing between eight and ten songs - at times, even more

- for a time of approximately half-an-hour. The essential element needed by this star singer

was proper diction. This element came before vocal quality and was as important as the

interpretation or the performance itself. Other elements that were needed included

1 SO

developed comedic abilities, a great sense of rhythm and charismatic stage behaviour.

These prerequisites go a long way in explaining how a Mistinguett or a Maurice Chevalier

could have risen to stardom despite their ordinary, and at times harsh, singing voices.

Yet as mentioned above, the tour de chant gradually lost its place in favour of the

other types of acts and, especially, the revue a grand spectacle, an indispensable attraction

between 1918 and 1940. The revue that had become a staple of the second part of the cafe-

188 For a complete list of "tour de chant" interpreters from the Belle Epoque until the date of publication (1965) see Feschotte, Histoire du music-hall, pp.35-50. 189 Feschotte, Histoire du music-hall, p.32. "Le public du music-hall veut comprendre ce qu'on lui chante: il est done indispensable que l'artiste ait une diction exemplaire. Cela passe avant la qualite de la voix, et est aussi important que 1'interpretation elle-nieme (celle-ci d'ailleurs dependant tout naturellement de la diction). ... A cote de la diction, les autres elements majeurs sont l'art de comedien, le sens du rythme, la tenue en scene. Pour 'meubler' a soi seul tout un plateau pendant une demi-heure ou davantage, il est necessaire en effet de pouvoir mimer, danser eventuellement, suggerer des personnages." 103

concert programme was one that focused on French current events and that was specifically geared to French audiences. However, the rise of the music-hall and its focus on opulence brought about a drastic change in the manner in which these revues were staged. The

scenery became more elaborate, the tableaux vivants191 were more spectacular, the electric lighting produced grander effects, the addition of waist-high naked women, also known as

les girls, became mandatory and the mixture of fair, circus, theatre, dance and song

elements became a regular part of sketches and revues. The common themes found in the

scenery and tableaux included antiquity, tropical jungles/forests, oceanic islands and renowned paintings. Exoticism grew in importance in these music-hall revues, as exhibited by the 1925 success of Josephine Baker in La Revue negre.192 The excitement and

controversy generated by this performance catapulted the young African-American dancer

For a complete account of the revue's history see Robert Dreyfus, "Petite histoire de la revue de fin d'annee" iaLe Figaro (1909). 191 Zeev Gourarier, 77 etait unefois la fete foraine de 1850 a 1950, (Paris: Editions de la reunion des musees nationaux, 1995), p.156. Definition of tableaux vivants: "The tableaux vivants tradition is multisecular and harks back to the history scenes performed on the platforms for the royal entries. At the fair, the tableaux vivants theatres did not appear before the second half of the nineteenth century. In the beginning, these shows were limited to reproduction of great artistic compositions with the costumes and poses of the original work. It is probably under this auspice that M. Adonis presented in 1861, La Vie de Jeanne d'Arc ou VHeroine de Vaucouleurs, through nine tableaux vivants. Very quickly, one-upmanship occurred. Already in 1881, the Pietro Gallici theatre exhibited, on top of the traditional tableaux vivants, marble tableaux. From now on painting gives way to sculpture, with the illusion enhanced by painting humans to imitate marble, bronze, even gold as seen on the cover of Petit Journal illustre in 1884. Faced by the bronze human competition, the tableaux vivants theatres enrich their programmes. In 1887, the most famous of these establishments, Melkior Bonnefois, proposed, at the Neu-Neu Fete, masterpieces based on originals found in the largest museums of the world and performed by authentic artists. The most amazing incarnation of art pieces was undoubtedly the illusionists' Galatea who woke from the marble sleep in order to address the public for a short time. "See, said the stage-manager, the matter is becoming animate, the marble turns to flesh. Not surprising replies the common Parisian: everything increases!" 192 For more information regarding Josephine Baker see the following sources: Josephine Baker, Les memoires, Marcel Sauvage, ed. (Paris: Editions Correa, 1949); Josephine Baker, Une vie de toutes les couleurs, Andre Rivollet, ed. (Grenoble: B. Arthaud, 1935); Claude Dufresne, II etait unefois Josephine Baker (Neuilly-sur-Seine: Lafon, 2006); Bennetta Jules-Rosette and Simon Njami, Josephine Baker in Art and Life: the Icon and the Image, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007); Charles Onana, Josephine Baker contre Hitler: la star noire de la France libre (Paris: Duboiris, 2006); Carole Sweeney, From Fetish to Subject: Race, Modernism and Primitivism, 1919-1935 (Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2007); Ean Wood, The Josephine Baker Story (London: Sanctuary Publishing Ltd, 2000). 104

to French stardom. This focus on one major star, the meneur/meneuse de revue, defined the

spectacle. The public remembered the characters that these stars incarnated through the various songs they performed. Yet the arrival of Baker also indicated the prominence of international flavours and the growing preference for foreigners that had begun at the end of

World War I. The American presence in Paris, the immigration of foreign workers to help rebuild France and the rise of American cinema all contributed to this growing internationalism in the music-hall, which then translated into a diminution of the French

chanson tradition. The goal of astounding the audience left little place for the chanson,

except for its inclusion into the revue a grand spectacle, as performed by the star(s) of the

show.

The orchestra's role was essential in the music-hall. It was ever present and

accompanied almost all numbers except for the rare sketches. The conductor's primary role

consisted in being the middle man between the authors of the revue and the stage directors.

He was often a composer or at least a talented arranger, and his main goal was to put to best

use the fashionable tunes and dances. This mandate meant in many circumstances that the

music took on a cosmopolitan flavour in hopes of crossing cultural boundaries. This was

especially true with the arrival of jazz in Paris and its subsequent influence on French

popular music.193 It is thus that some of the qualities of the early-twentieth-century chanson

were lost by the late 1920s and especially the 1930s.

As a result of the expanding cosmopolitanism and exoticism, there was, during the

inter-war years, one performer who strived to keep the cafe-concert tradition alive:

193 For a detailed account of this influence see Jeffrey H. Jackson, Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2003). 105

Georgius (born Georges Guibourg, 1891-1970). Known as I'Amuseurpublic numero un,

Georgius not only performed in the more famous and elitist music-halls, as Chevalier and

Mistinguett did, but was also a regular attraction in the neighbourhood cafes and the

r provincial establishments. His repertoire consisted both of oldies from the Belle Epoque,

such as Viens poupoule, Le temps des cerises, and Sous les ponts de Paris, which were

filled with nostalgic references for Parisian audiences, and also newly-composed chansons

that combined sentimentality and wit as well as an identification with the modest working man. Yet, most of the songs he personally wrote and performed were frivolous in spirit,

harking back to the earlier days of the cafe-concert and its use of the scie, a refrain of a

premeditated monotony that is repeated numerous times. A popular nineteenth-century

example is the 1876 chanson L'amant d'Amanda sung by Libert (d. 1896) that repeated

sounds and playfully shifted meanings (e.g. the pun between the girl's name "Amanda" and

the word for lover and her incomplete name "l'amant d'A"):

Voyez ce beau gargon-ld C'est l'amant d'A C'est l'amant d'A Voyez ce beau gargon-ld C'est l'amant d'Amanda...

An example by Georgius is found in his 1936 chanson Au lycee Papillon:

On n'est pas des imbeciles On a mem' de I'instruction Au lycee Pa-pa...

For more details about this revival of the cafe-concert tradition, see Charles Lejay, Du cafe-concert au thedtre-chantant de Georgius (Paris: Marcel Labbe Editeur, 1928). 195 Translation: "Look at this gorgeous guy//He is A's lover//He is A's lover//Look at this gorgeous guy//He is Amanda's lover" 106

Au lycee Pa-pil... Au lycee Papillon.

As noted by the reviewer Legrand-Chabrier, Georgius' songs were like images d'Epinal197 of the old caf'conc' and Frejaville termed Georgius' shows "the counteroffensive of the caf'conc '."198 This valiant attempt at reviving the cafe-concert was unfortunately doomed to failure due to a fast-changing world and an up-coming world war, in the same manner that the music-hall would barely survive the Second World War, having known its zenith in the 1920s and early 1930s.

As mentioned above, Poulenc was an avid client of the music-halls and cafes-

concerts during the 1920s, becoming familiar with a number of performers and composers

of the popular genre. Amongst the artists he most admired, Maurice Chevalier stands out.

Although no available correspondence or any evidence exists suggesting that Poulenc ever met Maurice Chevalier, one of the most popular French entertainers of the first-half of the

twentieth century, the admiration that Poulenc possessed for this man is undeniable. During

Poulenc's radio broadcasts of the late 1940s, he chose to dedicate an entire show to Maurice

Chevalier in which the composer explained his reasons for the admiration he had for this

Translation: "We are not stupid/AVe are even educated//At Bu-bu school//At Bu-tter school//At Butterfly school" 197 Images d'Epinal were prints on popular subjects rendered in bright sharp colours, sold in France in the nineteenth century. The first publisher of such images was Jean-Charles Pellerin from the city of Epinal (Vosges). His printing house dates from 1796. These images were part of the popular imagery used for the illiterate populace, and their topics included religion, French historical events and even illustrated children's primers. For a detailed account of the role of the images d'Epinal in France, see Jay M. Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.119-144. For a discussion of Cocteau's use of the images d'Epinal in the ballet Parade, see Kenneth E. Silver, Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914-1925 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989),pp.l23-125. 198 As quoted in Charles Rearick, The French in Love and War: Popular Culture in the Era of the World Wars (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997), p. 115. • 107

entertainer and his desire to be him in another life. Poulenc commented on Chevalier's stage performances, the singer's ability to connect with his audience, and his sense of style or classe. Poulenc even quoted from Chevalier's memoirs, Ma route et mes chansons, demonstrating his knowledge of the artist's life and his deep interest in this personality.20

Poulenc also commented on Chevalier's impeccable preparation and technique found in his songs: "What is extraordinary with Chevalier is that his songs which seem the most improvised are the object of an impeccable mise au point."201 Interestingly, this comment can also be applied to Poulenc's melodies which were often believed to have been composed easily whereas in reality the composer had worked hard at them. Poulenc ended his broadcast with a comment on Chevalier's "Menilmontant voice"20 and its ability to evoke Paris no matter where it is heard in the world and to bring tears to an exiled

Parisian.203 This same nostalgic recollection was found in Cocteau's 1935 memoirs regarding Mistinguett:

199 Francis Poulenc, A batons rompus: Ecrits radiophoniques; precede de Journal de vacances, et suivi de Feuilles americaines, Lucie Kayas, ed. (Paris: Actes Sud, 1999), p.43. "Aujourd'hui, je viens vous dire qui j'aurais voulu etre si j'avais pu choisir mon destin au berceau. Ne voyez dans cette confidence aucun paradoxe, aucun desir d'epater le bourgeois, je vous avouerai tres simplement, parce que c'est l'exacte verite, que j'aurais voulu etre Maurice Chevalier." 200 Ibid., p.46. "Dans ses merveilleux souvenirs dont le style est aussi personnel que celui de ses chansons, il nous l'avoue lui-meme. Ecoutez-le: 'Je me mefiais de la vulgarite. Je regardais sou vent Claudius et Morton du coin de la coulisse et m'inspirais de leur naturel et de leur legerete comique. Pas de lourdeurs, pas d'insistance sur les effets de rire. J'apprenais a comprendre ce qui est si rare sur la scene: la classe.' La classe, le style, voila le secret d'une longue reussite. Plus loin, Chevalier nous donne la clef de son evolution artistique: 'A mon sens, un artiste tout au long de sa vie poursuit avec le public une conversation mysterieuse et ininterrompue. C'est a lui de sentir lorsqu'il a suffisamment exploite tel procede, telle maniere de faire rire; c'est a lui de deviner le moment ou il lui est devenu necessaire de changer la conversation. [...] On ecoute les voix interieures. On leur obeit. On accouche... et on attend. Gare les pains!!" 201 Ibid., p.48. "Ce qu'il y a d'extraordinaire chez Chevalier, c'est que ses chansons qui semblent les plus improvisees sont l'objet d'une mise au point implacable." 202 Menilmontant is a Parisian neighbourhood located in the twentieth arrondissement. "Menilmontant voice" refers to that fact that Maurice Chevalier was born in this working class district and retained its distinct French slang accent nicknamed "Menilmuche." 203 Poulenc, A batons rompus, pp.48-49. "Bien sur, ce qui nous touche au cceur, nous autres Parigots, c'est cette voix de Menilmontant, mais combien faut-il qu'elle soit sublimee par un art sans faiblesse pour qu'a des milliers de kilometres de Paris, elle empoigne un public qui ne connait meme pas en carte postale le faubourg 108

There exist many types of patriotism. I try to toughen my skin to the military marches for which we are all sensitive, but why should I toughen the skin that would make Mistinguett's voice intolerable in exile and make me want to listen to it in the same manner as the Scot his bagpipe, the Spanish his , the Polish his piano. Either she sings her ballads of the poor child standing beside a big dog, in the manner of Velasquez's young lords, or she explains to the audience: "They say that my voice drags — When I sing my catchy tune - It's true." The tears arise when hearing this voice which comes from the school of street cries and the newspaper hawkers, this voice made to moan, this voice which is another look of this personage created through misery and violence.204

Was Poulenc aware of this Cocteau quote? It is possible that Poulenc borrowed from

Cocteau for his own prepared text, yet Poulenc's admiration for Chevalier also went beyond the simple radio broadcast. On many occasions, Poulenc mentioned the influence that

Chevalier's performance style and particular songs had on a number of his works. For

instance, when discussing with Claude Rostand his opera Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

and its relationship with the popular Parisian world, Poulenc mentioned the impact of

Chevalier's Si fatigue (1925) in the creation of certain melodic lines of his composition.

In this same conversation where Poulenc discussed his outings to music-halls in his youth

and the artists he saw there, the composer said, "What we preferred above all else was

Saint-Martin. ... Appelez cela comme vous voudrez, ou les mots d'argot, lances en feu d'artifice, ont un tel parfum de chez nous, qu'en exil, je ne saurais en supporter l'audition sans pleurer." 204 Jean Cocteau, Portraits-souvenir (Paris: Editions Bernard Grasset, 1935), p. 132. "II existe plusieurs patriotismes. J'essaye de me durcir l'epiderme que nous avons tous sensible aux marches militaires, mais pourquoi durcirai-je la peau profonde qui me rendrait la voix de Mistinguett intolerable en exil et me la fait ecouter comme l'Ecossais la cornemuse, l'Espagnol les castagnettes, le Polonais le piano. Soit qu'elle chante ses complaintes d'enfant pauvre debout pres d'un gros chien, a la maniere des jeunes seigneurs de Velasquez, soit qu'elle explique a la salle: "On dit quej'ai la voix qui traine - Quandje chant' mes rengaines - c'est vrai." Les larmes me montent a entendre cette voix mise de longue date a l'ecole des cris de la rue et des marchandes de journaux, cette voix pour se plaindre, cette voix qui est un autre regard de cette figure construite par les taloches." 205 Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1954), p.136. "Chevalier chantait, entre autres, une chanson qui m'enivrait. Si fatigue etait le titre. J'en ai un vieux disque que je vous ferai entendre tout a l'heure. Cette chanson m'a influence jusque dans certaine prosodie des Mamelles de Tiresias." 109

Chevalier, the Chevalier of the Petit Casino and the Carillon." This 1954 comment demonstrates Poulenc's love of the young Chevalier especially, since the venues mentioned were cafes-concerts where Chevalier performed during his early career. This focus on the

early performance styles, the ones Poulenc became familiar with during his youth, is

another indication of his nostalgic attachment to pre-war Paris.

Poulenc not only admired the performers of popular chansons but he also knew and thought highly of the composers of these works, particularly Henri Christine (1867-1941),

Vincent Scotto (1874-1952), Charles Clerc, dit Borel-Clerc (1879-1959), and Maurice

Yvain (1891-1965). As mentioned before, Poulenc was familiar with Christine's and

Scotto's songs that he heard played on the streets of Nogent-sur-Marne during the summers he spent there. He would also have heard them during his visits to Parisian establishments

and the Montmartre fair. What Poulenc admired most about these composers of chansons

was their ability to create melodies:

"During his whole life Christine knew how to charm because of his melodic genius."207 "Scotto is a kind of Rameau of the chanson."20*

"Whether it is art music or popular songs, the melodic instinct seems to me to be the most precious gift given to a musician. This talent M. Borel-Clerc possesses to the highest degree."209

All of these comments indicate the supremacy placed on the melodic line by

Poulenc. Being a great melodist, it is not surprising that he would have been attracted to

206 Ibid., p. 136. "A tout cas, ce que nous preferions a tout c'etait Chevalier, le Chevalier du Petit Casino et du Carillon." 207 Poulenc, A batons rompus, p.52. "Toute sa vie Christine a su charmer grace a son genie melodique." 208 Ibid., p.54. "Scotto, c'est une sorte de Rameau de la chanson." 209 Ibid., p.53. "Qu'il s'agisse de grande musique ou de chansons, l'instinct melodique me semble le don le plus precieux pour un musicien. Ce don, M. Borel-Clerc le possede au plus haut point." no

other composers who demonstrated this same ability. Yet this appeal to the melodic line does not, on its own, justify or explain why Poulenc turned to the popular style for inspiration instead of maintaining a focus on art music alone. From the radio broadcast transcripts, it is obvious that Poulenc had not simply done his homework but actually knew these composers and their works in detail. He was not only familiar with a variety of chansons but also owned a number of the recordings he used during the broadcasts. His comments were personal and revealed an intimate knowledge of the song and its best (in his view) performances. These documents support Poulenc's claim that he regularly attended the music-halls from his adolescence to the age of thirty. There is no reason to doubt

Poulenc's honesty in this matter.

The Circus

In the early-twentieth century, Paris had three principal circuses that were housed permanently in vast indoor amphitheatres. These included: Nouveau Cirque (1886-1926) and most famous prior to 1900; Cirque Medrano (1897-1963) and most popular during the teens and twenties); and Cirque de Paris (1890s-c.l910s), directed by Mme M.L. David de

Mayrena, was short-lived. At the Nouveau Cirque the owner Joseph Oiler conceived its main attraction: the Grande Piscine, an apparatus which in ten minutes transformed the track into a lake where aquatic events took place, such as elaborate pantomimes that ended with the performers jumping in the water. On 14 June 1913, the Association des Artistes

Lyriques held its annual gala at the Nouveau Cirque and stars such as Mistinguett, Dranem,

Chevalier and Jeanne Bloch prepared sketches and pantomimes that ended in the water of Ill

the Great Pool. The Cirque Medrano was most popular for its clowns, including the

Italian Fratellini Brothers and the Swiss Grock (born Charles Adrien Wettach), characterized as musical eccentrics. Grock could play up to twenty-four instruments with the piano and the violin being his specialty and the central elements of many of his acts.211

The three Fratellini Brothers were also multi-instrumentalists.212 Every performance by the

Fratellini included a musical number with a slapstick element. Their musical acts could be parodist renditions of American marches and cakewalks on the clarinet, or more serious virtuosic performances such as Verdi's Aida on car horns.213 Francois played the mandolin and the guitar; Albert played the trombone, the violin and the whistle (jazz band); and Paul played the concertina (hexagon accordion) as well as all string and wind instruments. In addition to this traditional instrumentation were bells, "musical knives" and "flexatone." It is no wonder that Milhaud described these clowns as equivalent to the stock characters of the commedia-dell'arte and that Cocteau used them in his production of Le Boeufsur le toit (1920).

The audiences present at circus performances comprised a wide range of social classes. As the Fratellinis explained to Pierre Mariel in 1923, there were specific days when

Adrien, Histoire illustree des cirques parisiens d'hier et d'aujourd'hui (Bourg-la-Reine: Adrian, 1957), pp.71-72. "A cette representation de gala, les spectateurs du Nouveau-Cirque virent Dranem et Sinoel jouer l'entree clownesque de Guillaume Tell, Mistinguett, ecuyere, Berard en cavalier de haute-ecole chanter « Charger », Jeanne Bloch et un poney, Fragson et Franck Puaux faire un assaut de sabre a cheval, Maurice Chevalier et Raimu, acrobates comiques, Boucot, hercule, et il y avait encore Dorville, Geo Lole, Tramel, Mazel, Lerner, etc... Quelle affiche! Enfin presque toute la troupe tombait a l'eau dans « Tous a l'eau », pantomime reglee par Tristan Bernard." 211 Short video clips from some of Grock's acts are available on the following website: www.osborne- conant.org/Grock.htm. Accessed 10 July 2008. 212 For a complete biography of the Fratellini brothers see Pierre Mariel, Histoire de trois clowns: Les Fratellinis (Paris: Societe Anonyme d'Editions, 1923). 213 For a recording of this act, listen to Fete foraine et cirque: 1928-1954 (Groupe Fremeaux Colombini SAS, FA 5124, 2005). 214 Darius Milhaud, Ma vie heureuse (Bourg-la-Reine: Editions Auf. Zurfluh, 1998), p.84. 112

a certain clientele participated in the spectacles of the circus.215 Saturday and Sunday were designated for the mass (grande foule), Thursday was mainly for children, Friday for high society (monde elegant) and Monday through Wednesday was for the "real public" which consisted of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, the men of letters and the journalists. In this latter group, Adrian mentioned the following artists as regulars at the circus: Henri de

Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Modigliani, Andre Derain, Andre Utter, Jean-Gabriel Daragnes,

Charles Dufresne, Suzanne Valadon, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlein and Joseph B.B.

Faverot.216 Yet even with these "assigned" days, the audience presented a mixture of social classes at the circus. The lower-class Parisians could be found in the large gallery, while the middle class occupied rows of small rocking chairs and the wealthy aristocrats had loges. And, as in the case of the music-halls, there were also foreign visitors who went to attend the various performances presented at these famous circuses. The reasons behind this eclecticism within the circus audience can be explained in as many ways as there are people, yet Cocteau's detailed description of his circus experience and the many memoirs written by circus performers217 tend to indicate one key motive: childhood nostalgia. The

215 Mariel, Histoire de trois clowns, pp.206-207. "Chaque jour de la semaine a son public. Le samedi et le dimanche, c'est la grande foule, qui s'amuse a coeur joie, mais qui ne constitue qu'une clientele de passage. Le jeudi, nous avons affaire aux enfants, qu'il faut prendre garde de ne pas effrayer, car leur peur est contagieuse; ils ne s'amusent jamais tant qu'aux distributions de taloches. Le vendredi est le jour du monde elegant, et comme c'est ce soir-la que nous changeons de programme, nous avons toujours moins d'assurance qu'a l'ordinaire. Mais les autres jours nous sommes en face de notre veritable public: habitants du quartier, gens de lettres, journalistes, et c'est avec lui que nous nous sentons le plus en confiance." 216 Adrian, Histoire illustree des cirques parisiens, p. 116. Observations by Adrien regarding the Cirque Medrano in 1897: "Picasso etait un familier de Medrano ou aimaient aussi a se retrouver Modigliani, Derain, Utter (qui epousa Suzanne Valadon si attiree, elle, par les jeux du cirque, qu'elle fit du trapeze), les neo- realistes Daragnes et Charles Dufresne, ainsi que les humoristes montmartrois tels Steinlein et Faverot." See the following sources for circus memoirs: Adrian, Histoire illustree des cirques parisiens d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, 1957; Adrian, Ce tire qui vient du cirque: L'art, la vie, Vhistoire, les blagues des clowns augustes, excentriques et de leurs 'faire-valoir' (Bourg-la-Reine: Adrian, 1969); Adrian, Cirque Parade (Paris: Solar - Editeur, 1974); Pierre Bost, Le cirque et le music-hall: les manifestations de I'esprit contemporain (Paris: Sans Pareil, 1931); Cocteau, Portraits-Souvenir (1935), pp. 49-74; Mariel, Histoire de trois clowns: Les Fratellini, 1923; Serge, Histoire du cirque (Paris: Librairie Grund, 1947); Serge, Vive le 113

desire to experience again the magic and the wonder associated with the various circus acts is retained from the adults' childhood memories. Although the actual event may not always comply with the memory, this did not prevent adults from continuing their quest. As

Cocteau pointed out during his discussion of Footit, one of the most famous clowns from the turn-of-the-century: "Footit delighted the children; he also, a feat of strength, succeeded in pleasing the adults and restoring them to childhood. // Footit brought to life the mischievous atmosphere of a nursery where children saw their cunning pranks revealed and where adults felt its splendour." The excitement sensed when entering the circus

environment as well as the various smells and sounds heard within the confines of the circus raised the audience's anticipation even before the actual "rise of the curtain."

The circus possessed an openness that was unique to its set-up. Its programme

included a wide range of genres that were made to fit the circular arena in which these acts were performed. The circus ring was made to be watched from all angles and the dome permitted exercises in height. The direct danger experienced by many circus performers

added to the excitement of the ambience. At the same time, the fluidity between acts provided by the "Auguste" and "Clown blanc"219 prevented chaos, a mood more easily

associated with the fairgrounds. Despite the music-hall's presentation of circus acts within

its walls, the one-dimensional stage, the rows of seats facing the stage and the lack of space

cirque! - Phenomenes acrobates, clowns, fauves (Paris: Marcel Seheur Editeur, 1930); G. Strehly, L 'acrobatie et les acrobates: Textes et dessins (Paris: Librairie S. Zlatin, 1903). 18 Cocteau, Portraits-Souvenir, p.70. "Footit enchantait les enfants; il reussissait ce tour de force de plaire aussi aux grandes personnes et de leur restituer Fenfance. L'enfance se trouve de plain-pied avec cette excitation nerveuse des clowns lorsqu'ils apprennent une face nouvelle et decident de l'essayer sur un camarade... // Footit apportait sur la piste une atmosphere de nursery du diable, ou les enfants retrouvaient leurs malice sournoises et dont les grandes personnes subissaient la grandeur." 219 The Auguste and Clown blanc are the staple comic duo of the circus who appear in between the various acts in order to provide a transition. The Clown blanc is the serious, rational and intelligent character, whereas the Auguste is the unpolished, extremist and disorganized character. 114

and height were consistently interfering with the performances. Thus the circus retained its prerogative over performances such as equestrians, lion-taming numbers, spectacles with trained animals and acrobatics/trapeze artists. As well, the close and long-term association of clowns, jugglers and magic shows with the circus made them staples that were difficult to transfer to the music-hall stage. Theatrical genres, such as pochade (rapid sketch), pantomime, feeries (fantasies), musical plays, operettas and even caf'conc' singers were found in addition to the aforementioned acts and performances of early-twentieth-century

Parisian circuses. But, in the same way that some acts were difficult if not impossible to present successfully in the music-halls, the singers and operettas that were more easily adapted to the stage had a difficult time with the circular environment of the circus.

Music in the circus was an ever-present phenomenon, heard before, during and after each performance. It provided a general rhythm and emphasized the "moments" of every number. The brass orchestra was loud, parade-like, happy, imposing and riotously festive.

Its conductor had his back to the musicians because it was essential for him to follow the action in order to speed up or slow down the tempo as demanded by the performance.220 As both G. Strehly (1903) and Mariel (1923) explained, circus music had its own language depending on the genre of performance and some artists even brought their own sheet music for their acts requiring the orchestra to play these specific works. Strehly stated that trapeze

220 Adrian, Cirque Parade, pp.205-206. "La musique de cirque semble etre un fond musical; ce n'est qu'un 'semblant' car die constitue un atout majeur du spectacle. Grace a elle, le rythme general est donne, les 'moments' de chaque numero sont soulignes et, lorsqu'elle s'arrete, le silence provoque inspire le recueillement voulu, decuple 1'emotion qu'un roulement de tambour intensifie soudain. // La musique de cirque est ce que Ton appelle une musique de genre; elle doit etre jouee par des orchestres riches en cuivres, elle doit etre forte, bruyante, tintamarresque souvent, elle doit etre paradeuse et joyeuse aussi; il convient qu'elle enivre l'oreille et qu'elle voile par ses sonorites le travail secret des enchanteurs. // ... // Le chef de musique au cirque a une particularity marquante: il tourne le dos a ses musiciens. II doit en effet suivre le spectacle et le fait d'etre au-dessus des attractions (a l'encontre de celui du music-hall ou l'orchestre est le plus souvent dans une fosse) l'oblige a semblable position." 115

artists, tight rope walkers and the rings required the languorous rhythm of the waltz; the heavy lifters wanted a march with a victorious air, while the parallel bars, the floor gymnastics and the trampoline artists looked for the frenzied rhythm of the gallop. The

Icarian games (human juggling) required a waltz; jugglers wanted a varied music that was discrete with a muted accompaniment and equestrians enjoyed a quadrille. Strehly continued to explain that the roll of the drum ended by a strike on the bass drum and cymbals were used for the saut du plongeur dans le filet (the fall of the trapeze artist or acrobat into the safety net) and finally that the orchestra's silence, its sudden break from the constant sound making, indicated anticipation.221 Twenty years later, Mariel followed similar explanations by stating that equestrians required tunes that were marked and stressed, jugglers needed a lively rhythm, acrobats wanted a smooth melody to accompany them and clowns used an American-style music that was inspired by the minstrels, whimsical and swaying. This last statement by Mariel is an indication of the growing

Americanization in the post-war years. Whereas Strehly mentioned the waltz, the gallop, the march and the quadrille (all popular musical genres in both the cafe-concert and more , e.g. Chabrier, Louis Ganne), Mariel referred to the African-American swaying style and the minstrels with the qualification of whimsical (fantasque), indicating the Otherness of this music while at the same time demonstrating its acceptance into the circus world.

221 G. Strehly, L 'acrobatie et les acrobates, pp.350-351. 222 Mariel, Histoire de trois clowns, p.80. "Chaque numero a sa musique propre que connaissent bien les habitues. Elle constitue une sorte de leitmotiv a la maniere wagnerienne, si ma comparaison n'est pas trop emphatique. Les ecuyers adoptent des airs tres scandes, les jongleurs des rythmes vifs et les acrobates des melodies au mouvement egal qui ne les trouble pas. Quant aux clowns, la musique americaine dans ce qu'elle a de dehanche, de fantasque, leur convient tout a fait, et on voit bien qu'elle a pris son inspiration chez les 'minstrels', ces ancetres du jazz-band." 116

The Fair —feteforaine

As in the case of the circus, the fair possesses a long history that extends back to the

Middle Ages. It was an annual event that the population of a city looked forward to since it included spectacles (e.g. circus, theatre, puppet shows, magicians, and exotic phenomenon), games of chance as well as sales of food, household items, decorative objects and exotic items. It was a time for the public to not merely attend an entertainment but also become an active participant. It would seem that in Poulenc's youth, there was a permanent fair in

Montmartre at which he and other friends, such as Milhaud, Auric and Cocteau, would participate on Saturdays.

The feteforaine was an outdoor event with booths placed along an avenue and stalls as well as temporary theatres mounted on the grounds. The main shows included games of chance where the participant bought a ticket and, with the winning number, received a prize such as dishes; live animals like birds, fish, hamsters, turtles, ducks, hens, pigeons; sweets;

1-5 kg of sugar or even musical instruments such as guitars, saxophones, as well as radios; exhibition booths where, for a small fee, one could attend a fortune-teller, a freak show, an animal tamer or a magician; and shooting galleries of multiple genres: shooting little dots on a cardboard box, bottles or packages of tobacco on a string, balls on jets of water or the tir a surprise where one would shoot and attempt to hit targets on cupboards and when

successful, the doors would open and tiny dolls would dance or perform a simple scene to the sound of an accompanying music box, and the winner would receive a paper rose. The jeux de massacre were also popular: the player tried to hit five dolls representing members

of the wedding party or Bismarck effigies and their pointed helmets with five balls. If 117

successful the winner proudly pinned a small stuffed monkey onto his jacket. The one-man show was also popular, with a performer conjuring, juggling, mimicking, doing ventriloquism and acting out his personal sketches and comedies. There was also an entertainment named feeries which consisted of twenty to thirty tableaux in which scenes were mimed and narrated with the use of electric lighting to enhance the effects.223

Beyond these game-like activities and these shows, one could also venture to the maneges (merry-go-rounds), the chenilles (roller coasters), the menagerie (menagerie of wild animals) and the fair's circus in a temporary tent.224 Mixed with all of these different sights, the brassy orchestra could be heard. Usually consisting of a hand drum, bass drum, gong, cymbals and an assortment of brass instruments, it was made to be heard over the crowd. In the 1860s the organ began to have a more prominent role in the music heard on the fairgrounds, and with Gavioli's 1892 invention of the perforated music cards played by the organ, the original brass orchestra lost its place.225 Another musical attraction consisted of I'homme orchestre. A typical example of this one-man orchestra was Auguste Barbier from the turn-of-the-century. He wore a Chinese hat with three rows of bells. On his back, he had a percussion ensemble consisting of a bass drum, drum, cymbals and triangle. With sleigh bells and castanets attached to his ankles, he played the accordion and, through an extraordinary system of strings tied to his arms and legs, Barbier was able to play this

223 The above information was taken from Jacques Gamier, Forains d'hier et d'aujourd'hui: Un siecle d'histoire des Forains, des Fetes et de la Vie Foraine (Orleans: Editeur Jacques Gamier, 1968), as well as Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday, pp.29-32. 224 For a complete list of terms related to the fairgrounds of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and their definitions see Zeev Gourarier, // etait unefois la fete foraine de 1850 a 1950,1995. Gourarier, 77 etait une fois la fete foraine, p. 126. 118

unique orchestra. The chanteurs des rues and the marchands de chansons were also members of the musical life surrounding the fairground and the streets of Paris. Two or three musicians - an accordionist, a violinist and a percussionist - accompanied the singer.

A large group of people, standing in a circle, listened attentively and followed closely with their recently-bought sheet music in order to accurately learn the tune and the words of the

997 song and join in to sing the refrain.

Pierre Bost succeeded in describing the attraction of the fair by explaining the various types of pleasures that were addressed in this form of entertainment: Here all the various shows are assembled and seem to be part of a greater spectacle. Whether it be the Trone Fair, the most popular of all fairs, the one where the joy and the fried food are the fattest; the Montmartre Fair, the noisiest because its tents are set in a neighbourhood where already every night is a fair of light and sound; the Neuilly Fair, the most elegant and the biggest, the one where at least half the public wears faux-col; whatever the fair in Paris or the province, a fair brings an image of all the pleasures assembled, and we always find the same crowd, throwing itself onto the same childlike pleasures cleverly disguised as adult pleasures; pleasures for men and pleasures for women; pleasures of the body that are most often pain: flipping, bumps, speed, nausea, falls; pleasures around strength: Turkish heads, boxing; pleasure around skills: numerous marbles rolling toward numerous holes; pleasures around curiosities and fear: crystal balls and lotteries; pleasures around horror and illusion: two-headed women; circus pleasures, simple and true: Hercules or the menagerie; music-hall pleasures, troubled and false: the beautiful houris of all kinds. 228

226 Gamier, Forains d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, p.344. "II etait coiffe d'un chapeau chinois garni de trois etages de clochettes. II portait sur le dos une grosse caisse surmontee d'un tambour, fianquee de cymbales et d'un triangle. Des grelots et des castagnettes garnissaient ses chevilles. II jouait de Paccordeon. Un extraordinaire jeu de fils reliait ses bras et ses jambes et actionnait les divers instruments lorsqu'il leur imprimait des mouvements. Des tampons fixes a ses coudes venaient frapper la grosse caisse en meme temps." 227 Ibid., pp.344-345. "Deux ou trois musiciens: un accordeoniste, un violoniste et une batterie tel est l'orchestre qui accompagne un chanteur ou une chanteuse. Cent cinquante personnes formant le cercle les ecoutent. On joue et on chante. Entre chaque couplet le chanteur s'ecrie 'Et maintenant, au refrain, tous en choeur!' Tres serieusement, les auditeurs ayant achete la chanson, le recueil ou 'toute la poignee pour 2 F' chantent avec lui. lis s'appliquent afin d'apprendre correctement Pair et les paroles de la rengaine qui va devenir un succes populaire d'autant qu'elle fut le plus souvent lancee par une vedette sur la scene d'un grand music-hall." 228 Bost, Le cirque et le music-hall, p.56. "lei.tous les spectacles sont rassembles, et comme pris dans un plus vaste spectacle. Que ce soit la foire du Trone, la plus populaire de toutes, celle ou la joie et la friture sont les 119

This quote taken from Bost's 1931 book, Le cirque et le music-hall, is very informative. He mentioned the three most popular Parisian fairs: Trone (in southeast Paris in the Bois de

Vincennes), Montmartre (central Paris) and Neuilly (in northwest Paris near the Bois de

Boulogne), while also making reference to other fairs that took place in Paris and in the provinces. The character of each fair reflected the area in which it took place and possibly the type of class that would have been present at the event. Yet Bost maintained that the unique element sought out and found at fairs was pleasure: a pleasure that took on many forms and explained the continued success of this type of entertainment with the masses.

The music-hall attempted to reproduce on its stage many of the pleasures stated in the above quote: body, strength, agility, curiosity, horror, illusion and circus. Yet the division of these pleasures into different acts failed to convey the unique atmosphere of the fete foraine and the simultaneous activity and life that was found on fairgrounds. Bost even characterized the pleasures of the music-hall as "troubled and false" referring to the houris, an imagined promise of heavenly gifts that are still out of reach. Yet Cocteau who also described in his

1935 memoirs this trickery found on the stage, wanted to be fooled by it. He explained how he suffered upon hearing the female spectators discussing the various tricks used by the

plus grasses; la foire de Montmartre, la plus bruyante parce qu'elle dresse ses tentes dans un quartier ou deja chaque nuit cree une foire lumineuse et sonore; la foire de Neuilly, la plus elegante et la plus large, celle ou la moitie du public au moins porte faux-col; que ce soit n'importe quelle autre foire de Paris ou province, une foire apporte 1'image de tous les plaisirs rassembles, et on y retrouve toujours la meme foule, jetee vers les memes plaisirs d'enfants habilement camoufles en plaisirs de grandes personnes; des plaisirs pour les hommes et des plaisirs pour les femmes; des plaisirs du corps qui sont le plus souvent des douleurs: chavirements, heurts, vitesses, nausees, chutes; des plaisirs de force: tetes de turcs, appareils a coups de poings; des plaisirs d'adresse: billes innombrables roulent vers d'innonbrables trous; des plaisirs de curiosite et de peur: devineresses et loteries; des plaisirs d'horreur et d'illusion: femmes a deux tetes; des plaisirs de cirque, simples et vrais: l'hercule ou la menagerie; des plaisirs de music-hall, troubles et faux:.les belles houris de toutes sortes." 120

cinema, saying "the rase is art." For Cocteau the beauty of the stage (and of the circus as seen in the previous section) was its ability to dupe, which he associated with the innocence of childhood and the illusions a child is so quick to believe. It is this ability to make believe that attracted Cocteau to the popular.230

This search by the early-twentieth-century highbrow art for ways to include the everyday can also be traced to a number of fair activities. For example, a very popular magic trick demonstrated at the fair was the decapitation act, which was adapted by artists such as and Gustav Klimt who utilized the theme of decapitation found in the story of Salome and John the Baptist. Similarly Cocteau had the policeman in his ballet

Le Boeuf sur le toit (with music by Milhaud) decapitated only to be resurrected later on.

Also, as mentioned in Chapter 2, Cocteau based part of his plot for Les Maries de la tour

Eiffel on the jeu de massacre. Thus the fete foraine held an important place as an artistic influence. The reasons surrounding the frustration described by Bost came from the fact that he perceived the primary goal of the music-hall organizers as the deception of the public, whereas at the circus (and the fairground as well as the cafe-concert) he believed the audience was constantly interacting actively with the entertainment.231 A direct connection existed between performers and audience members. The participation of the latter was

Cocteau, Portraits-souvenir, p.58. "Et j'en souffrais et il m'arrive encore de souffrir lorsque des spectatrices de TARZAN parlent de trues, des faux lions de Hollywood. Certes, mesdames, le true e'est 1'art. Les grandes chasses sont un art, et somme toute, il est moins facile de faire un lion avec une descente de lit, qu'une descente de lit avec un lion." Ibid., p.56. "Lorsque je montai PARADE en 1917 au Chatelet, je me plaignis d'un manque de lumiere. 'Monsieur Colombier, disais-je au chef machiniste, je cherche I'eclairage du Royaume des Legumes dans LA BICHE AUBOIS.' 'Quel age aviez-vous alors, monsieur Cocteau?' 'Cinqans.' 'L 'eclairage etait levotre,' me repondit-il. 'Le theatre ne possedait pas, a cette epoque, le quart dujeu d'orgue actuel.'" 231 Bost, Le cirque et le music-hall, p.29. "Au cirque, nous sommes toujours meles au jeu, nous exercons un perpetuel droit de regard; au music-hall, e'est exactement le contraire. Nous sommes en dehors de Taction, tout se passe sans notre controle, et le but premier des organisateurs du spectacle est justement de nous tromper. Art de mensonge qui peut plaire, assurement, car rhomme ne deteste pas d'etre trompe adroitement; mais art de mensonge tout de meme qu'il faut avant tout comprendre comme tel." 121

required for the success of these shows whereas in the music-halls the strongly-based visual component invited silence and captivation from its audience. This in turn led to a disengagement from the communal atmosphere that was present in the older types of

232 entertainment.

Although little information exists regarding Poulenc's actual activities when he went to Parisian popular venues, one still perceives that the participation component was important to him. An element that comes out of Poulenc scholarship is the composer's great sociability and his enjoyment of an audience. For example, during his Saturday night evenings with Les Six and others, Poulenc was known to have sung his work Cocardes regularly for the group and to have been quite wild and boisterous at parties.233 His

storytelling abilities were legendary and enjoyed by numerous friends. Denise Bourdet,234 journalist and close friend of Poulenc wrote the following description of the composer: The friendly meetings at the Grand Coteau are marked by lawn bowling games and succulent meals, and Touraine's dinner wines readily help prolong the evenings. "Francis, tell us a story" we ask as to not have to leave right away. Because he is an amazing storyteller. If a tape recorder was in the living room, it could record his long stories that could then be published as is, not even a comma would be missing. These stories, each with their particular titles, are known to the regular visitors who request them

For a detailed discussion of French society and its relationship with Parisian entertainment at the turn-of- the-century, see Charles Rearick, "Song and Society in Turn-of-the-Century France," Journal of Social History, Vol.22, No.l (Autumn 1988), pp.45-63. Rearick provides a useful analysis of the type of audiences found in the cafes-concerts, music-halls, cabarets artistiques and cinema in France (1870s-1910s) and the numerous reasons behind its changing face. 233 Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc: Correspondance 1910-1963, Myriam Chimenes, ed. (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1994), p. 105 Letter from Poulenc to Darius Milhaud (5 April 1920): "La soiree chez Valentine a ete une folic On m'a costume et Jean etant au piano j'ai fait Jean Borlin. Une danse quasi a poil eut surtout un certain succes." p.106, Footnote 10: Letter from Louis Durey to Milhaud (4 April 1920): "Hier soir, chez Poulenc, Francis a danse vetu d'un seul pantalon de pyjama que Ton est arrive, bien entendu, a lui retirer completement, c'etait joli, joli!" and Letter from Cocteau to Milhaud: "Avant-hier beau samedi nombreux chez Gauclair et ensuite chez les Hugo. 'Visions de beaute' par Poulenc - moi au piano - difficile decrire - te ferai petit dessin d'une des visions par 'La belle Poulenka' 'Adieu Trouville' - Poulenc completement nu. Valentine morte de peur que sa bonne se scandalise. Poulenc aussi a l'aise que s'il portait une cagoule." 234 Denise Bourdet (1892-1967) was a journalist who was one of Poulenc's oldest friends. They met in 1917. 122

over and over again. We listen to The Silver Saucepan, The November Sunday, or the most beautiful of all, Lieutenant Lucien that takes place during the 1914 war, starts like Le Grand Meaulnes and ends as Mitsou.235

This ease with the public is noticeable in the recordings of his interviews with Claude

Rostand, his radio broadcasts, his sessions with Stephane Audel and his taped concerts.

Although at times these conversations contained a scripted element, it is still possible to hear and see the social facet of Poulenc and his desire to please but also interact and entertain his audience. It is little wonder that he admired Maurice Chevalier since he himself possessed that ability to charm.

The bal musette

The bal musette was a style of French popular music that was brought to Paris in the

1880s by immigrants from the province of Auvergne.236 Usually taking place in the shop or the backroom of a wine merchant, the music in the beginning was produced by a musette - a bellows-powered bagpipe - to accompany the bourree dance. In the early 1900s, through the influence of Italian immigrants, the Auvergnats adopted the accordion, the instrument to be associated with the bal musette from then on. The dances connected to this genre also expanded to include the waltz and the polka, as well as following the Great War of 1914-18,

Quoted from Denise Bourdet, "Images de Paris, Francis Poulenc" in La Revue de Paris (March 1957), p.129 in Poulenc, Correspondance, p.656. "Les reunions amicales au Grand Coteau sont rythmees de parties de boules et de repas succulents, et les petits vins de Touraine aident a prolonger gaiement les soirees. 'Francis, raconte-nous une histoire,' demande-t-on pour ne pas se separer encore. Car il est un extraordinaire conteur. S'il y avait un magnetophone dans le salon, il enregistrerait de longs recits que l'on pourrait publier tels quels, il n'y manquerait pas une virgule. lis ont leur titre que les habitues connaissent et reclament tour a tour. Et Ton ecoute Le Poelon d'argent, Le Dimanche de novembre, ou la plus belle de toutes, Le Lieutenant Lucien, qui se passe pendant la guerre de 14, debute comme Le Grand Meaulnes et finit comme Mitsou." Note: Le Grand Meaulnes (1913) was a novel by Alain-Fournier with an atmosphere both unreal and nostalgic; Mitsou (1919) was a melancholic wartime novella written by Colette. 236 For a good source regarding the history of the bal musette, see Alphonse Boudard and Marcel Azzola, musette et Vaccordeon: bals et guinguettes (Paris: Editions Solar, 1998). 123

the Scottish, the mazurka, the paso doble, the fox-trot and the Java. Another development observed in the bal musette was the addition of instruments such as the clarinet, the contrabass, the drum set, the voice and, during the 1940s onward, such various instruments as the saxophone, the banjo, the guitar, the violin and the organ to name but a few. Despite its growing eclectic nature, the bal musette became synonymous with Paris and maintained its characteristic sound: the accordion with its um-pah-pah accompaniment.

During Poulenc's youth, the bal musette held a reputation for being associated with the poor and lower-class Parisians. This link fascinated the 1920s upper-crust society and led to its involvement with the bal musette. As Maurice Sachs wrote in his diary:

5 September 1919 We went to the bal musette. It is astonishing to notice how closely it resembles the imitations that we see on the music-hall stage. It is enough to believe that this Lappe street inspires itself from the Casino de Paris: red scarves, worn caps, navy pants and rolling waltz to the sound of the accordion. A dancer, who wanted to stand out, his two hands placed on his partner's waist, elegantly raised his small finger, as if his lady was a teacup. The whole room would join in during the chorus. Sitting on a filthy bench, we were swallowing our brandied cherries. And indeed we even imitated these country boys who were not afraid to dance together when there were no women available.237

Sachs' at times condescending tone reflects the attitude of many higher-class citizens who felt a certain excitement at participating in these lowbrow events. This attraction to an outside world was prevalent during the Annees Folles and could be observed not only in the bals musettes but also in the increased number of aristocrats visiting Montmartre and the

237 Maurice Sachs, Au temps du Bceuf sur le Toil (Paris: La Nouvelle Revue Critique, 1939), p.31. "Nous sommes alles au bal musette. C'est etonnant comme cela ressemble aux imitations qu'on en fait sur les scenes de music-hall. C'est a croire que cette rue de Lappe s'inspire du Casino de Paris: foulards rouges, casquettes cassees, pantalons a ponts et valse chaloupee au son de Paccordeon. Un danseur, pour se 'distinguer', les deux mains posees a la taille de sa partenaire, levait elegamment le petit doigt, comme si cette dame exit ete une tasse. Toute la salle reprenait en choeur les refrains. Assis sur un banc crasseux, nous avons avale des cerises a l'eau-de-vie. Et ma foi nous avons fait comme ces garcons du peuple qui ne craignent pas de danser ensemble quand ils n'ont pas de femmes avec eux. (5 septembre 1919)." 124

music-halls of the right bank. Jules Bertaut provided a clear description of the atmosphere surrounding these evenings during the 1920s:

From eleven o'clock at night until sunrise, an avalanche of cars came rushing down Pigalle Street, bringing a contingent of night people. All night long, the same swarming of cars, men in smoking and women in evening dress will appear around these nightclubs whose luminescent and multicoloured bills formed the most charming of decorations. All night long it will be the repeated call for drivers, the repeated trampling on the narrow sidewalks, the repeated slamming of car doors, the repeated drones of running engines: Montmartre continues the nightlife tradition of Paris.238

The influence of the foreigners and their interest in Parisian entertainment worked to make these types of leisure activities more acceptable to a social group who only sporadically participated in the years prior to the war. As mentioned in earlier chapters, the grande bourgeoisie was losing some of its social and economic powers and had to adapt and may also have wanted to forget, a theme that was consistent during the 1920s. As Andre Parry noted:

During the long decade of the Annies Folles, often called the party era, people only think of pleasures. Despite the social unrest and the strikes, despite the high unemployment rate, fortunes are sunk into shows and entertainment of all genres, repeating: "The Germans will pay." Bazaars follow charity bals: everything becomes an excuse for a gathering. Rich Parisians such as Charles de Noailles, Etienne de Beaumont, the Princess Edmond de Polignac (nee Singer), the fashion designer Paul Poiret and his rival Coco Chanel organize sumptuous evenings, barely imaginable today. Some of these personalities become patrons: Etienne de Beaumont supports the ballet, Charles de Noailles gives the opportunity to Brunei to realize some of his masterpieces, the Princess of Polignac protects the musicians.239

238 Jules Bertaut, Les belles nuits de Paris (Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1927), p.35. "De onze heures du soir a l'aube, une avalanche d'autos degringole vers la rue Pigalle, apportant son contingent de noctambules. Toute la nuit, ce sera le meme grouillement de voitures, d'hommes en smoking et de femmes en robes du soir autour des etablissements de nuit dont les affiches lumineuses et multicolores forment la plus charmante des decorations. Toute la nuit, ce sera le meme appel des chauffeurs, le meme pietinement sur les trottoirs etroits, les memes claquements de portieres, les memes ronronnements de moteurs mis en marche: Montmartre continue la tradition de la vie nocturne de Paris." 239 Andre Patry, Les Annees Folles a Paris (1919-1931): petit guide bibliographique et chronologique (Montreal: Informinter, 1988), p. 19. "Au cours de la longue decennie des Annees Folles, souvent appelee l'age du surboum, on ne songe plus qu'aux plaisirs. Malgre l'agitation sociale et les greves, malgre le 125

These names are very familiar since Poulenc participated in many of the gatherings held by these aristocrats (he met Etienne de Beaumont at the age of eighteen) and even wrote some of his well-known pieces as commissions for these personalities (e.g. de Noailles: ,

1929; Le Bal masque, 1932; de Polignac: Concerto in D minor, 1932; Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani, 1938). The underlying sadness and troubles that pervaded this decade could only be temporarily hidden through the many fetes and the entertainment venues that gained so much popularity amongst all social strata. The conditions following

World War I were to create the perfect environment for the growth of Parisian entertainment, yet it would also lead to the disintegration of the cafe-concert, the French music-hall and the circus. The only genre to survive and actually thrive during the 1940s and 1950s was the bal musette.

chomage, on engloutit des fortunes dans les spectacles et les divertissements de tous genres, en repetant: 'Les Allemands paieront.' Aux fetes de bienfaisance succedent les bals de charite: tout est pretexte a rassemblements. De riches Parisiens, tels que Charles de Noailles, Etienne de Beaumont, la princesse Edmond de Polignac (nee Singer), le couturier Paul Poiret et sa rivale Coco Chanel organisent des soirees fastueuses, a peine imaginable de nos jours. Certains de ces personnages se font mecenes: Etienne de Beaumont soutient le ballet, Charles de Noailles permet a Brunei de realiser quelques-uns de ses chefs- d'oeuvre, la princesse de Polignac protege les musiciens." Chapter 4 - Patriotism, Nostalgia and the Chanson

The lifelong intersection of nostalgia and patriotism in Poulenc's music gave rise to a particular use of the popular idiom by the composer. Poulenc's compositional goal was not to reproduce the specific style of the cafe-concert or the music-hall chanson as much as to recall the sentiment evoked by the style and the performances as well as the pre-war era that was associated with this genre. In his works with a popular aesthetic, Poulenc

succeeded in creating an atmosphere that referenced early-twentieth-century Parisian entertainment. As he expressed numerous times in his Journal de mes melodies, the memories of his youth in Paris and Nogent-sur-Marne were prominent in his mind during the compositional process. Yet instead of direct quotations or paraphrasing of the chanson,

Poulenc tapped into the listener's memories of a lowbrow entertainment from a past era through the use of compositional and performance-related techniques that were familiar to his French audience. By adapting the unique performance practices of the popular performers of the period to his own musical language, Poulenc gave a number of his works

a popular aesthetic. Some of these techniques can be traced back to specific performers,

such as Maurice Chevalier, in specific works (e.g. Les Mamelles de Tiresias, 1944). In most cases, however, Poulenc was simply so familiar with the repertoire that he succeeded

in creating his own popular Parisian musical language.

In his book on the oeuvre of , J. Peter Burkholder examined the

composer's various uses of musical borrowing and created a theoretical template for the

numerous ways in which music can be appropriated by a composer. It is evident that

Poulenc overwhelmingly used "stylistic allusion" and "modeling" (to use Burkholder's

terms) when he recalled the popular style. Burkholder defined "stylistic allusion" as

126 127

"alluding not to a specific work but to a general style or type of music," and "modeling" as basing "a work or section on an existing piece, assuming its structure, incorporating part of its melodic material, imitating its form or procedures, or using it as a model in some other way."240 Although Poulenc primarily employed stylistic allusion by frequently imitating the general style of the Parisian chanson of the early-twentieth century, he did model a number of his forms, rhythms and performance practices on Parisian popular music without necessarily referencing a specific work. The success of his lowbrow aesthetic came from his ability to make use of sounds and techniques that were familiar to most listeners at the time, no matter their social class.

As explored in the previous chapters, Poulenc was quite involved with Parisian entertainment during his youth and young adult life. He was also knowledgeable regarding the various performers and their unique styles. In his later life, Poulenc clearly developed a nostalgic outlook toward his earlier life and career. In his letters, the composer often made reference to his youth - especially his time in Monte Carlo and Nogent-sur-Marne. This nostalgia for the past and a lost childhood indicated an attempt by Poulenc to evade the present day while attempting to recapture a youth that had come and gone. His childhood memories usually appeared as a result of difficult times in his present life (for example, the trying period that surrounded the writing of his opera Les Dialogues des Carmelites, 1953-

56). As explored in Chapter 1, this futile attempt can bring much frustration since a return in time is impossible. Yet as Vladimir Jankelevitch suggested, music does present the possibility of reiteration, thus providing a certain control over nostalgic feelings. In a sense

240 J. Peter Burkholder, All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses of Musical Borrowing (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), pp.3-4. 128

the continued use of Parisian popular entertainment aesthetic by Poulenc provided him with a means to recreate a lost era. Faced with personal nostalgia, Poulenc reminisced about his youth not only to escape the present but also as a longing for a time of comfort, pleasure and little care in the world, as well as a possible rediscovery of his former self that he might have viewed as "better" than the present one.

With the older Poulenc this layer of personal nostalgia was compounded by a cultural nostalgia found in his compositions of 1938 to 1962. The onset of World War II marked a return by Poulenc to his popular aesthetic following his discovery in the mid-

19308 of a sacred musical style and his developing French melodies. The abdication of

France to the Nazis and the rise of the Vichy Regime forced Poulenc into voluntary exile at

Le Grand Coteau, his country estate in Noizay, near Tours. The changed political climate, added to the distance from Paris and the recurring bouts of depression, may have caused

Poulenc to reminisce about his youth, bringing about this resurgence of his Parisian aesthetic. Once it reappeared, Poulenc never again disregarded the popular idiom, despite his doubts regarding his place within the changing art music world, as expressed so clearly in his correspondence from the 1930s onward.241 So why maintain the inclusion of a

Following are examples of these artistic doubts felt by Poulenc from the 1930s onward, as found in Francis Poulenc, Correspondance: 1910-1963, Myriam Chimenes, ed. (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1999), p.339 Letter to Henri Sauguet (31 March 1931): "...je vous legue Paul et Virginie. Ce livret est plein de souvenirs, trap plein de souvenirs et c'est une des raisons qui m'ont decide a m'en separer.//Vous etes le seul qui soyez digne de toucher a cette relique parce que vous aimiez Satie et que vous admiriez Raymond [RadiguefJ. Vous seul aussi, avec votre mepris de la mode, si rare aujourd'hui, saurez faire de ce livret 'qui ne date pas' une partition qui evitera le ton '1931' (au sens horrible du mot)." //pp.421-422 Letter to Sauguet (17 August 1936): "Aurons-nous a ecrire maintenant ce genre de lettre cher Henri. Je finis par le croire. Ah! Les amis glorieux!!!!!!//Tout cela d'ailleurs n'est pas mal et je suppose que specialement pour vous l'appui de Georges [Auric], de Da [Milhaud], de Koechlin etc... pourra vous etre utile.//Drole d'epoque. La famille, dans le fond (les bourgeois sont si officiels meme quand il s'agit du Front) regrette un peu que ma binette ne soit pas aujourd'hui dans le journal. Raymond [Destouches] est un tantinet penaud. On ne peut tout de meme pas satisfaire le monde et sa conscience." //p.434 Letter to Nadia Boulanger (November 1936): "Je suis si touche que vous aimiez un peu ma musique, vous savez. Cela me remonte quand je traverse des periodes comme celle actuelle ... remercie Dieu de m'avoir donne un tel gout de la musique des autres que je puis, ... arriver a 129

lowbrow aesthetic if it caused him to feel uncertain about his place as a composer of art music? It would seem that part of the answer lies in Poulenc's identification as Frenchman and Parigot in particular. Despite his unwavering interest in newer compositional styles

(e.g. Poulenc maintained a yearly subscription, at least until 1960, to the concerts du

Domaine musical established in the mid-1950s by Pierre Boulez as a support mechanism for new music), Poulenc was never able to forgo his French Parisian roots. This patriotism was as much a personal characteristic of Poulenc as his propensity for a nostalgic mindset, and the two ideas became a driving force behind the creative process of the composer, especially when his use of Parisian entertainment was at the forefront.

The years surrounding World War II were filled with nostalgia and apprehension for

Poulenc as was the case with the majority of French citizens. For example, in a letter to

Marthe Bosredon,242 Poulenc wrote:

I am writing to you from Nogent, where I am spending a day of pilgrimage. Nothing is as melancholic as this sort of introspection into the past; however, oublier la mienne. Gardez tout ceci pour vous qui rejouirait trop aisement ceux qui deja ne m'aiment pas." //p.615 Letter to Milhaud (28 December 1945): "II y a en ce moment dans le monde musical une sorte d'hesitation, d'embrouille, de pataugeage qui ne ressemble en rien a nos tranches negations de 1918." //p.617 Letter to Stravinsky (28 December 1945): "J'espere que, cette ivraie fauchee, vous estimerez qu'il reste encore quelques bons grains dans mes oeuvres recentes lorsque vous les connaitrez. Combien dans les heures tragiques que nous avons vecues le souvenir du passe m'a soutenu.//C'est reconfortant d'avoir eu 20 ans a l'epoque des Noces, de , , etc..." //p.678 Letter to Henri Hell (16 February 1950): re: "Rondeau a la francaise" from Concerto pour piano et orchestre (1949) "J'ai fait tres exactement ce que j'ai voulu et cette lucidite francaise, cette mesure a ete prise ici (excepte par les jeunes) pour de la mesquinerie. C'est si difficile de leur expliquer que les Watteau sont de grands tableaux." //p.743 Letter to Yvonne de Casa Fuerte (3 October 1952): "Je traverse une crise actuellement (ceci pour vous seule, jure!). Je ne me sens pas vide non mais je veux tacher d'evoluer avec les annees avant la sterilite de l'hiver. J'ai sur le chantier la Sonate des Kiddies [Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale] entierement esquissee et une pour piano et flute. Je voudrais que cela marque un tournant dans mon oeuvre et qu'avec une forme meilleure, cela j'en suis sur, cela ne se fige pas comme les terribles derniers Hindemith. ... Je ne veux pas vivre sur une habilete accrue et des vieux trues." //p.907 footnote 2 Letter to Rose Dercourt-Plaut (16 October 1958): "Tout ceci devrait me rendre joyeux : Non, et c'est la mon plus grand mal, je doute de ma musique. Notez que je n'ai pas envie d'ecrire des 'series' mais j'ai l'impression d'etre un vieux birbe." //p.906 Letter to Dercourt-Plaut (30 January 1959): "Je suis moins que bien mais m'habitue a l'angoisse et a la tristesse. Puisse-je un jour reecrire de la musique." 2 2 Marthe Bosredon was a friend of Poulenc who lived in Brive where the composer spent the summer of 1940 following his demobilization. Bosredon was interested in literature and music and was an amateur pianist. Poulenc dedicated some works to her. 130

I can never resist it. But where are the banks of the Marne of yesteryear, today devoid of cafes and popular orchestras, without Bebert in his cap and Nini in her pink silk blouse! An important aspect of my music can be explained by my suburban past: this aspect of "tickling in the right places" which can be found in "Hotel" and your most recent melodie ["C'est ainsi que tu es," second song of Metamorphoses].243

Without giving in to despair, it is more out of nostalgia for a past era, a light-hearted

childhood and early adulthood that Poulenc wrote this music and letter. His writings became increasingly backward-looking while, at the same time, the war years brought out his patriotism. Although he kept a relatively low profile during the war years, Poulenc wrote a few important patriotic works.

Two melodies of a deeply patriotic spirit and containing a popular aesthetic stand

out: Deux poemes from , "C" ("J'ai traverse les ponts de Ce") and "Fetes galantes" (1943) and Le disparu from (1947). Both poets were active

members of the during the Second World War, writing poems that

celebrated France and freedom. Whereas Poulenc's ballet Les Animaux modeles (1941) had

been more subtle in its patriotism, his choice of poems by Aragon and Desnos became a

representation of his direct response to the German occupation.244 After hearing Deux poemes, Charles Koechlin was moved by: "...the intensity and noble emotion of Ponts de

Poulenc, Correspondance, p.542. Letter from Poulenc to Marthe Bosredon (August 1943): "Je vous ecris de mon village natal ou je passe une journee de pelerinage. Rien n'est melancolique comme ce genre d'introspection dans le passe; je n'y resiste pourtant jamais.// Mais ou sont les bords de la Marne d'antan, aujourd'hui sans guinguettes, sans orchestres musettes, sans Bebert en casquette et Nini en corsage de soie rose! Tout un cote de ma musique s'explique par mon passe banlieusard: ce cote 'titillations au bon endroit' qui est celui d' 'Hotel' et de votre recente melodie." 244 Another such work (but without the popular aesthetic) is Figure humaine (1943) a to poems by Paul Eluard, poet who had also been an active member of the French Resistance during World War II. Poulenc held this cantata in high regards: "This work brings me such comfort during my dark hours. I simply ask heaven that I may hear it at least once during my lifetime" (Poulenc, Correspondance, p.554 Letter to Bernac, 24 June 1944) and "I trust that Figure humaine and Les Mamelles will be sufficient tribute from a Frenchman" (Poulenc, Correspondance, p.574 Letter to Bernac, 27 August 1944). This cantata, which could not be sung during the war because of its anti-war sentiments, had to wait until 24 March 1945 to be premiered in English during a BBC broadcast in London, England. It was not until 22 May 1947 that a Parisian performance took place at the Concert de La Pleiade. 131

Ce [which] breathes the very soul of our wounded country."245 Of the same work Bernac wrote:

This poem evokes the tragic days of May 1940, when a large part of the French population was fleeing before the invading armies. In this horrible exodus, the poet himself, at the Bridges of Ce close to Angers, had crossed the Loire, crowded with "overturned vehicles" and "discarded weapons," in the total confusion of a "forsaken France."246

And although the second melody of the set, "Fetes galantes" seems at first glance to contradict this patriotic mood through Poulenc's use of a popular idiom, Aragon's description of occupied Paris is actually hidden underneath this popular screen. In his

Journal de mes melodies when discussing "Fetes galantes" Poulenc said: "I am afraid that one may feel the persistent side of this 'dollar-store' music. Yet it would seem to me that

Aragon's cynical poem required it. It is music of misery for a time of misery: Paris under the occupation." This connection established by Poulenc between popular culture and suffering, although this time it is more a result of his concern for the future rather than an attempt at recreating the Belle Epoque, reflected the composer's conception of the early- twentieth century.248 Le disparu also falls into this category of anguish, "a sort of '- chanson' in the style of the Mome Piaf [with] an immutable rhythm"249 and "a slow waltz

245 Poulenc, Correspondence, p.587 Letter from Charles Koechlin to Poulenc (30 April 1945): "...et enfin, l'intense et noble emotion des Fonts de Ce, ou souffle l'ame de la Patrie blessee." 246 Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc et ses melodies, (Paris: Editions Buchet/Chastel, 1978) p.172. "Ce poeme evoque les jours tragiques de mai 1940, alors qu'une grande partie de la population francaise s'enfuyait devant les armees d'invasion. Dans cet horrible exode, le poete lui-meme, aux Ponts-de-Ce, pres d'Angers, a traverse la Loire, remplie de 'voitures versees' et 'd'armes desamorcees,' dans le total desarroi d'une 'France delaissee.'" Poulenc, Journal, p.42: "J'ai peur qu'on ne sente plus le cote voulu de cette musique de 'prix unique.' II me semble, pourtant, que e'est le ton qui convient au cynique poeme d'Aragon. C'est une musique de mouise, pour un temps de mouise: Paris pendant l'occupation." Note: Prix unique refers to bargain deparment stores today known as Prisunic. 248 For a more detailed discussion of Poulenc's views regarding the Belle Epoque, see Chapter 5. 249 Poulenc, Journal, p.50: "C'est une maniere de 'lied-chanson' style mome Piaf. Un rythme immuable, celui de la valse-boston, passe par trios couleurs: le bal-musette, la vole de cloches, la marche funebre." Note: La 132

... close cousin to Forains." Again Poulenc associated the popular with distress by linking Le disparu to Edith Piaf s style. Piaf was a chanteuse realiste renowned for her intensely poignant performances of chansons oftentimes involving the misfortunes of the common people, as well as the melancholy of the saltimbanques. This element of the itinerant was not only found in Sauguet's ballet, Les Forains, but also harked back to

Picasso's early-twentieth-century paintings of the same topic. In both of his melodies

Poulenc included a variety of popular elements, whether they were a valse-musette rhythm at one-beat per measure recalling the accordion, or a lilting or arching melody, or the use of the Parisian slang accent (the one associated so easily with Maurice Chevalier).251 Through the inclusion of popular idioms in a music set to poems of such a French character, Poulenc succeeded in reviving the Parisian as well as the suburban atmosphere that represented the essence of his patriotism and his French identity.

Another such work is Poulenc's ballet, Les Animaux modeles. Completed in 1941, this ballet has since then been interpreted as a parable about wartime France. Based on six

of Jean de la Fontaine's fables, Poulenc said that he "chose those which did not require too much dressing up as animals, or those which could be represented symbolically, such as 'Le

mome Piaf refers to the French singer of chansons realistes Edith Piaf who reached the height of her career in the 1940s and 1950s. Poulenc, Correspondance, p.626. Letter from Poulenc to Henri Sauguet (August 1946): "Sur un poeme de Desnos j'ai compose une melodie, valse lente si proche cousine des Forains qu'elle vous appartient de droit. Je vous la dedie done." Note: Les Forains (1945) was a fairground-inspired ballet written by Sauguet. 251 Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc et ses melodies (Paris: Editions Buchet/Chastel, 1978), p.77. Regarding "Voyage a Paris" fromBanalites (1940, Guillaume Apollinaire): "...au rythme de la 'valse-musette,' car e'est encore une melodie avec l'accent parisien. En fait, pour ceux qui ont eu la joie de l'entendre, e'est l'accent de Maurice Chevalier que Ton imagine irresistiblement. Ce grand chanteur de music-hall a, pendant un demi- siecle, incarne un certain type de sentimentalite et de gouaille parisienne, qui ne tombait jamais dans la vulgarite, car elle etait toujours empreinte de gentillesse et de poesie." 133

Lion amoureux'." Thus by incorporating a Java in the pas de deux, Poulenc turned the

Lion into a "mischievous lad." In his article on music in Occupied Paris, Nigel Simeone detailed how "there's persuasive evidence that Poulenc intended the entire work to be seen symbolically: this was not just a ballet about charming animal stories, but a celebration of

France's past at its most lustrous."254 Simeone goes on to explore Poulenc's following statement to Rostand:

I had allowed myself the luxury, which only a few orchestral musicians recognized, of introducing the chanson Non, non, vous n 'aurez pas notre Alsace-Lorraine into the combat of the two roosters. Each time that the trumpet announced the theme, I could not help but smile.255

Following an extensive search to find this enigmatic chanson, Simeone concluded that

Poulenc may actually have been making reference to Frederic Ben-Tayoux's late- nineteenth-century nationalist song Alsace et Lorraine, which had been recorded in 1939 by the celebrated French tenor Georges Thill, and that in fact this quotation was to be found in

"Le Lion amoureux" rather than "Les deux coqs" as suggested by Poulenc.256 Was this a lapse in memory or an embellishment of the facts? Whatever the case may be, Poulenc

composed this work "during the darkest days of the summer of 1940, wanting to find, no

252 Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1954), p.57-5 8. "Je choisis parmi les fables celles qui ne reclamaient pas specialement des travestis animaux, ou celles qu'on pouvait transposer symboliquement, comme Le Lion amoureux, dont j'ai fait un mauvais garcon, ce qui explique la Java du pas- de-deux." 253 The java was a popular dance/chanson style in France during the 1920s and 1930s. It was quick and in triple time, similarly to a fast waltz. Although its true origins are unknown, most sources agree that the java was developed through a combination of the following dances and their rhythmic figures: mazurka, Scottish, waltz and polka. Dancers were very close together, some men placing their hands on their partner's buttocks, leading to the Java's racy nature. 254 Nigel. Simeone, "Making music in Occupied Paris," The Musical Times, vol.147, number 1894 (Spring 2006), pp.33-34. 255 Poulenc, Entretiens, p.58. "Je m'etais paye le luxe, que seuls quelques musiciens de l'orchestre ont reconnu, d'introduire, dans le combat des deux coqs, la chanson Non, non, vous n'aurez pas notre Alsace- Lorraine. Chaque fois que la trompette amorcait le theme, je ne pouvais m'empecher de sourire." 5 For the complete analysis, see Simeone, "Making music in Occupied Paris," pp.34-37. 134

matter the cost, a reason to hope for the future of [his] country." As previously argued,

Poulenc's patriotism was real and the strong French characteristics of the ballet continued to emphasize his allegiance to his culture. It is by drawing on Parisian popular music that

Poulenc most clearly displayed his cultural loyalty during the Second World War.

Poulenc 's Radio Broadcasts

In the fall of 1947 Poulenc began the production of radio broadcasts on primarily

French music entitled A batons rompus. The informality sought by Poulenc for these broadcasts reminds us of Denise Bourdet's description of Poulenc, the storyteller.259

Taking advantage of his innate abilities, Poulenc prepared thirty-two broadcasts during which he discussed primarily the music of others, the music he loved, framing these conversations around personal anecdotes. Despite its conversational tone, Lucie Kayas' research demonstrated that Poulenc carefully planned the content of all his broadcasts. Yet the intimacy that was created by the inclusion of Poulenc's early souvenirs enhanced the nostalgic content of these radio shows. Poulenc's primary focus on early-twentieth-century composers, artists, recordings and music, especially during his discussions on popular music, gives us insight into the composer's musical preferences, eclectic likes and keen musical understanding. These programmes spanned from fall 1947 to spring 1949 and were most probably a result of his friendship with Henry Barraud, composer and Director of the

Poulenc, Entretiens, p.57. "...lorsque j'ai commence d'ecrire Les Animaux modeles, c'etait aux jours les plus sombres de Pete 40, alors que je voulais, coute que coute, trouver une raison d'esperer dans le destin de monpays." 258 The expression "A batons rompus" refers to an off-the-cuff conversation. Through this title, Poulenc implied that his radio broadcasts were to be heard as informal, intimate conversations about his views on music. 259 See Chapter 3, p.97. 135

Musical Services of Radio-Paris since 1944. As Kayas pointed out in her introduction to the transcripts of these radio broadcasts, the use of the radio as a propaganda tool by the

Germans during the Second World War made the French public and politicians aware of the influence that this media could have on the population at large.261 Poulenc who was a defender of French culture and music in particular, would have felt it necessary after five years of Nazi control to push the French agenda. Aware of the difficulties faced by France

at the end of the war, Poulenc hoped that the radio could become a tool for the reaffirmation of French musical culture.262 During this project, Poulenc wrote eight shows that discussed various popular musical styles: French popular entertainment (its music, artists and

composers), itinerant music heard in fetes formnes and American jazz.

Of the eighteen broadcasts dedicated to composers, only two German composers

(Carl Maria von Weber and Berg) were considered compared to the nine French (Louis

Ganne, Debussy, Ravel, Gounod, Andre Messager, Satie, Milhaud, Henri Sauguet and

Poulenc), two Russians (Stravinsky and Prokofiev), two English ( and

Benjamin Britten), one American () and one Italian-American (Gian Carlo

Menotti). This is not a surprising statistic bearing in mind the recent Nazi German

occupation of France from 1940 to 1945. Yet it also reflects Poulenc's predisposition to patriotic sentiments. As expounded earlier, during the Second World War, Poulenc

See Lucie Kayas' introduction in Francis Poulenc, A batons rompus: Ecrits radiophoniques; precede de Journal de vacances, et suivi de Feuilles americaines, Lucie Kayas, ed. (Paris: Actes Sud, 1999), pp.15-16. 261 Poulenc, A batons rompus, p. 15 "L'utilisation des ondes - et de la musique allemande - a des fins de propagande durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale avait fait comprendre a tous, public et hommes politiques, quelle influence la radio pouvait exercer sur les auditeurs. Elle conduisit a une phase d'epuration qui eut son incidence sur les programmes musicaux." 262 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.611 Letter to (Noizay, November 1945): "Vous pensez bien que dans notre pauvre pays tout ne peut pas reprendre vie tout de suite. II y a rnille difficultes, artistes interdits, taxes prohibitives dans les concerts qui ont tout freine cet hiver. ... J'espere que la Radio resoudra le probleme. En effet, l'hiver prochain il y aura tous les 15 jours un concert public de musique de chambre ou nous pourrons disposer de tous les musiciens dont nous aurons besoin." 136

demonstrated his patriotism in a number of ways. The composer's correspondence during the years surrounding this war contained mentions of his views and some of his sentiments at having to live through another world conflict. The anguish he felt for his friends, especially and Darius Milhaud, the pride of having served his country even if only for six weeks, the admiration he gained for the ordinary soldier, the balance he felt needed to be maintained during the Occupation while defending his French "spiritual values" and his national pride after the liberation of his country are all there in his letters.263

In these broadcasts, we notice how Poulenc's assurance that he associated, without discrimination, the bal musette and the Suites of Couperin, feeling that they were both valuable to him as a French composer, is realized. In the radio programmes, Poulenc showed evidence of this personal aesthetic through his choice of topics. Moving between

/ 'exquise mauvaise musique (the light art music of "minor" composers such as Massenet,

Ibid., p.489 Letter to Paul Collaer (27 November 1939): "Depuis j'ai vecu vos angoisses et espere du plus profond de mon coeur que votre pays [Belgique] sera epargne. Quelle tristesse de revoir tout cela. Demandons a Dieu de garder la liberte de nos pays - qu'il les preserve aussi bien d'une croix gammee que d'une faucille." //p.496 Letter to Marie-Blanche de Polignac (Cahors, 10 July 1940): "Je pense etre rendu au veston civil aux environs du 20 juillet. Je ne regrette pas une seconde les six semaines que j'aurai passees sous le vetement militaire. Je suis avec de braves paysans du Perigord, Limousin, Dordogne. Leur intelligence depasse de beaucoup celle des parigots qui 'croient savoir.' Sans nul doute la terre nous sauvera." //p.498 Letter to Pierre Bernac (Cahors, 10 July 1940): "J'ai confiance dans l'avenir, dans notre team et de plus je me sens plein de musique. ... Ce pays me plait. L'air est leger. Je vis avec des paysans qui me donnent confiance." //p.504 Letter to Darius Milhaud (Brive, 9 September 1940): "J'ai hesite quelque peu a regagner la capitale mais Auric reinstalls chez lui m'a fait dire de rentrer sans manquer. Je suppose tout de meme qu'il y a des valeurs spirituelles a defendre." //p.573 Letter to Bernac (27 August 1944): "Pour moi j'ai vecu une veritable angoisse en pensant a vous tous et je l'avoue a poids egal en pensant a mon Paris pour lequel vous connaissez ma passion aussi bien pour ce qu'il a de beau que pour la plus humble rue de Belleville ou de La Chapelle. Je souffre aussi, alors que tout se reorganise, de n'etre pas la, non pas que je brigue des postes (je les refuserais tous) mais pour pouvoir faire entendre ma voix dans un sens de justice, moi que chacun sait parfaitement pur et independant. [...] Le jour de l'arrivee des Americains j'ai pose triomphalement sous mon drapeau, a ma fenetre, la Cantate {Figure humaine] sur le pupitre du studio." //p.577 Letter to Milhaud (London, 3 January 1945): "Tu imagines ma joie et ce que cela represente de liberte retrouvee. ... II a fallu bien de la souplesse pour eviter les embetements sans rien dormer en echange. Dans le domaine musical, ces messieurs verts ont ete moins atroces que pour les ecrivains et relativement on a fait ce qu'on a voulu. Presque tous les musiciens ont ete bien et se sont groupes du bon cote." //p.615 Letter to Milhaud (28 December 1945): "Tout cela ne m'empeche pas de travailler, mais il parait que c'est mon devoir de Francais de faire le commis voyageur de la musique. Cela me change aussi les idees car le cher vieil oncle Royer avec lequel je vivais cet automne est mort vite et doucement d'une crise cardiaque." 137

Cecile Chaminade, Grieg and Tchaikovsky), Parisian entertainment, French composers of his youth such as Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Milhaud to name but a few and the interpretation of works including his own, Poulenc emphasized his Janus-like personality, the one Claude Rostand characterized as moine-voyou. His sentimentality and profound attachment to the early-twentieth century were manifested in these discussions. Most of the talks focused on events or people of his past, emphasizing his growing nostalgic outlook.

Poulenc spent three of his broadcasts on what he entitled "Le folklore du XXe siecle"

("Twentieth-Century Folklore"). Having defined "folklore" as music that everyone knows but no one is aware of its composer, Poulenc decided to focus on a number of his favourite composers: Henri Christine,264 Vincent Scotto,265 Borel-Clerc (born Charles Clerc, 1879-

1959), Maurice Yvain (1891-1965), Lenoir (bom Jean Neuburger, 1891-1976) and Jean

Nohain (born Jean-Michel Legrand, 1900-1981). With the help of personal anecdotes and corroborating recordings from his personal collection,266 Poulenc demonstrated his detailed knowledge of this repertoire, quoting multiple chansons for each composer. Another point that is made obvious through these broadcasts is Poulenc's first-hand knowledge of particular artists and performance venues. His attendance at a number of Parisian music- halls and cafes-concerts, such as L 'Eldorado, La Scala, Les Folies-Bergere, Le Casino de

Henri Christine (1867-1941) was born in Geneva, Switzerland. Although he learned piano and solfege from his eldest sister, in 1889 he became a college professor of Greek and Latin. When he met his future wife, a music-hall singer, he left parents, friends and career and moved with her to Nice, France. By 1896 he was established in Paris and began writing chansons for numerous artists. His first major theatrical success occurred in November 1918 with his operetta Phi-Phi, which was followed by Dede in 1921 and J'adore gal in 1925. Some of his major songs include A la Martinique, Vienspoupoule and Valentine. 265 Vincent Scotto (1874-1952) was born in Marseille and as a teenager he already was writing songs for the artists of his native city. His first hit, titled Le navigatore, was a success in Paris after Christine modified the lyrics, so that it is now known as La petite Tonkinoise. With this success, Scotto moved to Paris in 1906 with his ever present guitar and until his death wrote some 4000 songs, 60 operettas and 200 film scores. 266 The Bibliotheque nationale de France has the complete record collection of Poulenc which includes 157 78s, 14 45s, and 339 33s, demonstrating clearly Poulenc's fascination with this technology. The variety in the titles also reflects the composer's eclectic musical diversity. 138

Paris, Le Petit Casino, Les Ambassadeurs and L 'Europeen, provides evidence of Poulenc's familiarity with these establishments. As discussed in Chapter 3, Poulenc had prepared a complete radio show on Maurice Chevalier, but other performers are also mentioned throughout the course of this project, such as Felix Mayol, Mistinguett, Fortuge, Dranem,

Polin, Lucienne Boyer (1901-1983), Suzy Delair (born Suzanne Delair, b.1917) and Arletty

(born Arlette-Leonie Bathiat, 1898-1992). Again Poulenc's knowledge of and admiration for these artists are clear, as seen in this memory regarding his meeting with Fortuge:

Despite the poor quality of the following recording, I insist on having you hear a chanson that I consider as an anthology. It is the great success of Fortuge: Mesparents [sont venus me chercher]. I was introduced to Fortuge in the Ambassadeurs'1 backstage and I keep a poignant souvenir of this meeting. Pale despite the violent makeup, gnawed by pain, the poor Fortuge was the incarnation of his song. Death was going to claim him soon.

This image of the suffering artist behind the scenes was one often associated with circus clowns as well as music-hall artists. One only needs to read [Sidonie Gabrielle] Colette's well-known novel, L'envers du music-hall (1929) to grasp the backstage melancholy and the hard life that was hidden behind the spectacular visuals of the shows and revues. Thus

Poulenc witnessed this offstage reality in his early adulthood, moulding his perception of

Parisian entertainment. This in turn explains in large the melange of sentiments that is often present in Poulenc's works containing the popular aesthetic.

This same tone was to be found in the writings of Journal de mes melodies (1939-

61, publ.1964) in which Poulenc provided valuable insight into his compositional process,

267 Poulenc, A batons rompus, p.57. "Bien que le disque que je vais vous presenter soit de qualite detestable, je tiens a vous faire entendre une chanson que je considere comme une anthologie. II s'agit du plus grand succes de Fortuge: Mes parents./'IT'ai ete jadis presente a Fortuge dans les coulisses des Ambassadeurs. Je garde de cette rencontre un souvenir poignant.//Bleme malgre son maquillage violent, ronge par le mal, le pauvre Fortuge etait a l'image meme de sa chanson. La mort n'allait pas tarder a venir le chercher." 139

his mind-set as a composer during writing and his instructions regarding the interpretation of his melodies. On numerous occasions, Poulenc made reference to popular Parisian and suburban Nogent-sur-Marne atmospheres from the early part of the twentieth century. As will be demonstrated later on, his commentaries were consistently respectful of the popular idiom, and his performance instructions were adamant that a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of this lowbrow aesthetic must never occur.

The Chanson: History and General Characteristics

The genre of the French chanson can be divided into two broad categories: chansons traditionnelles (traditional songs) and chansons d'auteur (copyrighted songs). The first category consists primarily of songs transmitted orally and transmuted over time by its public and performers. The majority of these songs date from before the nineteenth century and the authors' rights' laws passed by the Revolutionary Assemblies in 1791 and 1793.

Today these songs constitute primarily the category known as folklore and/or children's songs/rhymes because, during the mid-to-late nineteenth century, their origins were forgotten and came to be thought of as popular (or of the people). The sub-categories of this group include Christmas songs, voix-de-ville (urban songs), military and navy songs, chansons a boire (drinking and student songs) and children's songs. On the other hand, chansons d'auteur primarily comprise songs for which the author/lyricist (parolier) and the composer are known and credited. Also the content is written out and made available to the public, preventing the transmission "errors" of earlier times. In the first half of the nineteenth century, it was common for the composer to still be anonymous. But by the

268 The following categorization of chanson was taken from Jean-Claude Klein, Florilege de la chanson francaise (Paris: Bordas, 1990). These categories are akin to Charles Lalo's discussed in Chapter 2: "rural chansons" are chansons traditionnelles and "urban chansons" are chansons d'auteur. 140

middle of the century, both author and composer were identified - a reflection of the growing importance of the musician, the auteur-compositeur (songwriter) and their organization through the SACEM (Societe des auteurs, compositeurs, editeurs de musique).

The crucial difference between the two categories of chansons lies in this stabilization and the degree of permanency given to the musical product. The growing rights provided to authors, composers and editors of music as well as the rise of the recording industry all worked toward providing a "static picture in time" of a particular chanson, leading to a demand for new songs to be performed by an increased number of "stars." This in turn led to a type of elitism within the genre since it became more and more difficult to simply be able to reproduce this music at home, as can be perceived by the decreased sale and availability of the sheet music during the 1930s and the rise of record sales. These events that occurred over a period of fifty to seventy years (1860-1930) were to create a favourable environment - combined with the other socio-political events269 - for the growth of cultural nostalgia within French society. Poulenc grew up during the early-twentieth century and so was to become greatly affected by this changing trend in popular music. As is the case with many other musicians, painters and writers of the time, Poulenc chose to integrate a popular idiom within his musical style.

Before going into the details of how Poulenc successfully amalgamated lowbrow and highbrow aesthetic, a closer inspection of the chanson's overall importance within

French society and its characteristics is required. As Peter Hawkins pointed out,

.. .in France ... chanson is part of the texture of everyday life, a form of popular culture which is part of the national identity, as in the well-known proverbial phrase 'Tout finit par des chansons' [Everything ends with songs].

269 See Chapters 1 and 2 for details. 141

(...) It seems that the song form is more closely bound up with the national identity in France than it is in many other cultures, that it embodies for a wide cross-section of people some of the fundamental elements of what it means to be French. (...) Chanson has always been a kind of barometer of popular taste, a reflection of a period, and this is as true today as it ever was. Certain songs have the ability to evoke a particular time, especially for those who lived through it, but even for those who did not. The songs of a decade or other identifiable period evoke an atmosphere, reflect the everyday preoccupations of people, even if not always directly, and allude to the current fashions. They not only respond to these changes, but are also part of the process of creating them. 70

This tie between the French people and the chanson has long been recognized. Is it its combination of literature, music and theatre that appeals to the masses? Or is it the talent of the interpreter to convey the emotions within the text? Is it the humour that is evoked or the nostalgia, or even both? Or maybe it is the combination of all of these elements that succeeded in creating a musical genre in France - the chanson — that could reach and touch millions. Yet as is often remarked, the chanson d'auteur was also rejected by the nation's intelligentsia precisely because of its popularity with the masses, while the chanson traditionnelle, through its anonymity and its age, was often considered as an important heritage to maintain, thus worthy of academic attention. The chanson d'auteur's typically

French characteristics, its contemporary national popular heritage and its amalgamation of literature, music and theatre became the very reasons why the elite have rejected it.

Yet as we have explored in Chapter 2, the chanson of the early-twentieth century did play a significant role in the creation of many artistic projects of that same period. The complex layering involved in the creation of a song from beginning to end and the many

Peter Hawkins, Chanson: The French Singer-Songwriter from Aristide Bruant to the Present Day (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), pp. 3-4. 142

emotional facets that are often present in a chanson contributed to the appeal that it had for numerous early-twentieth-century artists. The ability to combine humour and tragedy within a three-minute song or a twenty-minute tour de chant was evocative of the circus clowns' acts and contradictory personas. Poulenc's Janus-like personality seems to have been attracted to these apparently polar opposite qualities found in the French popular song.

As will soon be demonstrated, Poulenc developed a popular idiom within his works that included both the cheerful and the moving faces of the chanson. Poulenc clearly understood the dichotomy that existed within the popular genre, and it is probably this characteristic that pulled him toward this style. Poulenc's interest in poetry, literature and theatre is equally important in enlightening us regarding this lifelong relationship. It is impossible to study French chanson without taking into account all of its various elements: the text (lyricist); the music/instrumentation (composer/arranger); the interpretation (singer and musicians); the performance venue (the cafe-concert, the music-hall, the cabaret artistique); and the mode of distribution (editor, recordings, radio, sheet music). It is the whole package that must be considered in order for us to understand the fascination it held over the French people. In so doing, one realizes how Poulenc, who was knowledgeable and aware of all the major artistic trends, whether in music, literature, painting or theatre, would have been attracted to this popular genre. Other elements of the chanson that are to be considered when discussing Poulenc include the strong link that exists between a particular song and its interpreter (an idea that was prominent in Poulenc's own catalogue, e.g. Pierre Bernac and the melodies; and the ); the foregrounding of the lyrics in order to provide a clear message to the public at all times; and the succinct manner in which the chanson told a story/drama. As Patrick Valerian explains, "... the song's text 143

must be clear, precise, bare, incisive, tight, in the manner of a stage dialogue, because a song is also a hundred-act play with the universe as its scene but also a rapid play that takes place within a few verses." The precision required in the delivery of the message of a chanson is found in numerous vocal and instrumental works by Poulenc.

The presence of a storyline within the chanson format implies a certain reflection of the spirit of the times. When reading the texts of French chanson, a number of them mirror not only the events but also the emotions of the period. Patriotic songs surge during wartime (e.g. the Franco-Prussian War and World War I); socialist songs push the people's agenda (e.g. Mistinguett and the Frontpopulaire during the 1930s); and even comical songs can hide protestation (e.g. Cach' ton piano, 1920 in protest of the government's taxation of musical instruments found in the home). Yet the emotions become tangible primarily through the interpretation of the song. The various performance techniques (voice, gestures/acting, costumes) are usually essential in the delivery of the message (during the censorship of the nineteenth century, it was not uncommon for the texts to be 'acceptable' while the performer could imply otherwise). For instance, Edith Piaf s repertoire regularly

contained many texts that if left to their own merit could be perceived as cliched. But Piaf through her interpretation of the song succeeded in transmitting to the audience the deep

sentiments casually inferred by the words, whether they be love, pain, fear or joy. And it is through these performances that the two principle emotions of the chanson - humour and

nostalgia - are communicated to the French public. Patriotism also plays an important role

in this popular genre and not simply through the appearance of the patriotic sentiment in

271 Patrick Valerian, La Chanson frangaise de 1730 a nos jours, vol.1 (Mallemort, France: Editions Proanima, 1993), p.126. "Aussi le texte d'une chanson doit-il etre clair, net, depouille, percutant, serre, comme un dialogue de theatre, car la chanson elle aussi est une comedie aux cents actes divers et dont la scene est l'univers mais une comedie eclair qui se deroule en quelques couplets." 144

songs surrounding the wars. The use of the French vernacular (at times at an extremely rapid pace) as well as the references to specific socio-political events insured that only the

"initiated" could understand not only the words but oftentimes the hidden meaning within these words. Through this built-in intimacy the French had succeeded in creating a form that retained a strong national quality. And it is these qualities that attracted Poulenc to using the popular idiom of the chanson in many of his works.

What about general characteristics? What differentiates a chanson from other song forms? There existed various types of chansons during the early-twentieth century: the valse chantee, the chanson patriotique, the chanson comique, the chanson sentimentale, the melodrame chante, to name but a few. Each of these types had distinguishing characteristics, just as the various singers of the cafe-concert developed their own repertoire based on the personalities they adopted. As an example, we will look at the patriotic song.

It possessed the obvious nationalist text that encouraged national pride, chauvinist attitudes and, especially following the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71), the Revanchiste (revenge) ideals:

lis ont enfin rendu VAlsace et la Lorraine Eux qui raillaient la France et qui disaient "jamais!" lis n'avaient su la-bas que dechainer la haine Mais le cceur de VAlsace etait reste frangais Oui le cceur de VAlsace etait reste frangais

Example 4.1 - Chorus from lis ont rendu I Alsace et la Lorraine (1918) Charles Borel-Clerc (music)/Ch. Potier (text)

272 Translation: "They finally returned the Alsace and the Lorraine// Those who made fun of France and would say 'never! 7/ They had only known how to let loose hatred// But the Alsatian heart remained French// Yes, the Alsatian heart remained French." 145

The music that accompanied the patriotic song usually featured march rhythms with clear dotted rhythmic figures, a refrain sung in chorus, and a melodic line that was easy to follow and had a limited range so anyone could sing it, as seen in this chorus by Camille Robert:

50a pour nous n'est pas s6 -

Q F ^—•

re, Quand on lui prend taille ou le men - ton_ El - le

e'est tout l'mal qu'elT sait &i Ma - de Ma - de Ma - de

as. ^^ S Ion, 2. Nous a - vons 3. Un ca - po

Example 4.2 - Chorus from QuandMadelon... (1914) Camille Robert (music)/Louis Bousquet (text)

George Chepfer in 1925 described the chanson of the period 1875 to 1925 using the following terms: "spontaneity, common sense, mischievousness, good nature, tenderness, light gracefulness [and] taste for the right/exact expression."273 These characteristics are helpful in the understanding of the overall qualities and sentiments expressed in the French song genre and also provide today's listener with an image of the mood that was conveyed through this music. From this description one senses the relaxed nature needed to express spontaneity and good nature, while the ideas of tenderness and gracefulness point towards

273 George Chepfer, "La Chansonnette et la musique de cafe-concert" in Cinquante ans de musique francaise de 1874-1925, 1925, p.227. "...spontaneite, bon sens, malice, bonhomie, tendresse, grace legere, gout de 1'expression juste." 146

the female component of the chanson such as the sentimentality heard in the sung waltz

(e.g. Amoureuse, 1900274). The notions of common sense and mischievousness reference the content of many texts that dealt with everyday events (e.g. Viens Poupoule, 1902275) and/or of licentious subject matter (e.g. La lecon de piano, 1911276). The final descriptor - gout de I 'expression juste - is a testimonial to the importance of balancing the words and the gestures so that the message of the song becomes clear to the audience. Yvette Guilbert, for example, was especially known for her ability to use subtle actions that enhanced her songs' intentions. Another meaning behind this "taste for the exact expression" relates to the creation of a text that provides clear images of the storyline, as the narrative content had to be communicated to the audience within a short time frame.

The text in the chanson, an oftentimes working-class patois, was overwhelmingly set syllabically. The free treatment of the text and the use of slang oral French language allowed the composer and the performer to reach the audiences found in the cafe-concert and the music-hall. This liberty with the text produced numerous possibilities for interpretations and for detachment from the regular meter and tempo. For example,

Maurice Chevalier's tour de chants regularly incorporated the use of rubato where he elongated syllables or delayed his attack so that the melody lagged behind the accompaniment. He also spoke a number of his lines rather than singing them so that he

274 Amoureuse (music by Rodolphe Berger and text by Maurice de Feraudy) Chorus: "Je suis lache avec toi, je m'en veux!// Mon amour est pourtant sans excuse,// Je le sais de me voir tres souffrir ca t'amuse// Car tu sens que je t'aime encore mieux// Oh pourquoi m'as-tu prise et comment?// Suis-je ainsi lachement amoureuse?// C'est qu'au fond, toi tout seul tu me rends tres heureuse// Mon ami, mon aime, mon amant!" 275 Viens poupoule (music by Adolf Spahn and text by Alexandre Trebitsch and Henri Christine) goes through various everyday scenes such as the worker taking his wife to the cafe-concert on Saturday night, the guinguettes around Paris during springtime, the anarchists with guns and knives to which a police officer turns a blind eye, the marriage of young people. 276 La lecon de piano (music of Vincent Scotto and text of Emile Gitral) describes the many amorous events that occur during a piano lesson between the teacher and his female student. It ends with their marriage. 147

departed from the steady pulse and recovered the original pace after a few phrases, thus creating an intimacy between him and the audience by, in a sense, stepping outside of the orchestral restrictions. Other ways in which the text was treated freely included the strongly rolled r's, the stressed mute 'e' especially at the end of phrases to emphasize the rhyme, the upward vocal slides or glissandi, and the piling of several syllables on one pitch or on a repeated chromatic line to create a comical distortion of the text as well as show off the performer's abilities. These performance techniques, combined with the use of French patois, furthered the secret understanding that existed between French audience and performer. For many of these chansons it is practically impossible in translation to retain the original meaning and the numerous insinuations found within the text. The listener is faced with several difficulties: the combination of slang expressions and regional patois, the use of popular contractions, the rapid utterance of the text, the socio-political references, the

alteration of stress patterns within syllables and sentence structures as well as the double meaning and/or parody of certain lines; these all conspire to create a closed semantic circle that can be problematical for the outsider.

The following case will help to demonstrate most of these characteristics. Mes parents sont venus me chercher (music and text by Fred Pearly), recorded by Fortuge as

early as 1906277 but not copyrighted until 1922, followed the traditional chorus form of AA' with two sixteen-measure phrases while the verses adhered to an AA'BB' form with four

eight-measure phrases. As observed in the text below, the words were set syllabically (the

277 The 1906 recording can be found on Les Chansons de ces annees-la...1900-1913 (Disque Forlane/UMIP France, 19169, 1999). 148

number of syllables is indicated in the brackets at the end of each line) with a matching sentence length and rhyme scheme (e.g.jumelles/belle =12; voisins/bain = 10).

Verse: En fac' de chez moi avec des jume-el-les (12) A On peut voir tout c 'qui s pass' chez les voisins (10) J'ai vu ma voisin' un' femm 'jeun' et be-el-le (12) A' Se deshabiller pour prendre son bain (10) Comme ell' retirait sa blous' sonjupon (10) B Tous ses chichis et son p 'tit pantalon (10) Y'avaitplus qu'sa ch'mis' c'est caqu'j'attendais (10) B' Mais au mem' moment comm' ell' I'enlevait (10)

Chorus: Mes parents sont venus me chercher (9) A J'n 'ai rien vu maisj 'etais enerve (9) Comm' ma mer' m 'a dit: veux-tu Gustave (10) A la nouvell' bonn' montrer la cave (10) Lap'tit' bonn'etait bien ga m'aplu (9) A' A la cav' i'suis tout d'suit' descendu (9) Etj 'y s 'rais encor' reste (7) Mais n 'me vgyantpas rjnonter (7) Mes parents sont venus me_ chercher. (9)

Example 4.3 - Verse 3 and Chorus 3 from Mes parents sont venus me chercher (1906) Fred Pearly (music and text)

In order to create equal poetic lines, Pearly used many argotic contractions (e.g. fac'

= face; qu 'sa ch 'mis' = que sa chemise) that would have enhanced the mass appeal since these informal expressions often reflected the spoken language of the common French person. In both the verse and the chorus, Pearly's musical setting and Fortuge's

278 Translation: (verse) "In front of my home with binoculars// We can see everything that goes on at the neighbours//1 saw my neighbour a beautiful young woman// Getting undressed to take her bath// As she was taking off her blouse her underskirt// All her extras and her little pants// All that was left was her undershirt that's what I was waiting for// But at that same moment as she was taking it off." (chorus) "My parents arrived and took me away//1 saw nothing but I was nervous// Then my mother asked, Gustave would you// show the basement to the new housemaid// The little housemaid looked good that pleased me// To the basement I immediately went// And I would still be there// But seeing as I was not coming back// My parents arrived and took me away." 149

interpretation provided a mixture of proper as well as unusual accents and pauses. For example the first line of the chorus if read follows this pattern: Mes parents/sont venus me chercher, whereas the music and interpretation uses this one: Mes parents/sont venus/me chercher. The verse also possesses some of these differentiations:

En fac' de chez moi/avec des iumelles/IOn peut voir tout c'qui spass' chez les voisins (read) En fac' de chez moi/avec des jume-el-lesllOn peut voir tout c'qui s'passe'chez les voisins (music)

With regard to the performance, Fortuge, as many other singers of the period, strongly

rolled the letter 'r' which meant at times that accents appeared where neither the word nor

the music required them, as shown in example 4.4:

Cm m & wfe ^ J £f • ii ff Jj i..—— *K . r Et j'y s'raisen-cor' res- te Mais n'me Fm' B" Et . Fm7 B" F> BW Ek S<

1 * J J ^

vo-yant pas r'mon - ter Mes pa - rents sont ven-nus me cher - cher.

Example 4.4 - End of chorus from Mes parents sont venus me chercher (1906)

In the penultimate line of each verse Fortuge introduced glissandi in order to emphasize the

arrival of the punch line. For example, in the verse of example 4.3, the notes for the words

ch'mis' ("undershirt") and qu'j'attendais ("I was waiting for") are reached through an

upward glissando until the exact musical note is attained. Through this performance

technique as well as accompanying gestures and facial expressions, Fortuge captured the

audience's attention in order for it to realize that the character's hopes will not be fulfilled - 150

Mais au mem' moment comm' ell' I'enlevait ("But at that same moment as she was taking it off..."), providing a humorous moment in the song.

Although the text of the third verse and chorus is relatively straightforward in its meaning, the implications found in the first verse and chorus of the song are more subtle.

That verse describes a garden in a natural setting in August with birds singing, a cat near a bush and a small boy in a cauliflower. These images are then followed with the parents getting this little boy, putting him in a bedroom then going to the city hall and the father recognizing the boy immediately. This overall translation of the text is somewhat confusing yet the meaning was clear to the cafe-concert audience: the parents of this boy had him out- of-wedlock and they married once the father recognized the child as his son.279 As mentioned in Chapter 3, these licentious topics were commonly heard in Parisian entertainment.

In addition to the characteristics provided by Chepfer and the ones observed in the above case study, French songs were also short and bright with a strong sense of the melodic line, lively rhythms and metrical regularity. They were basically tonal, in a major or minor key and sometimes a modulation between the two could occur. It was common for the minor key to appear during the verse while the major key was reserved for the chorus.

For example in C'est une gamine charmante (1918) to music by Henri Christine and a text by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Sollar, the verse is presented in the key of F minor while the chorus is in F major. The same process can be observed in La plus bath des javas

279 Lyrics: (verse) "Dans un potager rempli de verdure// Parmi les carott's et les artichauts// Les beaux radis roses les pommes mures// Parmi la hatur' et les p'tits oiseaux// II y'avait un chat tout pres d'un buisson// Et pres d'un chou-fleur un petit garcon// Ceci se passait a la mi-aout// Le p'tit c'etait mpi qu'etais dans un chou." (Chorus) "Mes parents sont venus me chercher// lis m'ont mis dans la chambre a coucher// Puis ils sont alles a la marie// Dir' c'qu'ils avaient fait pour la Patrie// La mon per' m'a tout d'suit' reconnu// Car mon corps parait-il y'avait plu// Mais l'mair' ayant exige// Que je lui sois presente//Mes parents sont venus me chercher." 151

(1925) to music by Tremolo and text by Georgius, this time making a move from C minor

(verse) to C major (chorus). Most early-twentieth-century chansons could be boiled down to a simple four-chord pattern of I-ii(7)-V(7)-I; yet within this simple harmonic progression, the composer or accompanying musicians would include a number of applied dominants to the supertonic or dominant chords, as well as use the diminished chord to act as a passing chord (primarily) or a neighbour chord (see examples 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7).

Moderate G? Ctt" % ^E m 1. Cha - que femme a quel • que cho se Qui 2. Vous croy ez que j'e - xa gfc re U 3. De - vant moi je V01S des da - mes Aux Dm? G^ G5+ & ^^ p- p i r r M s6 - duit no coeur_ C'est ses yeux, sa bou - che ro se Son ne Won - de pour vous_ N'a rien d'ex - tra - or - di nai re On beaux che - veux do res,_ A - ca - jou, cou - leur de flam - mes Ou

Example 4.5 - Verse from Je connais une blonde (1912) Ray Goetz and Baldwin Sloane (music)/Alfredo Nilson-Fysher and Henri Christine (text) I-viio/ii-ii7-V7-I (C-C#o-Dm7-G7-C) applied chord

DS PJ Xtf"

m r~y ^^ ^ V WF fot dans un bal .. au bois de Meu don Au son d'u - ne valse en - teat que moi j'ai su cap - • ti - ver son cceur." Et sans comp - ter pour la 10 lui 6 - en - vant: "A - dieu mon cU n, Notre a - mour 6 tail une to

Example 4.6 - Verse from La femme aux bijoux (1912) Ernest Dumont (music)/Ferdinand-Louis Benech (text) Iadd6-Io-V7 (D6-Do-A7) passing motion (A-G#-G) 152

Em

Cest mer-veil - leux Cest ex-tra-or-di - nai - re .Cest pro-di - gieux Qu'est - c'que j'ai pu leUr fei - re'

Example 4.7 - Chorus from C 'est merveilleux (1925) Raoul Moretti (music)/Albert Willemetz, Saint-Granier and Jean Le Seyeux (text) I-Io-I (D-Do-D) neighbour motion V7/ii-ii-V7 (B7-Em-A7) applied dominant

Other interesting progressions included the use of an augmented dominant chord as a passing or neighbour motion to the tonic (see examples 4.8 and 4.9 respectively).

p F5+ B> BtNf B^ ^m ^e P p IP P P Ml ment ?_ A la plac' Maub' l'a-vez-vous vue_ Ou bien dans la cour du De da.__ d'pieds-

Example 4.8 - Transition between verse and chorus from J'ai perdu ma gigolette (1892) Lucien Delormel (music)/Felix Mortreuil and Rene Esse (text) V7-V5+-I (F7-F5+-Bb)

F REFRAIN

l'soir tors - que tout dent tran • qui! - - le Sous les ponts de Pa l'on craint m8rne pas - 1'clatr de Iu - - ne Sous les ponts de Pa tin ils vont dor - mir mes gos - - ses." Sous les ponts de Pa

tp Gm7 C ^fe m ris- Lore - que des cend la ris_ Lots - que des cend la nuit,. ris_ Un' mere et ses pe

Example 4.9 - Chorus from Sous les ponts de Paris (1914) Vincent Scotto (music)/Jean Rodor (text) I-V5+-I (F-C5+-F) 153

There were also some standard chord progressions that involved chromatic voice leading in a single voice in order to add aural color and variety to a repeated melodic line.

V7/V -* ii7 Villi -* vi ii-» V7/V vi7-» Villi

Figure 4.1 - possible chromatic voice leading of chords in the chanson

Another harmony that was used in the chanson was the major-seventh tonic (IM7) within the I-IM7-Iadd6 progression at the beginning of certain choruses (examples 4.8 and 4.10).

Tempo de Marche REFRAIN % G GM' G« f p P' PH J> u N i' h & m Sous le grand cha - peau Green - a - way. Met - tant l'e - clat d'un sou -

Am' D' Am' D? Am' D' P' D V P ^ ^ D'un ri - re char-mant et frais_ De ba - by e - ton - ne qui sou

Example 4.10 - Chorus from Za Diva de 1'Empire (1905) Erik Satie (music)/Dominique Bonnaud and Numa Bles (text) I-IM7-Iadd6 (G-GM7-G6)

Modulations usually occurred within the expected range. The music primarily moved from tonic to dominant back to tonic or even remained within the tonic for the whole song. Yet there were also moves between major and relative minor keys (e.g. Mon homme

[1920], Maurice Yvain/music, Willemetz and Jacques-Charles/text, moves from E minor in the verse to G major in the chorus) as well as moves to the major or minor mediant (III/iii) 154

within the verse (e.g. La Java [1922], Yvain/music, Willemetz and Jacques-Charles/text, from F minor to A-flat major; and A la Martinique! [1912], George M. Cohan and

Christine/music, Christine/text, from E-flat major to G minor). Another common technique used by composers was to write a sequence that moved by a tone (upward or downward) in order to build-in an emotional intensity into a repeated melodic line. Example 4.11 gives an instance of a downward sequence in a song about a young woman forced into a life of prostitution.

At REFRAIN Fm B" El J^ J i>' > m ve J'ai pas su y fai - re Jai pas la rue re, IS! J'ai pas su y fai - re J'ai pas la nie re rer. J'ai pas su y tai - re Tai pas la nie re & Fm B" El El° ^ P=f=l Fgf^ Ten a qui s'd6 brouil - lent... Qui s'grouil - lent! Moi... rien n'me re - us - sit ja J'sais pas plaire aux horn - roes Tsuis. com - me Un chien qu'on n'ca - ress' - rait ja D'puis tou-jours je trai - ne Mes pei - nes Et 5a n'en fi - rri - ra ja

Example 4.11 - Verse from J'ai pas su yfaire (1922) Maurice Yvain (music)/P. Cartoux and E. Costil (text)

This technique was to reach its height in the repertoire of Edith Piaf during the mid-forties, as heard in songs such as L'accordeoniste (1945) and A I'enseigne de la fille sans coeur

(1947).

When analyzing the form used by composers some common patterns were discernible yet again, variety seemed to prevail. In songs from the 1890s until the 1940s, one can notice how certain patterns were associated with certain decades. One pattern that prevailed until the 1930s was the structure of the chorus: AA'. Although not necessarily a 155

set rule since it was possible to find choruses in ABAB' form (e.g. False brune, 1909; Sous les ponts de Paris, 1914) or AABB (e.g. La Baya, 1911), by the 1920s, the AA' structure was consistently used by composers in choruses that were primarily thirty-two or sixteen measures long. And yet during the 1930s a new structure appeared - the AABA pattern - which by the 1940s had taken hold in the chanson. Another common element of the song of the turn-of-the-century was the four- or eight-measure instrumental introduction which was then used as a ritornello to indicate the return of the verse following the chorus. The vocal range for the chanson was typically an octave, although at times this could be contracted to a fifth or expanded to a tenth. The fact that the chorus was the place where the harmonic progressions were the simplest - ii(7)-V7-I - and the form was the most predictable explains how the audience was able to easily remember the songs and reproduce them at home around a piano, before the prominence of recordings.

Before 1920, verses took on many shapes as well as lengths. The thirty-two or sixteen-measure verse was common, but one could also find twelve-, eighteen-, twenty-, twenty-four-, twenty-eight, forty-, or even forty-eight-measure verses. Although the length varied, the verses were primarily divided equally into eight-, four-, or sixteen-bar phrases.

Yet one could also find phrases of twelve bars or three and six bars (see figure 2).

Title Date Music Text Verse Phrase Form lengths Le temps des cerises 1868 August Renard Jean-Baptiste ABA' 12+8+8 Clement Le coeur tzigane 1911 Jules Vercolier Armand Foucher AA'B 16+12+12 Le coeur des 191- Gaston Maquis Will&Plebus AA'B 3+3+6 mamans

Figure 4.2 - Some chansons whose verses have unusual phrase lengths 156

With regard to the form, verses could take on many patterns providing a wide range of possibilities for the chanson (see figure 3).

Title Date Music Text Verse Form Frou-frou 1897 Henri Ghatau Hector Monreal, AA'A"B Henri Blondeau Sourire d'avril 1899 Maurice Depret Fabrice Lemon ABA' Viens poupoule 1902 Adolf Spahn Alexandre Trebitsch, AA' (chorus Christine form) La Mattchiche 1905 P. Badia, arr. by Paul Briollet, Leo AA'A"B Borel-Clerc Lelievre Hesitation 1909 Paul Fauchey Pierre Chapelle AA' (chorus form) Valse brune 1909 Georges Krier Georges Villard ABCC Allons-y doucement 1911 Scotto, Louis Xam, Jean Rodor ABC Izoird Malgre tes serments 1913 Jos. Howard, Christine AA' (chorus arr. by Christine form) Sous les ponts de Paris 1914 Vincent Scotto Jean Rodor AABB C'est une gamine 1918 Christine Willemetz, Fabien ABA'C charmante Sollar

Figure 4.3 - Selected verse forms within pre-1920s chansons

Yet by the 1920s, the verse also became somewhat standardized to the AA'B pattern found in most songs of that decade. The dance craze that took over Paris during the Annees

Folles may, in part, be responsible for this change. Even before World War I, Paris had become enthralled by foreign dances, but this fascination with exotica during the Belle

Epoque was transformed into something much larger and more widespread after the war

and with the arrival of Americans in Paris. Some of the dances that were imitated included the polka, the waltz, the fox-trot, the Java, the Charleston, the shimmy, the swing and the

tango. In addition to the jazz influence, these dances brought an expectation of regularity

and steadiness within the chanson genre. In order to satisfy a growing demand for songs to 157

which one could dance instead of simply listen, as well as the growing popularity of the revues a grand spectacle, composers had to adapt and standardize the chanson. This in turn led to what some perceived as an abandonment of the French chanson tradition which placed a value on the performer's capability to play with the regularity of the rhythm.

The diversity found in the Parisian chanson of the early-twentieth century helps us to understand the various ways in which Francis Poulenc chose to appropriate the style. As was determined above, there existed some common characteristics in the formal structure and harmonic progressions of these songs, yet the composer and lyricist also had the opportunity to manipulate these basic elements. Then, in the hands of many performers, such as Chevalier, Mayol and Mistinguett, the song could take on a life of its own.

Although, as previously mentioned, there were many types of chansons, through the recordings and written memoirs of the period it is obvious that a particular atmosphere grew out of these songs and social establishments. It is my contention that Poulenc's purpose in adapting this popular idiom to his compositional output was directly linked to this unique ambience. This environment was to become solidly tied to his youthful memories and the joy and insouciance of that period in his life. In the following two chapters, the numerous works that contain this carefree use of the lowbrow aesthetic will be closely examined in order to determine how Poulenc managed to create a popular aura in his compositions and maybe find out some of the possible reasons for this consistent use. Chapter 5 - Poulenc's Early Compositions (1918-1932)

During his early compositional years, Poulenc was influenced by numerous contemporary composers, especially Debussy, Satie and Stravinsky. Following his introduction to Satie and Stravinsky, Poulenc quickly abandoned Debussy's style.

Although Debussyism was at its height during the late teens and early twenties, the aesthetic espoused by Les Six and Cocteau followed a different path. With Debussy's death in 1918, it is not surprising that Satie's and Stravinsky's styles held more authority over our young

composer's early works.280 Although Cocteau's writings and remarks regarding the place

of Parisian entertainment within the musical realm have often been examined and

questioned since their inception,281 Poulenc's attraction to this lowbrow aesthetic, as

discussed in the previous chapters, predated his meeting of Cocteau. This fact leads me to believe that Cocteau's presence in Poulenc's life simply intensified an already existing

awareness and predilection. As well, Poulenc's interaction with Parisian entertainment

continued beyond the craze of the 1920s and maintained a place within his compositional

style throughout his lifetime.

This chapter and the next one will demonstrate the principal ways in which Poulenc

incorporated a popular idiom adapted from the cafe-concert, the music-hall, the circus, the fete foraine and the bal musette within a number of his works. Through a chronological

approach, the following works will be analyzed in this chapter: Toreador (1918), Cocardes

(1919), two Novelettes (1927), Quatre poemes de Guillaume Apollinaire (1931), Cinq

280 For more details regarding the relationship between Poulenc's and Stravinsky's styles, see Marc Andrew Wood's Ph.D. thesis "The Influence of Stravinsky on the Music of Francis Poulenc" (Goldsmith's College, University of London, 1997). 281 For more details regarding the relationship between Poulenc and Cocteau, see Daniel Swift's thesis "La Collaboration Jean Cocteau-Francis Poulenc dans les annees vingt: Etude comparative de la pensee musicale de Jean Cocteau et des ceuvres produites en collaboration avec Francis Poulenc" (Universite Laval, 1983).

158 . 159

poemes de Max Jacob (1931) and finally Le Bal masque (1932). Although not the only works from Poulenc's early compositions containing a Parisian aesthetic, they are representative of the growth experienced by the composer and of the various genres in which Poulenc introduced this lowbrow influence (voice and piano, voice and small orchestra, solo piano, melodies and voice with larger orchestra).

Toreador (1918)

One of Poulenc's first compositions was a chanson hispano-italienne entitled

Toreador (1918), a collaborative effort with Cocteau. It was to have been performed during

Seance Music Hall, part of a series of concert-spectacles that Cocteau and Pierre Bertin282 had imagined for the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier yet this particular project never materialized. In his Journal de mes melodies, Poulenc described his chanson as a "type of hybrid - a confusion of genres." The best description he provided for this song was the

following:

A Marie Dubas, who succeeds in exciting the audience of L 'Empire with Pedro, would, I am sure, incur a loss if she presented Toreador to this same public. Toreador, a caricature of the music-hall chanson, can only be presented to a restricted elite. It is just the type of song where a group of up- to-date friends, sitting around the piano, can have a good laugh.283

Pierre Bertin (1895-1984), husband of the renowned pianist, Marcelle Meyer, was a celebrated actor who was also involved with the music of Les Six and Satie. He organized literary conferences and evenings at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier as well as concerts, such as the one where Poulenc's Rapsodie negre was performed, in coordination with Jane Bathori. Bertin was the dedicatee of Toreador. 283 Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies, 2n ed. (Paris: Cicero Editeurs, 1993), p.36. "Une Marie Dubas, qui fait trepigner la salle de 1'Empire avec Pedro, endosserait, j'en suis certain, une belle veste en presentant a ce meme public Toreador. Toreador, caricature de la chanson de music-hall, ne peut done s'adresser qu'a une elite restreinte. C'est exactement le type de la chanson pour faire rire, autour d'un piano, quelques amis a la page." Note: Marie Dubas (1894-1972) was a French singer and actress; Theatre de 1'Empire was a Parisian music-hall; Pedro was a "fantaisie hispano-montmartroise" one of the first successful chansons sung by Dubas. 160

Although Poulenc admitted to loving this song, resurrecting it in 1932 by revising and publishing it for the first time and including it in a number of future concerts, this quote reveals a number of important points. Poulenc's use of the descriptors "hybrid,"

"caricature," "confusion" and "elite" when discussing this chanson leads to the conclusion that of all his compositions with a lowbrow aesthetic, this first one was his closest attempt to tie in with the times and Cocteau's ideas, possibly because of the writer's intimate involvement with the compositional process: Cocteau provided advice and offered his personal visions for this song, as can be read in his letter to the young Poulenc dated 13

September 1918.284 The geographical incongruity found in Cocteau's text - a Spanish bullfighter who dies in Venice - was not uncommon in the music-hall chanson. Good examples include La petite Tonkinoise (1906), in which a Frenchman is in North Vietnam while studying the geography of China and Manchuria, and Pedro (1926), in which a

Spanish man is found living and loving in Montmartre. In Toreador, Poulenc borrowed a number of the compositional techniques found in the chanson. An eight-bar instrumental introduction with a traditional harmonic progression of I-(vi7)-ii9-V7 leads into the music of the verse. Although not an exact replica of the melodic line, this introduction presents an outline of the melody. The music is set to a waltz tempo in 3/8 time with the common accompaniment of low notes on the strong beats and higher-register chords on the weak beats in the left hand and doubling of the vocal line that moves between the right and the left hands (see example 5.1).

Francis Poulenc, Correspondance 1910-1963, Myriam Chimenes, ed. (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1999),pp.66-68. 161

AllnntCJ.,92) 5 ^ S T W VX 3 ip ^ m -j j>rJ=^! (! p.i J . J'.i J jij J^^P Pe - pi - ta rei - ne de Ve - ni - sc Qnand tu vas sous ton mi - ra - C'est de - main jour dc Saint Es - cu - re • Qu'au - ra lieu le com - bat a Que de ca - va - liers! que de mon - de! Rem - plit I'a - re - ne jusqu'au

Example 5.1 - Opening from Toreador (1918)

An alternation between verse and refrain occurs with the same music repeated for each verse. The only change occurs at the end of the third refrain where a short postlude is added to bring the song to its end. In the refrain, at Cocteau's request, the final mute 'e' of words is stressed through sudden stops and the use of a grace note.285 The sounded mute 'e' at the end of a phrase was typical in the chanson tradition (see example 5.2).

285 Ibid., p.66. Letter from Cocteau to Poulenc (13 September 1918): "Une chanson espagnole ci-jointe que je vous prie de faire sans le moindre humour avec la tradition espagnole de - des 'Carmencita a a' Toreado o or' etc. et vitesse cassee au bout de chaque vers pour les strophes en 'e.' II faut que.ni le poete ni le musicien ne se soient apercus de la meprise. Ne melangez pas d'italien, le musicien n'a vu que du feu. II faut qu'on puisse chanter la chanson serieusement a Bobino par exemple." Note: Bobino is a famous Parisian music-hall in Montparnasse. 162

REFRAIN (la 3cfois plus lent) 53T £ FffFff=rdfc f I P f- *' P H Belle Es - pa - gno -£ ie Dans ta gon - do - le Tu ca - ra -co - les Car-men-ci • M T J# S ±fc £T2 i f < g f I I g ^ ^ «sf Pf p g^^l^fcd ' CJ-*^ ^e ~7~y 1.2. JFH IE '"p nr~E E 1 P fr 'rTtf=f I (! • p > \-j -ta Sous ta man - til - le CEil qui pe - til - le Bou-che qui bril-le' Cest.

«ff •f 7 ^ ^E^EE^ y"^ ^-v =QF T=F =e= . 0 WF5 ^=2p ^± iis m m^ ^p»

Example 5.2 - Chorus from Toreador (1918)

Yet despite these elements, Poulenc considered this work a caricature of the music- hall chanson. It is now important to turn our attention to this other side of the work. In the

first instance, one must examine Cocteau's text:

Le Toreador

Refrain Belle Espagno o le Dans ta gondo o le Tucaraco o les Carmencita! Sous ta manti i lie Oeil qui peti i lie 163

Bouche qui bri i lie Cest Pepita a a

1 Pepita reine de Venise Quand tu vas sous ton mirador Tous les gondoliers se dissent Prends garde toreador I

2 Sur ton coeur personne ne regne Dans le grandpalais ou tu dors Etpres de toi la vieille duegne Guette le toreador

3 Toreador brave des braves Lorsque sur la place Saint-Marc Le taureau enfureur qui bave Tombe tuepar tonpoignard

4 Ce n 'est pas I'orgueil qui car esse Ton coeur sous la baouta d'or Car pour unejeune deesse Tu brules toreador

Refrain286

In this text, one will find no reference to Paris or France, unlike the exotic chansons of the music-halls and cafes-concerts. The geographical incongruity - a Spaniard in Venice

- was one that Cocteau wished for "neither the poet nor the musician to recognize;" he wanted the audience to be fooled by the music, linking this comment to the music-hall duplicity explored in Chapter 3. As previously mentioned, Cocteau believed in the magic of this deception and deemed it an essential element of the stage. In his letter to Poulenc,

Cocteau asked that no Italian element be used in the music in order to preserve the Spanish

For the complete text see Poulenc, Correspondance, pp.66-68. There are eight more stanzas. 164

illusion, yet numerous references to Venice are included in the text. For example, in the chorus, a clear reference to Venice is found in the word "gondole" ("gondola") although it is surrounded by the words "Espagnole" ("Spanish") and "caracoles" ("gambol/dance") in order to be camouflaged. In the verses, the Venetian references abound: "Venise"

("Venice"), "gondoliers" ("gondoliers"), "place Saint-Marc" ("St. Mark's square"), "canaV

("canal") and "vieux doge de Venise" ("old Doge of Venice"). Even with the surrounding detractors, such as "Toreador" ("bullfighter"), "Le canal estplein de voitures" ("the canal is full of cars"), "taureau" ("bull") and "arene" ("arena"), an astute listener could pick out the incongruities found in the text. Another feature of the text is its lack of patois generally heard in the music-halls and cafe-concerts. The words are all complete and well pronounced in Poulenc's setting with an emphasis on the letter 'e' which should oftentimes be silent or elided (e.g. "Sur ton coeur personne ne regne" ["Over your heart no one has power"] would be "Sur ton coeur personn' ne regne" and "Et pres de toi la vieille duegne guette le Toreador" ["And beside you the old chaperone watches the Bullfighter"] would more likely become "Etpres de toi la vieill' duegn' guett' le Toreador"). Poulenc is right in writing that this chanson would not be acceptable to the music-hall audience, primarily because of the text but also because of the mixture of various musical styles. For instance, the caf'conc' style that is found in the eight-bar introduction to the song and that returns between the chorus and verses, is mixed with an Iberian style first heard through the inclusion of the Phrygian scale on D and the triplet figure on the word "Toreador" (at m.21ff) as seen in the following example: 165

Efc£ J j) | j: * m j) UJ • dor Tous les gon do - li - ers se di Prends gar - . de _ mort Le ca - nal est plein de voi tu res Fe - tant .le — bord On vient de cent lieues a la ron de T'ac - cla - mer_ fe£ =P ^ ^^ ^T r ^^ .i r IT ^ 'L^ iJyWtj LJU>.; ^ J> To-re-a - dor! Sur ton coeur per- To-re-a - dor! De Ve - ni - se To-re-a - dor! C'est fait il en -

Example 5.3 - Iberian style in Toreador (1918)

Once the Phrygian scale is introduced, Poulenc moves between the various forms of the key of D (Phrygian, major, minor). At the fourth stanza (see example 5.4), the bass line alternates between the tonic (D) and the dominant (A) and is accompanied by staccato chords in a Spanish rhythm, while the vocal line sings a Phrygian scale, which then leads to the chorus and its ostinato accompaniment (refer back to example 5.2). 166

¥^f^$\^' i- J)\h Cen'estpasl'orgueilqui ca - res - se Sous ton caf-tanpas- se ta da - gue Car Pe-pi - ta se montre as - si - se fc m =f= n y IJ) i ~K m ffi= ) y t 4' t 7 f^^t " -> T^ > '

3E jp a ggS53E3f 5 =?=¥: p^V>-Mp -r— Car pour u - ne jeu - ne de - Toncoeursouslaba - ou - ta d'or es - se Et seul a-vec !e bruit des La ja-tousie au coeur te mord va - gues Au plusvieuxdoge de Ve Offrantsonregard et son corps • ni - se 1 ±r3± IJ14+JUm ~y i> y P ¥ f ^3 iff ¥ ^^^ 3E E& =5=5= W=¥=zp

C6

K'J Example 5.4 -Stanza 4 from Toreador (1918)

These are musical elements would not have been found so blatantly in the chanson, which tended to retain its French roots and sounds. The exotic chansons of early-twentieth- century Parisian entertainment remained within the tonal system of major-minor modes. 167

The exoticism was heard primarily through the use of various dotted rhythms (e.g. Spanish, military, galloping); "exotic-sounding" instruments such as the castanets, the cymbals or the high register of the flute; and the singer's parody of the foreign accent (e.g. imitation of the

African accent when speaking French or the repetition of a syllable that resembles the foreign language such as "Chin'Chin'Chin"' for Chinese). A common theme within these songs that were performed primarily by men was that of a Frenchman meeting a native woman while in a foreign country, usually with an Oriental nature, such as Algeria,

Morocco, Japan or China. The colonialism was blatant within many of these songs and reflected the frame of mind of a large portion of French society. Although Cocteau's text does present some stereotypical images of Spain, its theme centers primarily around spurned love, a more widespread idea that explains how Poulenc was able to bring back to life this chanson hispano-italienne during the 1930s and later.

Cocardes (1919)

In Toreador, his first attempt at adapting the sound and style of the French chanson to his compositional language, Poulenc chose to exaggerate some of the distinguishing traits of the genre in order to fit in with the currents of the time and the desires of Cocteau. The following year, Poulenc succeeded in incorporating within his own personal style elements or suggestions of the aesthetic rather than, as is the case with Toreador, attempting to imitate a genre unconvincingly. Already a more independent Poulenc appeared when he composed Cocardes (1919), again to poetry by Cocteau consisting of three short poems inspired by Dadaism. The influence of cubist painter Roger de la Fresnaye's tricoloured aesthetic as well as the suggestion of the Cirque Medrano and the French capital of the 168

Belle Epoque2%1 are all present in this and suggest the nostalgia associated with the circus and the fete foraine. Dedicated to Georges Auric, Cocardes was first performed by the Russian tenor Koubitzky at the Comedie des Champs-Ely sees, 21 February 1920 during Cocteau's spectacle-concert and at the same time as Milhaud's Le Boeufsur le toit and Auric's Adieu New-York. According to Milhaud's memoirs, this cycle became a staple of Les Six's Saturday night gatherings. Poulenc was required to play and sing these short

songs each Saturday, possibly because of their strong link to the carefree atmosphere of the period. Yet Poulenc was quite specific in his letter to Paul Collaer dated 21 January

1920 regarding his intentions toward this work: "I wanted to write a work without any

artful contrivance and solid, which would present itself as it is and strike home; I believe I

succeeded. Above all, it is very much Paris, the after-work atmosphere."290 Again in a letter from 15 October 1920 to Collaer he requested:

First, I ask that Cocardes not be played at the light concert since it is very sad except for the third song. You have probably misread this work to have seen a "raving joyfulness" in it. You will recognize from the choice of

Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies, p.15. "... sous Finfluence esthetique, tricolore, de Roger de la Fresnaye. ... Medrano de 1920, Paris d'avant 1914 (labande aBonnot quoi!), Marseille de 1918 sont evoques ici. II s'agit de les deviner, comme ces vues qu'on regarde dans un porte-plume. Je range Cocardes dans mes 'ceuvres Nogent' avec odeur de frites, d'accordeon, de parfum de Piver. En un mot: tout ce que j'ai aime a cet age et ce j'aime encore." See also Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1954), p.66. "De la meme epoque datent les Cocardes, poemes tricolores de Jean Cocteau dans l'esprit des aquarelles de La Fresnaye. L'accompagnement de petit orchestre (un piston, un trombone, un violon, une grosse caisse, un triangle) repondait tres exactement au style forain souhaite par Cocteau. C'est mon oeuvre la plus Groupe des Six." 288 Darius Milhaud, Ma vie heureuse (Bourg-la-Reine: Editions Aug. Zurfluh, 1998), p.84. 289 Paul Collaer (1891-1989) was a Belgium musicologist and pianist who became one of the principle promoters of avant-garde music in Belgium. In 1920, with the Quatuor Pro Arte, he founded the Concerts Pro Arte, which specialized in contemporary and vocal recitals. From 1937 to 1953 he became director of the Flemish office of the Radio Beige. Poulenc maintained an active correspondence with Collaer throughout his life. 290 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.103. Letter from Poulenc to Paul Collaer (21 January 1920): "J'ai voulu ecrire la une ceuvre depouillee d'artifices et grosse, qui se presente d'elle-meme et qui sonne; je crois y avoir reussi. C'est avant tout tres Paris, atmosphere retour de courses." 169

instrumentation the melancholy of "a June night in the suburb" that suffuses the first two songs.291

Then on 7 May 1921 Collaer seemed to have finally heard what Poulenc was saying because the latter expressed his approval of an article that appeared in Le Chesterien (no.5,

1921): "The manner in which you discuss Cocardes is perfect. It is the first time that I read

something precise about this work. At least you have been able to see the gloomy/mournful

side of it."292 This insistence on the sadness of a work that at first hearing is perceivably

gay and lively can be unsettling. Why would Poulenc be adamant about "sadness" in this

work? Part of the answer can be found in the concepts of nostalgia and patriotism.

Cocteau's poems can best be described as snapshots or posters of an era (past and present).

At first glance they would seem to be irrelevant and marred by the Dadaist mood of the time

which espoused negativism, revolt, protest against society and sought to abolish all

accepted values: a series of words whose only link to one another is the fact that the last

syllable of a line becomes the first syllable of the next, as demonstrated in the songs' titles:

"Miel de Narbonne" "Bonne d'enfant" "Enfant de troupe.'" Yet a closer inspection reveals

a combination of images that reference the circus, fair, cinema and music-hall as well as

other popular icons, thus becoming a series of nostalgic testimonials. As the years passed,

the meaning of these words increased in their nostalgic content since many of the images

referenced disappeared from Paris, especially by the time Poulenc chose to revise the

orchestration of Cocardes in November 1939. But the melancholy of the work is still

291 Ibid., p. 114. Letter from Poulenc to Collaer (15 October 1920): "D'abord, je vous en prie, ne donnez pas Cocardes au concert gai, car c'est tres triste a part le 3e. Vous avez sans doute mal regarde cette ceuvre pour y voir de la 'folle gaiete,' Vous verrez aux instruments.quelle melancolie de 'Soir de juin en banlieue' se degage des 2 premiers." 292 Ibid., p.124. Letter from Poulenc to Collaer (7 May 1921): "La facon dont vous parlez de Cocardes est parfaite. C'est la premiere fois que je lis quelque chose de precis sur cette oeuvre. Vous au moins en avez su voir le cote lugubre." 170

present at the time of composition, not simply observed through the above-mentioned letters to Collaer but also in the dedication of the copy of Cocardes to Raymonde Linossier: "To

Raymonde who like me loves fries, mechanical pianos, chromos, small seashell boxes and

Paris. Her friend Francis. Summer 1921." For Poulenc, this work was from the beginning tied to his perception of Paris and his youth (past and present, since he was only twenty-one years old at the time of composition).

Another facet of this work is its references to patriotism. The title of the song cycle,

Cocardes (Cockades), refers to a rosette worn on a hat as a badge of allegiance during the

French Revolution, and thus already implies a sense of patriotism as well as faithfulness to

Paris. There are also many references to specifically French icons, including figures in

recent French history (Marie Francois Sadi Carnot - President of the Third Republic, 1887-

1894; Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre - Commander-in-Chief of the French army, 1914-

1916), the composer Gounod, the cafe-concert idol Felix Mayol, and the French Revolution

slogan "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" to name but a few. The language used by Cocteau

and the corresponding images are at times, in the same manner as the texts of many French

chansons, encoded with citations that are meant to be understood by the initiated. For

example, in the first song, the line "Volez-vous jouer avec modi" makes reference to a

popular circus phrase {Volez-vo jouer ave moal - French with an English accent) coined by

Billy Saunders in 1782, an equestrian clown who was part of the first known modern

Parisian circus run by Philip Astley, an ex-officer of the English army.294 It is these

293 Ibid., p.289. "A Raymonde qui aime comme moi les frites, les pianos mecaniques, les chromos, les coffrets en coquillage et Paris. Son ami Francis. Ete 1921." 294 Adrien, Histoire illustree des cirques parisiens d'hier et d'aujourd'hui (Bourg-la-Reine: Adrian, 1957), p. 17. "A propos d'amuseurs, n'oublions pas que c'est chez Astley que Billy Saunders, qui dressait des chiens et etait aussi un acrobate a cheval de qualite, lanca Pimmortel: 'Volez-vous jouer avec moa?'" Also consult 171

idiomatic French and Parisian references that Poulenc picked up and set to music with a mixture of cheerful spirit and melancholy tone that represented the surface gaiety of

Parisian street life and the wistfulness beneath it. This juxtaposition will become

synonymous with the idea that Poulenc possessed of himself as both French and Parisian

and will be translated into many of his works, beginning with Cocardes.

The first and most obvious use of lowbrow aesthetic in this song cycle stems from

Poulenc's choice of instrumentation: a , a trombone, a violin, a bass drum, cymbals

and a triangle - typical scoring for the small bands heard at the fair, in the streets or at the

caf'conc'. The use of a baritone voice is also a reflection of the typical male voice heard in the cafe-concert and the music-hall. In all three songs, Poulenc used a popular-song style

accompaniment: the cornet plays the melody while the trombone is used as the bass

instrument and the violin is reserved primarily for the execution of ostinati figures. The

addition of the triangle and the bass drum/cymbals at key moments emphasizes the lightness

and the chaos of the circus atmosphere. The triangle also indicates changes in the texture

while the drum and cymbals are most prominent in the last song to emphasize the beat and

the raucous music of the end of the cycle. Poulenc chose to use a through-composed form

with frequent and sudden shifts in tempo and occasional vocal declamation - contrary to

Toreador, which followed a refrain-verse model more commonly heard in the music-halls

and cafe-concerts. This choice of form as well as the rapid tempi and dynamic changes

point towards the influence of the music-hall and its disassembled programmes and variety

shows. Although the wrong-note dissonances (often found in the ostinati patterns), the

Tristan Remy, Les Clowns, Paris: Grasset, 1946, found at the following website: http://www.grasset.fr/chapitres/ch tristan-remy.htm. par.6, Accessed 10 July 2008. 172

orchestral influence of Stravinsky and the Satian-influenced commentaries indicate

Poulenc's avant-garde allegiance, there are numerous elements that equally reveal an inspiration from the lowbrow aesthetic.

The first song, "Miel de Narbonne," reflects most appropriately Poulenc's allusion to Cirque Medrano in the 1920s. The text295 highlights a street scene with clowns and some of the exoticism that was present in the circus and the music-hall of the period: exotic characters such as "Moabite" (the now extinct people of Moab that was located in the area of Jordan), itinerant aspect of circus life in the word "Caravane" and references to the antics and attire of the clowns such as "Un coup d'orteil: on vole''' ("the clown who falls flat following a kick or a tripping"), "/e pompon, moustaches, mandoline''' (the accessories of clowns: "the pompoms, the moustache and the mandolin" played by musical eccentrics).

As mentioned above, this collage principle is clearly reflected in the music through its abrupt changes from vivaciousness to smoothness. To counterbalance this musical turmoil,

Poulenc centered the song around the key of D major (with some A major inflections), had the instrumental melodic line follow the vocal line and employed a cellular writing technique in which one musical idea dominated the song - a slow rising then rapid descent within the interval of a perfect fifth or fourth in the instrumental section (see example 5.5).

Text for the first song "Miel de Narbonne": Use ton cceur.// Les clowns fleurissent du crotin d'or// Dormir.// un coup d'orteil on vole//« Volez-vous jouer avec moa? »//Moabite// Dame de la croix bleue// Caravane// Vanille// Poivre// Confiture de tamarin.//Marin.//Cou le pompon moustache//Mandoline// Linoleum en trompe l'ceil merci// Cinema nouvelle muse.// Translation: "Narbonne Honey": Use your heart.// The clowns wear droppings of gold// To sleep.// a kick with the toe one flies// "Would you like to play with me?"// Moabite// Blue cross lady// Caravan// Vanilla// Pepper// Preserve of tamarind// Marine.// Neck the pompom moustache// Mandolin// Linoleum in trompe l'oeil thank you// New muse Cinema. 173

Subito vite

a Subito tr.'sleut ,.„,,„,„ ID ;i T'.' modt-re w/ o /TN o Jl iW r r i'r ~B-+up nJ -,^^ M,.II . ilo Li . 110 li- . inn fn trom . |» Subitotres lent aT! moil^ri V./'.-O- - n- ~-A&-du.

A7/*.•""/- ^,ft' r/1/rnf rtbri

Example 5.5 -Ending of "Miel de Narbonne" from Cocardes (1919)

The second song, "Bonne d'enfant," represented the Belle Epoque Paris. It is centered on the key of C major and ends with a strong traditional harmonic ending (I-IV-

V6/4-V5/3-I) after the famous words "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite." As Poulenc wrote to

Collaer: "... 'Bonne d'enfant' discloses a side of my sensitiveness that may not be

'distinguished' but on the other hand, very human."296 Is it the many references to pre-war

296 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.114. Letter from Poulenc to Collaer (15 October 1920): "II n'en est de meme de 'Bonne d'enfant' qui met a nu tout un cote de ma sensibilite qui n'est certes pas tres 'distingue' mais tres humain par contre." 174

Paris - "notre age d'or" (our golden age) - that appealed to his popular sensibility rather than his refined personality? Cocteau's catchwords and frivolous images of the middle

section - "Air de Mayol// Touring Club, phonographe// Affiche crime en couleur// Piano

mecanique// Nick Carter" (Mayol tune// Touring Club, phonograph// Crime poster in

colour// Player piano// Nick Carter297) - are set to a contrasting tempo by Poulenc as a representation of the hectic gaiety of the period (possibly pre- and post-war).

In the last song, "Enfant de troupe," a catalogue of delights is enumerated: at first

children's delights usually found on fairgrounds or at the circus, such as "caramels mous,

bonbons acidules, pastilles de menthe" ("soft caramels, acid/sour drops, mints") and then

adult delights like "hambourg, bock, sirop de framboise" ("hamburger, beer glass, raspberry

cordial"). To reflect these many delights and other lowbrow entertainments, Poulenc used a brash, square rhythm in cut-time. The strong use of the percussive instrumentation with the

triangle oftentimes accentuating repeated notes, joined by the trombone slides and the

prominent use of adds to the lively boisterous music of the song. At R.l

Poulenc also introduced Chevalier's style of vocal declamation with a series of words sung

on two notes a tone apart (see example 5.6). The static accompaniment reflects the

flexibility that was present in a number of performances heard in the cafe-concert.

297 Felix Mayol (1872-1941) was at his height during the Belle Epoque after his popular success: Viens poupoule (1902), and in 1910 he purchased the Concert Parisien where he had his debut and renamed it Concert Mayol.ll Touring club possibly refers to the popularity of cycling in France at the turn-of-the- century.// The phonograph and the player piano are inventions that were gaining popularity during pre-war Paris// The coloured crime posters were commonly found in the newspapers and the expression also refers to the many anarchist activities of the time// Nick Carter is a reference to the popular American fictional detective who appeared in a dime novel in the New York Weekly on 18 September 1886 written by John R. Coryell and available in France during Poulenc's youth. 175

[T] Presto /> M r> J>J > ' Subltotreg^ent ^ ^ *T r-P P' P P.-plbP|,P P pg M vH'T.'f r. I- vi C«.ramels IUOUS,bonbons a - ci ..

Example 5.6 - "Enfant de troupe" R. 1 from Cocardes (1919)

Yet, as Perloff pointed out, the return of the main theme in the middle section, moving from

& fortissimo to a. piano and from a. presto to a lento and sung by the sorrowful violin - triste

- instead of vibrant brass, colours its return at the end of the song. The final lively version is now induced with the melancholy of the slow interlude.298 The contrasting sections - moving from loud and lively, to soft, chante, triste, and returning to loud and lively serve to accentuate the nostalgia that surrounded the popular idiom for Poulenc.

Following Cocardes Poulenc continued to develop his compositional style. During these early years we notice that Poulenc explored numerous musical genres: piano (solo or four hands); chamber works (short sonatas for ensembles such as two clarinets; horn, trumpet and trombone; , bassoon and piano); vocal works ranging from solo singer and chamber ensemble or piano accompaniment to a capella ; and ballets with Les Biches

(1923) that became his first recognized major work. He also explored many styles: African exoticism in Rapsodie negre; the Stravinskyian style in Sonata for Two Clarinets (1918);

Satie's influence heard in Trois mouvements perpetuels (1918) and Valse (1919); and a

298 Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment and the Circle of Erik Satie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), p.181. 176

short venture in atonality with Promenades (1921), quickly left behind for neoclassicism.

During the second half of the 1920s Poulenc incorporated this new aesthetic within most of his compositions. His love of Mozart helped him follow this new direction led by another

idol, Stravinsky. Yet even this style already communicated his French compositional

signature that was to become known worldwide in his later life. But this musical

exploration did not result in the abandonment of the popular aesthetic of his earlier

compositions, especially those stemming from collaborations with Cocteau.

Novelettes (1927)

Poulenc's attraction to the lowbrow aesthetic and its inherent nostalgia was to

resurface in his two novelettes written in 1927. These two works for piano successfully

combined Poulenc's neoclassic and popular styles. Each follows the classic ternary form of

ABA', which was not that common in the chanson. Yet numerous other elements convey

the notion of the lowbrow to the listener. The first novelette uses a triple metre (3/8 time)

and its melody is primarily set in eight-bar phrases (see example 5.7). The melody of A is

easily sung and memorable with its stepwise motion, its arpeggiated leaps and its prominent

use of thirds, perfect fourths and fifths. Its key signature, although primarily set to C major

in the A sections, moves to C minor (with an excursion into E-flat major, D major and G

major before a return to C minor) in the middle section. This move from a major key to a

minor one was commonly heard in the chanson with the major tonality reserved for the

refrain, as in this case. 177

Modere sans lenteur J>- xeo

Example 5.7 - Opening from Novelette in C major (1927)

Contrary to most of the works discussed thus far, this work includes very little use of dissonances and its harmonic language consists primarily of the use of the tonic, the subdominant and the dominant as well as some characteristic progressions such as IV-

(Passing chord)-IV6 or ii-(P)-ii6 as observed in the following example: 178

E-flat-major: ii - Passing - ii6 Chnrrl Example 5.8 - Second phrase of B section in E-fiat major from Novelette in C major (1927)

The second novelette (ABA') is in B-flat minor. This key is heard in the A sections while the B section remains completely in major tonalities (B-flat major, E major and E-flat major). The circus and fete foraine atmospheres are emphasized through a number of compositional techniques. Poulenc used a rapid tempo (half-note=138 in 2/2) with non-stop and continuous rhythmic figures and covered a wide range of the piano keyboard (see example 5.9). Through the compact presentation of staccato, strong accents, ostinati figures, ff dynamics, leaping bass lines and glissandi, Poulenc put the accent on the hectic atmosphere found on the fairground. In order to ground this chaotic effect, Poulenc wrote strong cadential points (all perfect cadences) in the A sections at every two or four measures: 179

Tres rapide et rythme J - us

Example 5.9 - Opening from Novelette in B-flat minor (1927)

In order to break the repetitiveness, the last phrase of the first A section includes a two-bar extension that delays this cadential pattern. At the end of the novelette, this delay is extended to twelve bars with the last four bars becoming a hammering of the tonic- dominant of B-flat-minor in ff and sff dynamics, a signal commonly heard during the classical era to indicate the end of a work or section. Although set to a duple metre, the triplet figure dominates and helps recreate the liveliness and excitement found on

fairgrounds. The phrases again are primarily four-bar or eight-bar units and although the melody contains many chromatic passages, it is still very singable. 180

Quatre poemes de Guillaume Apollinaire and Cinq poemes de Max Jacob (1931)

In 1931, Poulenc continued his popular aesthetic with two song cycles: Quatre poemes de Guillaume Apollinaire and Cinq poemes de Max Jacob. The poems for the first cycle were taken from Apollinaire's collection II y a containing articles on literature and painting as well as forty-one poems written between 1895 and 1917, with an evident inspiration from Paris. The poems by Jacob were taken from the poet's Chants Bretons

(1911), inspired by Jacob's Brittany origins and written under the pseudonym Morven le

Gaelique. This consistent use of early-twentieth-century poetry by Poulenc reinforced the nostalgia that was closely tied to his musical choices. A number of these poems were most probably read during the composer's adolescence and were to leave a lasting impression on him, creating a connection that was to survive the years. As Pierre Bernac said:

Apollinaire and Poulenc were often inspired by Paris. Their poetry and their music can, in a fashion, reflect a certain working-class accent. But take care! When Toulouse-Lautrec or Degas (I am thinking of such works as L'absinthe) painted representations of certain circles, did they become vulgar? Certainly not. In poetry and in music, as in painting, the beauty is not born of the subject, but of the treatment. ... It would thus be unworthy of interpreters to vulgarize these melodies, for the sake of sensationalism.

The admonition to the singer, presented here by Bernac, to not read disrespect in the choice

of texts by Poulenc was a belief that the composer was to equally insist on in his Journal de

mes melodies. Pierre Bernac (born Pierre Louis Bertin; 1899-1979) was a baritone singer

who met Poulenc in 1926. Yet it was not until 1934 that the two decided to create a duo

299 Pierre Bemac, Francis Poulenc et ses melodies (Paris: Editions Buchet/Chastel, 1978); p.57. "Apollinaire et Poulenc ont souvent ete inspires par Paris. Leurs poemes et leurs musiques en ont, d'une certaine facon, pris un accent un peu faubourien. Mais attention! Lorsque Toulouse-Lautrec ou Degas (je pense a L 'absinthe) peignent certains milieux, deviennent-ils vulgaires pour cela? Certes non. Eh bien! En poesie et en musique, comme en peinture, la beaute ne nait pas du sujet, mais du style. ... II serait done indigne des interpretes de les trahir, sous le pretexte de 'faire de Feffet' sur le public." 181

that would last until Bemac's retirement in 1959. Of the 145 melodies written by Poulenc,

90 of them were written for Bernac, making him the composer's most trusted interpreter of melodies. Bernac insisted that no matter the subject of the text, it was Poulenc's manipulation of various musical styles and the composer's innate love for the topic that made the melody deserving of respect.

Poulenc, as with Le Bal masque (1932), compared this Apollinaire cycle and possibly the one by Jacob of the same year, to his Cocardes of 1919, calling these new melodies "true 1931 Cocardes.''''3'00 A closer examination of the music will help clarify this statement. In these two cycles one hears what Bernac tried to explain in words: Poulenc's use of a style that represented Paris and its suburbs while maintaining a reverence for this lowbrow topic. Although not as overtly popular as Le Bal masque will be the following year, many elements of the entertainment forms are heard, at times fleetingly while on other occasions they dominate a specific song. For example, Poulenc's setting of "Berceuse," the fourth of Jacob's poems, contains a strong valse-musette accompaniment in the piano, as heard in the 3/8 time signature felt as one beat per measure (see example 5.10). The strong accent placed on the first beat of the measure followed by the higher-register chords is a familiar technique heard in the accordion of the bal musette. Poulenc's choice of rhythmic figures in the vocal line also is reminiscent of a chanson musette, a type of popular song that was enjoying a renewed interest in the early 1930s.

300 Poulenc, Correspondence, p.339. Letter from Poulenc to Henri Sauguet (31 March 1931), regarding "Poulenc Festival" plans for 1 June 1931 at the Salle Chopin: "Je suis tres content de mes melodies, veritables Cocardes de 1931." - Cocardes was also included in this concert's programme. 182

Mouvement de Valse J-=7B

Ton ptsre est a la mes . . . se, ta mere

Example 5.10 - Opening of "Berceuse" from Cinq poemes de Max Jacob (1931)

A similar type of accompaniment and rhythmic pattern is found in "L'anguille," the first song of the Apollinaire cycle (see example 5.11). As well, in this song, Poulenc had the piano imitate the melodic line for the majority of the time, even adding to it at times (e.g. m.27, m.33, m.46) and included an instrumental postlude suggestive of the ones heard in the chansons. Poulenc's decision to set to music poetry that recalled pre-war Paris or everyday events continues to indicate a growing sense of nostalgia for a past era. 183

r

Example 5.11 - Postlude of "L'anguille" from Quatrepoemes de Guillaume Apollinaire (1931)

Le Bal masque (1932)

In 1932 Poulenc wrote Le Bal masque, a secular cantata based on poems from the

third section of Max Jacob's Le Laboratoire central (1921). This work was commissioned by and dedicated to Viscount Charles de Noailles and Marie-Laure de Noailles; it was written for an intimate gathering ox fete, and was first performed at the Hyeres theatre on 20

April 1932. Poulenc's correspondence of that period and his later writings confirm that he 184

envisioned this work as a mixture of nogentais carnival, chanson and operetta: "Le Bal masque, for me, is a sort of Nogentais carnival with the character sketches of a few monsters seen in my childhood, on the riverbanks of the Marne" and "I do not know what you will think of it, it straddles the operetta, the caf cone' chanson and myself."302 To

Collaer, Poulenc said: "I am finishing a small cantata for the Noailles, very amusing, very

Cocardes that will please you I believe." This link established in Poulenc's mind between Le Bal masque and Cocardes leads us to examine and compare the two works.

The instrumentation of the newer work is similar, if more extensive than the former one: baritone voice, piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, cornet, violin, and percussion

(castanets, triangle, wooden block, whistle, Basque drum, whip, cymbals, bass drum, snare

drum and drum without snare). The choice of texts again indicated an affinity with Paris,

its suburbs, the popular atmosphere and the nostalgia that was inherent to these themes for

artists such as Poulenc, Jacob and Cocteau. Jacob's four poems that were set to music

contain a poetry that is dark, sad and funny (at times even ridiculous) as well as nostalgic

with a sense of regret detected in some poetic lines, creating an ever-present emotional

dichotomy. As an example here is the first poem chosen by Poulenc:

Madame la Dauphine, fine, fine, fine ne verra pas le beau film qu 'on y a fait tirer les vers du nez car on I 'a menee en terre avec son premier ne en terre et a Nanterre ou elle est enterree.

Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand, p. 142. "Le Bal masque, e'est, pour moi, une sorte de Carnaval nogentais avec les portraits de quelques monstres apercus, dans mon enfance, aux bords de la Marne." 302 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.367. Letter from Poulenc to (March 1932): "Je ne sais ce que vous en penserez e'est a cheval sur l'operette, la chanson de Caf cone et moi-meme." 303 Ibid., p.367. Letter from Poulenc to Paul Collaer (1 March 1932): "Je termine une petite cantata pour les Noailles, tres cocasse, tres Cocardes qui vous plaira je pense." 185

Quandunpaysan.de Chine, Chine, Chine, Chine, veut avoir des primeurs, il va chez I 'imprimeur ou bien chez sa voisine, shin, shin, shin. Tous lespaysans de la Chine les avaient epies pour leur mettre des bottines, Us lews coupent les pieds.

Monsieur le Comte d'Artois est monte sur le toil faire un compte d'ardoises, toi, toi, toi, et voir par la lunette, nette, pour voir si la lune est plus grosse que le doigt.

Un vapeur et sa cargaison, son, son, son, ont echoue contre la maison. Chipons de la graisse d'oie, doye, doye, doye, pour en faire des canons.

In this work, as in many other vocal works, Poulenc advised the singer to "believe above all in the words sung. No hesitations, no false insinuations, no wink of complicity." This admonishment to not perceive disrespect where none was meant is, as mentioned above, one that appeared regularly in Poulenc's writings and correspondence, especially when dealing with compositions containing the popular idiom. While, in Le Bal masque, Poulenc admitted to emphasizing "the bombast, the ridiculous, the pitiable, the terrifying... the atmosphere found in the colour prints of crimes in the Sunday issues of Le

Translation: "Mrs. Dolphin// will not see the lovely film they have made// to worm secrets out of her// for they have taken her// back home with her first-born// back to Nanterre// where she was buried.// When a peasant from China// wants some fresh vegetables// he goes to the printer's// or to his neighbour's// All the peasants in China// had watched them closely// to put on their boots// they cut their feet.// Mr. Count of Artois// climbed up on the roof// to see what was on the slate// and to see through the telescope// to see if the moon// is bigger than his finger.// A steamer and its cargo// ran into the house.// Let us swipe some goose- grease//to make cannons out of it." 305 Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies, p.35. "...le chanteur doit croire avant tout aux mots qu'il debite. Pas de reticences, pas de faux airs entendus, pas de clins d'ceil complices." 186

Petit Parisien during [his] childhood,"306 his goal was to get "the listener to laugh from surprise, perhaps even from shock, rather than to smile ironically, tight-lipped, logically, or even with an air of 'superiority,' a gesture so characteristic of lovers of refined arts."307

Through these statements as well as the music, the listener becomes acquainted with a popular art form that Poulenc believed of value because of its link to his French identity and the nostalgic connection to his youth it represented.

In Le Bal masque, Poulenc successfully evoked the circus, ihefeteforaine, the cafe- concert and the early music-hall through a number of compositional techniques. Poulenc's choice of poems from Jacob's publication demonstrates the composer's affinity for those images that relate to his youth in Nogent-sur-Marne and the Belle Epoque. Through his music Poulenc successfully interpreted the poetry, which is full of rapidly changing pictures, ideas and moods and Jacob's famous jeux de mots. For example Poulenc moved from a quick repeated staccato line to a more lyrical melody to indicate the burial and change of mood, in the following line: ".. .ne verra pas le beau film//Qu'on y a fait tirer//Les vers du nez//Car on l'a mene en terre..." ("...will not see the lovely film//they have made//to worm secrets out of her//Because she was buried..."), see example 5.12.

306 Ibid., p.35. "Ici, la couleur souligne l'emphatique, le ridicule, le pitoyable, le terrifiant. C'est l'atmosphere des crimes en chromo du 'Petit Parisien' des dimanches de mon enfance." 307 Poulenc, "Eloge a la banalite," Presence, 3(Oct.l935), p.25. "Max Jacob et moi avons recherche, avant tout, le rire franc, le rire issue de la surprise, voire meme de la stupeur, et non ce sourire ironique, pince, logique, dit 'superieur,' cher aux amateurs d'esthetique rare." 187

Chant fine, fine, fine, fin*, n« vet-ra pas ne verra pa» ie Wait film qu'ony a faibtUrer leaver* dn ness,

Htb.|

Clar. ; r^>-f fo »'/ T>°3? | ff^f t-f ff PJ

tra lit

Chant

pno

pi«

V* *}'• " I * ) I ~fr I I ? • ','„••.[ ' fr t I J I ? ,"" MI i'T'l "'**"'" 1 i \ 0 ... ,JL ^ a> -fr—

Example 5.12 - "Preambule et air de bravoure" R.10 +1 from Le Bal masque (1932) 188

This innate understanding between poet and musician certainly had its origins in part from the fact that they had known each other since 1917 through an introduction by Raymond

Radiguet308 and had corresponded regularly thereafter. The dichotomy found in Jacob's poems is also found in Poulenc's music and reflects the hodgepodge shows found in

Parisian entertainments of the early-twentieth century. As Keith W. Daniel pointed out,

Poulenc was attracted to several aspects of Jacob's poetry: the colourful, almost grotesque caricatures; the juxtaposition of unrelated or remotely- related imagery, which represents a poetic counterpart to Poulenc's additive, non-developmental style; and the nostalgic element in much of his poetry.309

These ideas were also closely related to all Parisian entertainments. Although the images presented in Jacob's poems were not directly tied to these popular establishments, the technique he used to write them certainly recalls them. When we add the link that Poulenc established between some of these poems and his own childhood memories, it is not surprising that the composer decided to set the words to a kaleidoscope of various popular idioms.

In the majority of his writings or interviews regarding the use of the popular Parisian idiom in his music, Poulenc projected a consistent image of what the Belle Epoque represented to him. The elements that consistently returned in his descriptions included a mixture of opposing spirits: crime, fantasy and humour. As Bernac said, "No one, better than Poulenc, has felt the dark poetry of a particularly sordid Parisian atmosphere."310 The

308 (1903-1923) French poet and novelist, he had already written Le Diable au corps at the age of seventeen and he was a good friend of Poulenc. In 1919 he met Jean Cocteau who encouraged him to pursue his writings but Radiguet died of typhoid at the age of twenty. 309 Keith W. Daniel, Francis Poulenc: His Artistic Development and Musical Style (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1982), p.34. 310 Bernac, Francis Poulenc et ses melodies, p.63. "Nul n'a mieux senti que Poulenc la sombre poesie d'une certaine sordide atmosphere parisienne." 189

repeated link between pre-war Paris and its newspapers with its photos and pictures depicting current events was one that stood out for Poulenc (see Figure 5.1).

—• • Le Petit Journal •-— ",T 9- »!!•• -.u i:jj.r>t a •• .»-••.... -at

Figure 5.1 -Le Petit Journal Illustre (5 May 1912) "[Jules] Bonnot kills Inspector Jouin"

As explained in Chapter 1, the rise of literacy within the French population had led to an upsurge of the newspaper medium. The intensified competition would have possibly led to a greater sensationalism that would have marked the young Poulenc. Having just recently survived the anarchists' attacks of the 1890s and the scandal of the Dreyfus Affair, Parisian newspapers will have been quick to grab on to characters such as La Bande a Bonnot, which

Poulenc associated with "pre-1914 Paris (Bonnot's band what!)"311 and his composition

Cocardes. This gang, whose criminal activities intensified between December 1911 until

311 Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies, p. 15. "...Paris d'avant 1914 (labande a Bonnot quoi!) ..." 190

the shooting massacres of April 1912 in Paris and May 1912 in Nogent-sur-Marne,

consisted of the first thieves to use a get-away car during their bank robberies. They were

actually destitute Frenchmen from the province who had felt forced into criminal acts in

order to survive and to advance their anarchist agenda. The sensationalism of the media

coverage and the proximity of these events would not have been missed by the adolescent

Poulenc (he was thirteen at the time). Considering the similarities that existed between these real-life events and Poulenc's literary heroes of Rocambole, Arsene Lupin and Cheri-

Bibi,312 it is not surprising that these types of violent, intriguing and shocking events would have made an impact on him and would have become somewhat tied to his perception of

this time period.

Figure 5.2 - Arsene Lupin (left) and Rocambole (right) covers

In describing Le Bal masque in 1932, Poulenc explained:

In this work I tried to create a vocal style which would be both hallucinatory, something like photographs of crimes or vulgar pulp magazines, and strangely jarring, mixing both vulgar and appropriate harmonies, deforming

For more details about these fictional characters, see Chapter 1, pp.8-9. 191

the words and the sounds.... I am very fond of this work which will undoubtedly shock the paladins of so-called modern music.313

This expressed desire to be outside the convention or the expectation of others reflects a side of Poulenc that is often overlooked. Although not a musical innovator in the sense of

Stravinsky, Poulenc, as Rollo Myers said,

sets out to charm you with his music (whether he always succeeds or not is quite another question). His music, in fact, is written expressly to give pleasure... Poulenc dares to be a hedonist in music. This is a trait he shares to some extent with the old French masters, the Couperins, the eighteenth- century harpsichordists, and later with Gounod, Chabrier and Massenet.314

In a sense, it is this contradiction - the desire to be outside convention and at the same time to try to please the audience - that defined Poulenc's music in general and Le Bal masque in particular. Although so typically French in its conception - Poulenc believed this work to be the one where he had found the way to magnify the Parisian suburban atmosphere,315 Le

Bal actually became a great success outside of France. Poulenc attributed this achievement

to the following: "I am now positive that the more a work is authentically national, the more

it will move the foreigners. The public, of course, will not grasp all the nuances, but it will

globally perceive the ethnic value of the work." And what would these nuances be?

To answer this question it is worth looking at Poulenc's choice of instrumentation more carefully, especially the percussion section. A number of the percussive instruments

Nino Franck, "Poulenc a Montmartre," Candide, 28 April 1932, no p. as quoted in Daniel, p.262. "J'ai essaye d'y trouver un style vocal assez hallucinant - quelque chose comme les photos de crimes ou les chromos vulgaires - et fort disparate, melangeant des harmonies vulgaires ou choisies, deformant les mots et les sons... Je tiens beaucoup a ces dernieres melodies qui choqueront sans doute les paladins de la musique dite moderne." 314 Rollo Myers, "Francis Poulenc," Monthly Musical Record, 56 (No.725), 1 May 1931, p.130 as quoted in Daniel, p. 116. 315 Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies, p.34. "C'est la seule de mes csuvres ou je pense avoir trouve le moyen de magnifier une atmosphere banlieusarde qui m'est chere." 316 Ibid., p.35. "Je suis certain maintenant que plus une csuvre est authentiquement nationale, plus elle touche l'etranger. Le public, bien entendu, ne saisit pas toutes les nuances, mais percoit, dans l'ensemble, la valeur ethnique de l'ceuvre." 192

are directly tied to the circus arena. The sound of the whip easily recalls the animal trainer

and the lion tamer while the use of drum rolls brings to mind the anticipation of an acrobat's

act. The collage of tempi, dynamics and textures were not only used to imitate the circus but also the constantly moving music-hall show and environment. Of that latter milieu the

castanets remind the listener of the Spanish exoticism found in certain chansons, and the

cymbal crashes with the trombone slides are adapted by Poulenc to punctuate ends of phrases and changes in texture, such as the ones heard in Chevalier's 1924 rendition of Si fatigue. The glissandi to pitches, certain ostinato figures and the waltz rhythms also recall

the accordion accompaniment found in the bal musette. The melodic line is also often

supported by one instrument in the same manner as in the chanson and at times is spoken

rather than sung as heard in performances by Chevalier. The prominence of the piano as

well as the simplicity and the parody found in parts of the songs recall the music and the

words heard in the caf'conc'.

From the opening measures of this work, Poulenc called the audience's attention to

everyday sounds of Parisian entertainment with the ff open octaves in the piano that outline

I-IV-V-I and punctuated by the crack of a whip, as seen in the following example: 193

, "Rondement f el = WAl Hautbois

ClarinetUi (enSiW

Basaon

Pistp"

BaUeri«|

Chant tacet jtisqu'aQoj -Le cJwnteur reste assie

Chant [

Pia

Wofon

Vtotontefle

Example 5.13 - Opening of "Preambule et air de bravoure" from Le Bal masque (1932)

This first movement entitled "Preambule et air de bravoure" is saturated with "short, tuneful fragments [that] alternate with rhythmic motives or scalar passages devoid of a tune," a reflection of the chaotic and fast-paced atmospheres found in the circus, the fairground, the cafe-concert and the music-hall. The rapidly repeated notes, the staccato, dry and crisp strong accents and the continuously changing texture and musical style recall the variety shows found in the music-hall of the teens and twenties. The dramatic use of dissonance and chromaticism in this work mirrors the competing sounds and calls heard on a fairground - the small brass orchestra and the performers' parade competing with the stall

Daniel, Francis Poulenc, p.262. 194

keepers calling out their wares and the cries of joy and laughter coming from the crowd.

The ostinati figures that saturate the accompaniment of this movement hark back to Satie's musical language, especially the one heard in his fairground-inspired ballets Parade (1917) and Mercure (1924).

Another suggestion of the music-hall is heard in the presence of exoticism. In the first movement, a pentatonic scale is used to imitate the Chinese and exotic effects of the poem's second verse (e.g. "Quand un paysan de Chine" see example 5.14). In this particular example, the repetition of the word "Chine" and then the modification of voisine

("zin") for "shin" are reminiscent of the 1911 "Chinese" chanson, La bay a as performed by

Charlus (see example 5.15).

Another instance of exoticism is heard in the fourth movement "Bagatelle" where the violin's prominence, its vibrato and high register bring to mind the sound of a Hungarian gypsy dance. 195

pfpitl- harmom'itue)

Example 5.14 - "Preambule et air de bravoure" R.13 from Le Bal masque (1932)

REFRAIN Gm V Gm p p p p P p p p s Chin', Chin', Chin', Chin', Viens voir comme en Chi - ne On sait ai - mer au pa - ys bleu Chin', Chin', Chin', Chin', Voi - 14 comme en Chi - ne On sait ai - mer au pa - ys bleu Chin', Chin', Chin', Chin', Je n'suis pas d'la Chi r ne Je sais nee au quar tier la - tin

Gm Gnj/F* Gm/F Gm/E Gm P P P P 1 P P P p- P P 1 ^ ^ J P P Chin', Chin', Chin', Chin', Je se - rai ca - li Si tu veux bien m'ai mer un peu Chin', Chin', Chin', Chin', Ex-ta-se di-vi - ne Qu'il est char-mant pe - tit jeu, Et j'ai fait La dan-se ser-pen-ti - ne Pen - dant six mois Ta - ba - rin

Example 5.15 - Chorus from La bay a (1911) Henri Christine (music)/Marcel Heurtebise (text)

A number of dance styles are incorporated within this work in order to reflect the obsession with foreign dances that was characteristic of the early-twentieth century. In Le 196

Bal, Poulenc featured dances such as the tango and the march, both heard in the last movement "Caprice," the one with the most overt references to popular aesthetic. The tango reached its height of popularity during the 1920s, its rhythm frequently appearing in the chansons of that decade. The march was more closely associated with the war years and the late-nineteenth century and this might explain why Poulenc chose to include this genre in the last poem of the set, the one whose text, "Reparateur perclus de vieux automobiles"

("Crippled mender of old cars"), corresponded to the Belle Epoque. Then in other instances, Poulenc chose to simply suggest the dance form without necessarily adopting a specific style. For example, at the end of "La dame aveugle" Poulenc introduced a lurching dance tune of an outdoor character such as the bal musette in the cornet to represent the drunken excesses incurred by the old woman at the hands of her "unrespectable" brother-in- law. The quick disintegration of the tune into a mass of dissonances also represents

Poulenc's exploration of the darker aspect of Jacob's poetry and the riff-raff side of Paris that Bernac pointed to (see example 5.16). 197

Cliantl

V > *• > > » > » >r » » > >

1 tf—jr, L C -^ ^p— r •pno -J —¥-«, 1 P—H1 FJ. -#- i^ J *3 <.y. 3 J k — "-a Jl J { N ' i • bt » r 3 I li 3 i N I b# ^ t

VL* 198

Example 5.16 - "La dame aveugle" R.54 Le Bal masque (1932) 199

What permeates this work is the eclectic atmosphere that confronts the listener.

Everything - the music, the melody, the text - is conducive to the emphasis on diversity found in the popular world of early-twentieth-century Paris. The characters described in the poems are not only varied (e.g. Chinese peasant, the Count d'Artois, a blind woman, a would-be duchess) but also intriguing. We simply get glimpses of who they were since a number of them have passed away or are definitely of a different era, out of touch and outdated. Is it this variety that attracted Poulenc in 1932 at a time when Americanization and globalization were strongly felt? Could it be the nostalgia of a less complicated time that encouraged the composer to choose these early-century poems - a reminder of his carefree youth? It is a combination of this nostalgia and of Poulenc's patriotism that pushed him to take on this project. In many respects, Le Bal masque is the epitome of Poulenc's use of popular idioms in his music. Although not necessarily the closest in style to the actual chanson and popular music, this work contains numerous elements that easily recall

Parisian entertainment. It may also represent the elements that most fascinated Poulenc about this genre, as he explained it: "At the time, their [Jacob's poems] violence, their truculence and their humour attracted me. I found in them that splashy quality of the

Parisian 'weeklies' of my youth, and from this quality was born that strange musical carnival of which I have always been very fond."319 This mixture of edge, surprise and comedy that Poulenc associated with the Belle Epoque is most profoundly heard in Le Bal

Poulenc, Moi et mes amis (Paris: La Palatine, 1963), p.104. "Leur violence, leur truculence, leur cocasserie m'ont seduit alors. J'y ai trouve ce cote chromo des hebdomadaires parisiens de ma jeunesse et de la est ne cet etrange carnaval musical auquel j 'ai toujours beaucoup tenu." 200

masque. As Mellers pointed out, ".. .Poulenc's 'musique foraine' has mud on its feet, sweat on its brow."320

Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p.56. Chapter 6 - Poulenc's Later Compositions (1933-1963)

Subsequent to an overview of Poulenc's activities during the 1930s and the interruption followed by the return of the composer's Parisian aesthetic, the analysis of his later compositions with a popular aesthetic will be divided into three broad categories. The first group will consist of two chansons by Poulenc - Les chemins de I'amour (1940) and

Nos souvenirs qui chantent (1962) - which are somewhat unusual in the composer's output because of their obvious ties to the popular chanson. The second category will include a single work, Poulenc's first opera, Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944), while the last grouping will comprise three instrumental works: Concerto pour piano et orchestre (1949),

L 'Embarquement pour Cythere (1951) and Improvisation no.15 (1959). Again although not all inclusive, this list of works will demonstrate how Poulenc has succeeded over time in adapting the Parisian popular culture into his personal musical style.

Interruption of Parisian Aesthetic

The 1930s were a time of great turmoil throughout the world. The stock market crash that led to the Great Depression brought on many economic challenges that created a demand from the population for numerous socio-political transformations. In France, these social pressures strengthened left-wing political movements, including the French

Communist party and the Front Populaire. The growing unrest within the working class led to many demonstrations from people who insisted on reforms at all levels. In the face of this social unrest, Poulenc was not left unscathed. At the time of the economic crash,

Poulenc had a number of investments that were devalued and the loss caused some concern

201 202

for him.321 These monetary concerns as well as the pressure incurred by the maintenance of

Le Grand Coteau, his mansion in Noizay, were such that the composer felt it necessary to find other sources of income. The decade of the thirties marked Poulenc's debut as a concert pianist, the creation of his famous duo with Pierre Bernac322 and his few ventures into stage and film music.

In the years following the creation of Le Bal masque, Poulenc turned his attention to the genre of short piano works such as his set of the first ten Improvisations (1932-34), his eight Nocturnes (1929-38), his Presto (1934) and his Humoresque (1934), an indication of his monetary concerns since these types of piano compositions could easily be sold to the amateur as well as the professional pianist. In 1935 Poulenc finally set to music Cinq poemes by Paul Eluard which he had greatly admired since his youth but had not felt ready to undertake up to this date. By the mid-1930s, Poulenc had gained a mastery over the genre of French melodies as seen in his musical output: Tel jour, telle nuit (poems by

Eluard, 1936), Deux poemes (Apollinaire, 1938), Miroirs brillants (Eluard, 1939), Bleuet

(Apollinaire, 1939), Fiancailles pour rire (Louise de Vilmorin, 1939), to name but the best

Francis Poulenc, Correspondance 1910-1963, Myriam Chimenes, ed. (Paris: Librairie Artheme-Fayard, 1999), p.341. Letter from Poulenc to Marie-Blanche de Polignac (July 1931): "J'ai perdu ce printemps beaucoup d'argent dans une maison de banque amie qui a saute et depuis six semaines je suis occupe a renflouer ma barque terriblement enlisee. Ce n'est ni drole ni facile en ces temps de crise mais je lutte comme je peux pour tacher de sauvegarder ma maison de Noizay que j'aime tant et qui est d'ailleurs mon seul point fixe." 322 Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: Rene Julliard, 1954), p.90. "II y avait deux solutions: la musique de films ou les concerts. J'ai opte pour la seconde solution, n'aimant pas le cinema et adorant, au contraire, jouer du piano.// En 1934, je cherchais done un coequipier, de preference chanteur ou chanteuse, plutot qu'instrumentaliste. Ce billet de Bernac me sembla un signe du destin." 323 In 1935, Poulenc wrote incidental music for La Reine Mar got, a historical play by Edouard Bourdet. That same year, he also wrote music for La Belle au bois dormant, an animated colour publicity film. Poulenc also composed incidental music for Leocadia (1940), Le voyageur sans bagages (1944) and L'invitation au chateau (1947), all stage works written by (1910-1987); Charles Exbrayat's play La fille du jardinier (1941), James Barrie's play La nuit de la Saint-Jean (1944), Armand Salacrou's play Le soldat et la sorciere (1945) and Moliere's Amphitryon (1947). Finally during the. 1940s and 1950s Poulenc wrote music for three films: La Duchesse de Langeais (1942), Le voyageur sans bagages (film based on the play, 1944) and Le voyage en Amerique (1951). 203

known. In those years, Poulenc equally developed his new-found sacred musical style

following his return to Catholicism in 1936 after his fateful pilgrimage to Rocamadour in

southwestern France. Beginning that year, Poulenc wrote numerous sacred works such as

Litanies a la vierge noire (1936), Messe en sol majeur (1937), Quatre motets pour un temps

de penitence (1938). In addition to this production of melodies and sacred works, Poulenc

also developed his secular choral compositions as found in Petites voix (Madeleine Ley,

1936), Sept chansons (Apollinaire and Eluard, 1936) and Secheresses (Edward James,

1937).

An equally important consideration for Poulenc was the growing promotion of

French folklore and heritage by the governmental agencies. In response to these currents

Poulenc felt a certain pressure to comply in order to maintain his place within the artistic

community.324 Unlike Auric, Durey, Milhaud and Tailleferre who participated in the

musical programs set out by the Front Populaire, Poulenc involved himself only

tangentially through works such as Bourree au Pavilion d'Auvergne and Deux marches et

un intermede, both written in 1937 for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques,

"a World's Fair that had not only become the pawn of posturing European nations, but also

a mirror of political and social problems in France itself."325 In response to the cultural and

political climate of the 1930s, Poulenc's interest in French musical heritage, although rarely

politically inspired, was also present in other works such as Villageoises (1933), Quatre

chansons pour enfants (1934) and Villanelle (1934). As well, Poulenc wrote his Suite

324 For a detailed discussion of the impact of the political changes on Poulenc's aesthetic and style, see Jane F. Fulcher, The Composer as Intellectual: Music and Ideology in France 1914-1940 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), Chapter 3 « The 'Defense' of French Culture in the Thirties. » Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), p.240. 204

frangaise (1935) based on a transcription of Claude Gervaise's Livre de danceries of the

mid-sixteenth century, an orchestration of three piano pieces by Satie: Deux preludes

posthumes et une Gnossienne (1939) and an orchestral suite based on his ballet Les Biches

(completed 1940). This attention to the past, even though incited by the climate of the time,

had always been present in Poulenc's music. But the backward glance to his early Monte-

Carlo ballet and Satie also indicated a growing nostalgia toward his youth.

Return of Parisian Aesthetic

Thus, following 1932, Poulenc's nogentais personality was put aside in favour of his

more "serious" style as a reaction to the socio-political climate of the 1930s. Despite this

discovery of his "mome" side, in 1938 a return of the nogentais music was heard in his

melodie La grenouillere, based on another Apollinaire poem from the poet's collection, II y

a. In his Journal de mes melodies, Poulenc gave the following description of this work:

One needs only to look at a photo of Apollinaire to understand that for him irony was always veiled with tenderness and melancholy. La grenouillere evokes a beautiful past of easy and happy Sundays that is now lost. I remembered the boaters' breakfasts, painted by Renoir, where the women's bodices and the men's bare muscles have connections beyond the colours. Evoked also, in my usual egoism, are the riverbanks of the Marne, dear reminders of my childhood. It is the slight impact of these rowboats that marks the rhythm from the beginning to the end of this tenderly insistent melody. One must avoid singing it if one does not believe in it, if one introduces (irony), winks and false understatement. Here one must be fooled by his heart.326

326 Poulenc, Journal de mes melodies (Paris: Cicero Editeurs, 1993), p.28. "II n'y a qu'a regarder n'importe quelle photo d'Apollinaire pour comprendre que chez lui l'ironie est toujours voile de tendresse et de melancolie. La grenouillere evoque un beau passe perdu, des dimanches faciles et heureux. J'ai pense a ses dejeuners de canotiers, peints par Renoir, ou les corsages des femmes et les maillons des hommes ont d'autres accords que de couleurs. Evoque aussi, avec mon egoisme habituel, les bords de Marne chers a mon enfance. C'est l'entrechoc de leurs canots qui rythme d'un bout a l'autre cette melodie tendrement lancinante. S'abstenir de la chanter si on n'y croit pas, si on introduit [de l'ironie] des clignements d'yeux et un faux air entendu. Ici, il faut etre dupe de son coeur." 205

Again we observe Poulenc reminding the singer of the necessity to perform a true interpretation of the work as opposed to an ironic one. This insistence, also supported by

Bernac, as seen in the previous chapter, is one that will be found consistently throughout

Poulenc's writings and interviews. This firmness of opinion over the years provides proof of the composer's honest respect and affection for the popular aesthetic of his native city.

In describing La grenouillere Poulenc recalled Renoir's famous paintings of Parisian couples in rowboats. For him this memory was intimately tied to his own personal experience. These images were reminders of actual events from his childhood, thus possessing a warm familiarity heard in the "tenderly insistent melody" of the song. The nostalgic echo of the rowboats' motion is heard in the widely spaced full chords blurred by the pedals ("tres estompe par les pedales") in the piano part (see example 6.1). The primarily stepwise melody to be sung in a very tired and melancholic manner ("tres las et melancolique") emphasized Apollinaire's poem,327 which itself evoked a nostalgic look at events that were perceived as lost in time.

327 Text: "Au bord de 1'ile on voit// Les canots vides qui s'entre-cognent// Et maintenant// Ni le dimanche ni les jours de la semaine// Ni les peintres ni Maupassant ne se promenent// Bras nus sur leurs canots avec des femmes a grosse poitrine et betes comme chou// Petits bateaux vous me faites bien de la peine// Au bord de l'ile." 206

Tr6s las et m61ancolique J.56

-* *J—«r—*- Au bord de l'ile on voit _i. Les ca - nots

'

Example 6.1 - Opening from La grenouillere (193 8)

For his return to the popular aesthetic, Poulenc again chose a poem by Apollinaire that reflected the choice he had made in 1931 when he wrote Quatre poemes de Guillaume

Apollinaire and Cinq poemes de Max Jacob. Despite the diversity available to him and his recent foray into more "serious" poetry, Poulenc's selection of La grenouillere further demonstrates the growing nostalgic sensitivity of the composer toward the Belle Epoque and his childhood memories, as well as his continued allegiance to classically-tied French images.

Les chemins de Vamour (1940) andNos souvenirs qui chantent (1962)

In the majority of cases, Poulenc sought to combine Parisian lowbrow with highbrow aesthetics and create his particular compositional blend of the Parisian everyday. 207

Yet one finds two instances where Poulenc wrote typically French chansons: Les chemins de I'amour (1940) and Nos souvenirs qui chantent (1962). The first work is a waltz written for Yvonne Printemps328 for Jean Anouilh's stage work Leocadia for which Poulenc also wrote incidental music. The chanson is set to the traditional alternation of verse/refrain with an instrumental prelude and postlude. The two verses follow an AB form divided into one sixteen-bar phrase followed by one fourteen-bar phrase with a notated ritardando that compensates for the missing two measures and reflects the freedom that the entertainment singer could take during her performance. The refrain is in the typical AA' form divided into two sixteen-bar phrases. The piano postlude also consists of a sixteen-bar phrase heard after the last refrain, again typical of the ending heard in the popular chanson. Poulenc's only deviation from the normal format is heard in the prelude. This instrumental introduction to the chanson is only six bars long and is actually the most dissonant section of the work (see example 6.2). Poulenc wrote a descending sequence founded on a chromatically descending bass line with an A-flat pedal. Instead of following a traditional sequential pattern, Poulenc introduced many dissonances and enharmonic interpretations of the chords. As opposed to the traditional chanson, Poulenc, because of his sequence, did not establish the melody for the listener.

Yvonne Printemps (1894-1977) singer and actress who was married to Sacha Guitry and then . She recorded Poulenc's Les Chemins de I'amour (1940) from Leocadia and A sa guitare (1935) from La Reine Margot. 208

Example 6.2 - Opening piano prelude Les chemins de I'amour (1940)

Yet, once the melody of the first verse begins, the harmonic progressions are quite traditional with some appearance of mixture chords. They consist primarily of the tonic, subdominant, dominant (seventh, , eleventh) and supertonic, maintained for one and even two measures. The piano accompaniment is set to the traditional valse-musette rhythm

(3/4 time) with a bass note followed by chords in the higher register, and its right hand supports the vocal line throughout the work. The arpeggiated chords and the bass pedal note for each measure further makes reference to the accordion of the bal musette (see example 6.3).

ffiW^ ra m £» che-mins qui vont a la mer. Ont gar - de de no - tre pas - sa ge

Example 6.3 - Verse (mm.7-10) from Les chemins de I'amour (1940)

This chanson is written in C# minor during the verses while its parallel key of D-fiat major is used during the chorus, again an indication of the traditional change from major to minor 209

modes found in popular songs. The melody of the verse consists primarily of a leap followed by a stepwise motion in the opposite direction, while the chorus' melodic line is constructed of leaps and arpeggiations. In both cases, it is contained within the span of a tenth and follows the typical style of popular valses as sung by women singers of the early- twentieth century where the use of contractions and argotic language was limited in favour of a more operatic style of singing. In the instrumental postlude, Poulenc chose the diminished seventh chord of D-flat major instead of the traditional dominant seventh to lead to the final tonic.

In Nos souvenirs qui chantent (1962), many of the same compositional techniques are found. Poulenc again set this song to a waltz rhythm and used regular sixteen-bar phrases throughout the work with an added five-bar phrase at the end. The piano accompaniment follows the same pattern as Les chemins de I'amour, bass note (that becomes the pedal note for the measure) followed by chords in the higher register, arpeggiated chords, and right-hand support of the melodic line. This time, though, Poulenc wrote an eight-bar piano introduction that outlined the refrain's opening melodic line (see example 6.4). Yet again Poulenc created an amount of dissonance not typical of the chanson prelude by harmonizing this melody with a series of parallel-moving dominant seventh chords.

For examples of this type of singing, listen to Paulette Darty (born Paulette Josephine Combes, 1871-1939) and her interpretations of Amoureuse, Je te vewc, Fascination. Other female interpreters of the same vein and time period include Germaine Gallois, Adeline Lanthenay, Jane Dyt and Resca. A possible explanation for the singing style of these women may be that many were also regular singers in operettas. In the 1930s a similar group of female performers included Damia (born Marie-Louise Damien), Frehel (born Marguerite Boul'ch, dite Pervenche) and Edith Piaf (born Edith Giovanna Gassion, dite la Mome). 210

Example 6.4 - Opening piano prelude Nos Souvenirs qui chantent (1962)

This chanson is again an alternation between verse and refrain with the chorus set to A major (the first two times it is heard) and B-flat major (the last time), and the verse has no clear key area (some implied D major/D minor, C minor and F minor) because of the preponderance of sequences and applied dominants (seventh and ninth). Yet the harmonic progressions still focus on the tonic, dominant (minor and major) and supertonic. The overall form consists of Refrain-Verse-Refrain-Modified Refrain-Refrain. The refrain is set in the traditional AA' while the verse is in AB form. The prominence of the refrain and the

A motif makes this song's melody very repetitive. The main melody contains many leaps, but these are all within either an octave or a perfect fifth. The new music heard in B is primarily stepwise with ascending and descending scalar motions that are again contained within an octave or a perfect fifth. The overall melody spans a twelfth but no more than a tenth within each section.

Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

The year prior to the onset of the Second World War, Poulenc wrote, in a letter to

Marie-Blanche and Jean de Polignac, about his new project, Les Mamelles de Tiresias, a 211

stage work by Apollinaire, first performed in 1916. As Myriam Chimenes pointed out, this letter confirms that Poulenc had already chosen his text for his opera in 1938 contrary to what he said to Claude Rostand during their Entretiens:

It is only in 1944, isolated in my Touraine home because of the landing [of Allied forces], that I reread, one night, Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Was it the sudden return to a carefree past, whatever it was, in a second I decided to attempt the Mamelles adventure.331

Although the year is incorrect and the nostalgic memory could be attributed to Poulenc's ever-conscious need to entertain his public, it is important to indicate that most of the work on Les Mamelles was done in 1944. The time surrounding the Second World War was difficult and at times depressing for Poulenc as gathered from his correspondence of this period (1938-1945). By 1954, the year of his radio interviews with Rostand, Poulenc was in the middle of writing Les Dialogues des Carmelites and becoming more and more depressed. The combination of all these elements can easily explain and even support

Poulenc's claim that Les Mamelles was a work harking back to a beautiful, but past, era.

Already in 1944, Poulenc expressed the following to Bernac:

In the text the word Paris returns constantly, maybe it is this fact, joined to my nostalgia for that city's streets, which has given me this moving tone in the middle of the humour that is so typically apollinairian. 33

Poulenc, Correspondance, p.468. Letter from Poulenc to Marie-Blanche and Jean de Polignac (20 August 1938): "C'est decidement les Mamelles qui l'emportent sur mes autres projets de creation. Cela m'amuse tant que des avant-hier, j'ai braille pendant deux heures quelques esquisses. II n'y a pas a dire Apollinaire c'est fait pour moi. Rien ne cree chez lui d'obstacle a ma musique. ... C'est en ecrivant 'pour moi seuP que j'ai souvent touche le plus le public. J'espere que cela sera encore le cas." 3 Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand, p.146. "C'est seulement en 1944, qu'isole dans ma maison de Touraine par le debarquement, je relus, un soir, Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Est-ce l'effet d'un brusque retour en arriere sur une epoque heureuse, toujours est-il qu'en une seconde, je decidai de tenter l'aventure des Mamelles." 332 Poulenc kept an avid correspondence with Pierre Bernac during the summer of 1944, discussing the various vocal ranges and for the characters of the opera-bouffe and the musical difficulties that arose during composition. See Poulenc, Correspondance, pp.553, 555, 557-558, 561, 571, 573-574. 333 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.573. Letter from Poulenc to Bernac (27 August 1944): "Dans le texte le mot Paris revient sans cesse, peut-etre est-ce cela qui, joint a ma nostalgie de ses rues, m'a donne ce ton emu au milieu de la cocasserie qui est typiquement apollinairien." 212

For Poulenc, Les Mamelles was to retain its significance for the rest of his life. It was his first operatic work and, as in his two other operas as well as his three ballets,

Poulenc had carefully chosen the text and written his own libretto. First performed at the

Theatre National de FOpera-Comique on 3 June 1947, this opera-bouffe was to strike a chord with the public due to its pertinence to the social life of the late 1940s despite the fact that the action took place during the Belle Epoque around 1912 in a Monte-Carlo-like setting. As Poulenc pointed out to Bernac: "Maybe this work would have been old- fashioned in 1932 but it now has its place in our time."334 This pertinence came from the main theme of the play: the need to increase the birthrate in France following the war.

Although France did not lose most of its generation of young men as in the First World War due to the surrender of France to the Nazis in 1940, this second war still had its significant tragedies and loss of lives. Hit for the second time within twenty years, France had not had the opportunity to recuperate from its social, economic and political losses. Thus the topic of birthrate so prevalent during and after the Great War of 1914-18 still held an important place within the French population, which had just emerged from another national disaster.

Of course Poulenc was able to realize this only in hindsight yet, even in 1944 when he composed the bulk of the work, he could have considered this facet as a possible selling point for this not-yet commissioned work.

From the beginning, without even knowing whether this work would be staged, he suggested that it felt essential for him to compose it.335 It was during the first production of

334 Ibid., p.591. Letter from Poulenc to Bemac (May 1945): "Peut-etre eut-elle ete demodee en 1932 mais elle a maintenant sa place dans le temps." 335 Ibid., p.520. Letter from Poulenc to Charles Koechlin (August 1942): "Je ne sais si on montera cette oeuvre baroque mais l'essentiel c'est que j'ai envie de l'ecrire." 213

this opera that Poulenc finally succeeded in finding his soprano singer par excellence:

Denise Duval.336 In a letter to Milhaud following the opera's opening week, Poulenc wrote:

"I have an amazing Therese, one that stuns Paris by her beauty, her acting abilities and her voice. She is the new Heldy.""' In 1953 Poulenc was overjoyed by the fact that Pathe-

Marconi was to record his Mamelles and later that same year he wrote to Simone

Girard339 the following: "To you, to whom I confess everything, I will admit that I probably prefer of everything I have written my dear Mamelles where, if one looks closely, there is as much emotion as laughter."340 Even in 1958, he wrote again to Girard of his joy at having heard this work on the radio: "Of all my works it is the one that I cherish the most; the one I want to hear on my deathbed. ... Pray heaven for me that I may return to my gaiety. Enough guillotined nuns, abandoned woman. Ah! My Biches, my Bal, my

Mamellesl !"3 Mentioning these three works as a block in 1958 indicated Poulenc's strong

336 Denise Duval (b.1921), soprano. Duval sang at the Folies-Bergere and was preparing for her debut at the Opera-Comique in Madame Butterfly when Poulenc discovered her through Max de Rieux. Not only did Duval sing Therese's role in Les Mamelles, Poulenc also wrote the principal roles of Blanche in Les Dialogues des Carmelites, La Voix humaines and La Dame de Monte-Carlo for her. When Bernac retired from his singing career, Poulenc accompanied Duval during European and American concert tours. 7 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.638. Letter from Poulenc to Milhaud (11 June 1947): "J'ai une Therese inou'ie qui stupefie Paris par sa beaute, ses dons de comedienne et sa voix. C'est une nouvelle Heldy." Note: Fanny Heldy (1888-1973) was a Belgian soprano who made her Parisian debut at the Opera-Comique in 1917 in the role of Violetta and who continued to impress the crowds by her personality and her beauty for another twenty years. 338 Ibid., p.760. Letter from Poulenc to Bernac (1 September 1953): "Pathe-Marconi enregistre Les Mamellesl!!!!!! Avec 1'Opera-Comique et Cluytens. J'en suis souffle. lis commencent le 17 septembre! 'On est presse d'avoir cette osuvre si typiquement francaise'" 339 Simone Girard (1898-1985) was an amateur pianist and secretary then president of the Societe avignonnaise de concerts. Following an invitation for the duo Bernac-Poulenc to perform in Avignon in February 1936, a close friendship developed between her and Poulenc. Their correspondence demonstrates the role of Girard as confidante to Poulenc's good and bad days. 340 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.771. Letter from Poulenc to Simone Girard (4 December 1953): "A vous, a qui je dis tout, je vous avouerai que je prefere peut-etre a tout ce que j'ai ecrit ces cheres Mamelles ou, si Ton regarde bien il y a tout aussi bien de l'emotion que du rire." 341 Ibid., pp.898-899. Lettre from Poulenc to Simone Girard (13 August 1958): "J'ai entendu ce matin les Mamelles a la radio. Que j'etais heureux alors! C'est de toutes mes oeuvres celle que je cheris le plus; celle que j'aimerais entendre a mon lit de mort. ... Priez pour moi le ciel afin que je retourne a la gaiete. Assez de religieuses guillotinees, de femme plaquee. Ah! Mes Biches, mon Bal, mes MamellesW" Note: In the latter 214

nostalgic trend for his youth and an age that had gone, yet for which he maintained a strong emotional allegiance. This group of compositions contained all of Poulenc's effervescence, the joy and confusion of his youth and early adult years, as well as the atmosphere that enveloped early-twentieth-century Parisian entertainment.

The plot of Les Mamelles, as previously mentioned, centered on the theme of repopulation and the need for more children in France. Therese, a feminist, revolts against her traditional female role and transforms herself into a man in order to become Tiresias.

Meanwhile her husband (le Mart) is left to his own devices. Courted by a duped police officer (le Gendarme) who thinks he is a woman, the husband decides to take on the female role and discovers how to produce children, 40,049 babies in a day to be exact, while realizing that it is not that easy to raise "grateful" children. After her male adventures,

Therese, also disillusioned, returns as a fortune teller and decides to restore her female role, so that all is well that ends well. Inserted into this surrealist storyline, the relief characters of Presto and Lacouf bring humour to the plot through their duel, death and resurrection on roller-skates in the first act's finale.

Although set in Zanzibar, a Monte-Carlo-like setting (an indirect reference by

Poulenc to his youthful good-times during the staging of Les Biches in Monte-Carlo in

1924), Poulenc specifically indicated in the score of Les Mamelles that "under no circumstances should the staging be exotic."342 This stage direction from the composer reveals his desire to control the Frenchness of the work by excluding exotic elements from section, Poulenc is referring to his other operas, Les Dialogues and that had taken up most of his time in the last years. 342 Poulenc, Les Mamelles de tiresias, 1947, opening staging notes. "Sous aucun pretexte la mise-en-scene ne devra etre exotique." 215

the visual component of the opera. This opera-bouffe by Poulenc, as is the case with many other works by this composer, is a mixture of styles leading the listener across a variety of emotions: laughter (of course given the topic of the opera and Apollinaire's text) but also moving moments full of tenderness. Yet the usually rapid pace of the music and text often conceals these emotional moments, in the same manner that at the music-hall the tragic texts found in certain chansons are covered up by the repetitive nature of the music (e.g. Le train fatal, 1918, Charles Borel-Clerc/music, Charles-Louis Pothier/text; Mon homme,

1920, Albert Willemetz and Jacques-Charles/music, Maurice Yvain/text; and La viper-e,

1921, Vincent Scotto/music, Borel-Clerc/text) and that at the circus the clowns' acts, which at first glance are cheerful, nevertheless often possess an underlying element of sorrow and sadness.

Les Mamelles opens with references to tradition: a pizzicato rising D minor triad followed by a fleeting double-dotted rhythm typical of the French overture tradition (see example 6.5). Then a relentless ostinato is heard underneath an expressive melody and the troupe's director appears in front of "a curtain of the Italian style" and begins his solemn prologue, which outlines the theme of the opera. The seriousness of the prologue is interrupted by an anxious middle section that, in hindsight, prepares the listener for the buffa elements to be heard later. A return to the opening melody concludes the prologue.

These false references to tradition are reminiscent of Parade (1917), in which Picasso's overture curtain for the ballet appeared to set the stage for a patriotic and Latin work that was quickly disavowed by Satie's music and Cocteau's characters.343

3 Kenneth E. Silver, Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914- 1925 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), p.119. "In fact, when the curtain went up to the opening bars of Satie's overture, it looked like Cocteau's Parade might be just what the public wanted. They saw not 216

PROLOGUE

^J^^j^T

Example 6.5 - Opening of "Prologue" Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

The serious mood of the prologue quickly changes with a brusque ff arpeggiation, a fff staccato low-register octave and a full-measure drum roll that announces the beginning of

Act I and the entrance of Therese/Tiresias (see example 6.6).

a Cubist display but the first great public and monumental example of the new avant-garde neo-classicism - an overture curtain of sublimely Latin sentiment painted by Pablo Picasso, a Latin artist. In the manner of the most convincing patriotic art, Picasso's curtain was Latin - and French - not by way of any direct reference to the war at hand, but by allusion. .. .two Harlequins from the commedia dell'arte; two lovely young women in rustic, quasi-rococo bergere costume; an Italian sailor at the right; a Spanish guitarist at the left; a smiling benevolent blackamoor behind; and, at their feet, a faithful canine. .. .there is no ,. no brutal poverty, no malaise of any sort." 217

Example 6.6 - Transition between "Prologue" and Act I, Scene 1 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

This first scene becomes the musical template for the opera-bouffe. Its mixture of typical operatic and light popular chanson will be heard numerous times throughout the composition. This scene outlines Therese's feminist revolt and subsequent transformation into Tiresias. The first appearance of the lowbrow aesthetic is short-lived and occurs when Therese sings about her husband's courting of her "in the Connecticut"

(see example 6.7). Poulenc clearly established the traditional harmonic progression of ii7-

V7-I with a lyrical melody that is accompanied by the orchestra with the instruction, tres chante. The first phrase is four bars long yet, when repeated, it breaks up in the second measure of the second phrase and is interrupted by the husband in the third measure. 218

Example 6.7 - Act I, Scene 1, R.23 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

Although this appearance of the lowbrow aesthetic is rapid, its tie to Parisian chanson is instantly recognizable. A fleeting glance of this melody is heard again eighteen measures later in the same key and with the same harmonic progression, but it is quickly overcome by operatic recitative. At R.28 a fast French waltz is introduced, recalling the nostalgic cafe-

concert waltz (see example 6.8). Set in 3/4 time to a typical accordion accompaniment, the

orchestra also supports the voice with its arpeggiation, tremolo and sustained notes. Almost

twenty years later, Poulenc will reuse the same opening melody for his sung waltz, Nos

souvenirs qui chantent (1962) as seen in example 6.9. 219

retinites par

Example 6.8 - Act I, Scene 1, R.28 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

9 si mm Mi La si*dii*di m fci tec ?z: w -e^ Sous les re - flets_ de lu - ne va - po - reu se,.

Example 6.9 - Opening melody of verse Nos Souvenirs qui chantent (1962)

As in the song, Poulenc's phrase lengths are divided into one sixteen-bar phrase followed by one fourteen-bar phrase. The phrase pattern is then slightly modified to 16+8+16 and 220

always to new music. This waltz leads to the transformation of Therese and becomes a, pas espagnol (see example 6.10). The same type of chordal accompaniment as the one heard in the waltz occurs but this time without providing vocal imitation but rather chordal punctuation of the beat in simulation of Spanish dance rhythms. The first phrase is even punctuated with the and singing a^'Olle [sic]."

Bile se rekoume hruscpteynent el danse iw pas espagnol. f'Vn peu plus vlte J*« 84

.-Ion Da la tateauxfcv - Ions Me vol - la 4T£NORs™dM BARYTONS (dans to fosse d'orchestre}

Example 6.10 - Act I, Scene 1, R.32 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1940)

Given Poulenc's stage direction demanding no exoticism, the appearance of this pas espagnol is notable. The introduction of this exotic element, although with a camouflaged

French accompaniment, was probably used to emphasize Therese's unnatural metamorphosis. Following this transformation, Therese's husband comes in search of his

"p 'tit' Therese" (little Therese) in a return of a buffa but also cafe-concert style. The allegro subito, the staccato and sparse accompaniment and the angular melodic line are 221

indicative of the classic buffa operatic style but combined with vernacular expressions such as p 'tit', par exempt', c 'est trop fort, adiousias and a rapid tempo that requires precise pronunciation, this scene takes on a French popular accent.

This popular aesthetic is pursued further with the arrival of Lacouf and Presto, "the stereotypical French card-playing gamblers," also reminiscent of the humour displayed by

Charlie Chaplin, commonly known as Chariot in France, especially during the 1910s and of the famous Laurel and Hardy comedic team whose talkies were doubled in French during the 1930s. In our opera, Presto and Lacouf come in drunk, dancing a polka set to cut-time

(2/2) and presented in an ABAB' form. Following their eight-bar dance introduction, they begin arguing about their monetary losses which eventually leads to the honour-demanding turn-of-the-century duel. In order to emphasize the burlesque found in this scene, Poulenc set the A section to a characteristic cafe-concert chanson with its rapid repetition of notes and text, its quick unfolding of the words demanding clear articulation and its play on words (e.g. Paris meaning both the city and a wager, "pari"), as seen in the following example: 222

Monsieur Pres-ta je h'ai rien ga - gnfe

ce que j'ai von . - In 1: |

Example 6.11 - Act I, Scene 4, R.44 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

To contrast this light section, Poulenc introduced a lyrical melody in the B section. The melody is supported by the orchestra and harmonized with parallel fourths and fifths over an ostinato figure that changes with the characters (see example 6.12). The appearance of this parallel legato motion recalls Debussy's impressionist compositions. Through this section Poulenc not only succeeded in providing a distinct contrast to the buffa characters of

Presto and Lacouf, but he also evoked the time of the Belle Epoque. The play on words mentioned above is further enhanced through this presence of impressionism and the ambiguity associated with its style of paintings and music. 223

/C2i lis ceaaent ie Janscr et dwcutent courtoisement W PA

Con est trap aprerdtxans d'a-mi-tie et tout Ie mat que je n'aicea-si

Example 6.12 - Act I, Scene 4, R.45 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

In scene 6, the Gendarme, the stock character of the French farce, is introduced.

This duped authority figure is reminiscent of another cafe-concert personality: the comique troupier, the fumbling soldier who usually sang about his love for a woman. One of the best known troupiers was Polin (born Pierre-Paul Marsales, 1863-1927), who reached his professional height singing in cafes-concerts and music-halls between 1890 and 1914.

Some of his most popular chansons included La boiteuse du regiment (1895), L'anatomie du conscript (1898), Adore de Philomene (19--) and La petite Tonkinoise (1906). In the chanson Adore de Philomene Polin sang about his incredible luck at having been chosen over all other soldiers by Philomene. The fact that this woman had a beard did not deter his 224

enthusiasm in any way! This same obliviousness regarding the obvious is found in

Apollinaire's text through Le Gendarme's character. Upon seeing Therese's husband dressed as a woman, the Gendarme begins courting him and is deaf to the husband's protests. In Apollinaire's text, the officer says, "The beautiful girl//Tell me beautiful childV/Who has treated you so maliciously." Poulenc, who was familiar with Polin's performances for having witnessed some of them during his adolescent years, emphasized the absurdity of the character by having him repetitively sing these words to an allegro molto forte staccato melodic line, reminiscent of the cafcone' chanson (see example 6.13).

The octave leap (repeated in at R.59) and the marked fourth beat add to the farcical element of the character.

Text for Adore de Philomene (Elle a de la barbe), H. Mailfait/music, L. Bousquet/text: "Je suis adore d'Philomene// J'en reviens pas, j'en suis tout saisi// Des soldats, y en a des centaines// He ben, e'est moi qu'elle a choisi// Mais c'n'est pas une femme ordinaire// Qui n'a qu'sa grace et ses appas// Elle a quequ'ehose de plus pour plaire// Quelque chose que les autres n'ont pas// Elle a d'la barbe, Philomene// Elle ressemble a mon capitaine// Le dimanche, quand nous nous prom'nons,// J'vous jure qu'elle fait sensation// Elle a d'la barbe et sur la place// Tout l'monde dit: Tiens, la v'la qui passe// Et 9a me flatte enormement// Vu que e'est moi que je suis son amant.//

Lorsque le regiment defile// Les gens d'la ville viennent nous r'garder// Et nous r'gardons les gens d' la ville// Qui nous regardent defiler// Quand elle est la, tout l'monde la r'garde// On se r'garde plus et si passait// Le president avec sa garde// J'suis sur qu'personne ne r'garderait// Elle a d'la barbe, Philomene// C'est tout crache mon capitaine// Ah! J'voudrais bien tout'd'meme un soir// Vous l'am'ner pour vous la faire voir// Elle a d'la barbe noire et fine// Comme le poil du chat d'la cantine// Et 5a me flatte enormement// Vu que c'est moi que je suis son amant//

C'est pas une beaute sans pareille// Mais comme duvet, y en a partout// Depuis l'menton jusqu'aux oreilles// Sous les narines et puis dans l'cou// C'est bien plante, c'est pas fragile// Y en a autant en haut qu'en bas// Elle n'est pas belle, c'est inutile// Elle s'rait jolie qu'on l'verrait pas// Elle a d'la barbe, Philomene// Elle ressemble a mon capitaine// Moi qui n'ai pas un poil, des fois// Je me figure que c'est a moi// Elle a d'la barbe et quand jTembrasse// Ca me chatouille et 9a m'agace// Mais 9a me flatte enormement// Vu que c'est moi que je suis son amant." 225

mari et n'apper^oit ^-^qu'ila Us mains licet. hnurqtiezia muelte)

\i\ - tes ma belle enfant qui done vons a trni-te-e qui tioncvmian trai-ti-e

r r f r f r r r I f f f a'fxclatfant _, LB MARI * part L. «ft"«y/"™

' tmi - tte si liieHiiiiiiiniNit H me |m!tld]Hiiirn-nc dc-iniil-st:l- le ah uh all nb ah ah m Pfh-rTl , M r~j ,^ji '^jj. *^

II me preitdpmiru-ne rie-inol-sel-Ie (legendarmoestimvieuxfrm cmi - (ton cmiwm *-on- r.F. KP.NHAHMK rain f

Example 6.13 - Act I, Scene 7, R.58 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

To further emphasize this idiotic personage, Apollinaire had him on numerous occasions misinterpret the husband's words. For example, when the husband decides that he might as well be a woman since his wife is now a man, the following dialogue occurs:

Le Mari: Je suis une honnete femme-monsieur Mafemme est un homme-madame Elle a emporte le piano le violon Vassiette de beurre Elle est soldat ministre merdecin Le Gendarme: Mere des seins Le Mari: lis ontfait explosion mais elle estplutot merdecine Le Gendarme: Elle est mere des cygnes Ah! combien chantent qui vontperir Ecoutez 345

345 Guillaume Apollinaire, Les Mamelles de Tiresias - Drame surrealiste en deux actes et un prologue (Paris: Editions Sic, 1918), p.64 (Act I, Scene 7). Translation: -Husband: I am an honest woman-sir// My wife is a 226

Following minor changes to the text, Poulenc sets this dialogue to a contrasting alternation of tres lent, lyrical, legato lines and allegro subito, staccato and sparse lines, a reminder of the technique used in Act I, scene 4 with Presto and Lacouf.

man-madam// She took with her the piano the violin the butter dish// She is soldier minister medeshit (doctor)// -Officer: Mother of the breasts// -Husband: They have exploded but she is rather medeshine (female doctor)// -She is mother of the swans// Ah! How they sing those who will perish//Listen. 227

-tdt merde-ci - ne Mer-de-ci-ne i-lltfest mi-re dej cy-gnos Ahiioml>ieitehau-tMitqui

Example 6.14 - Act I, Scene 7, R.63-65 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

The Act I finale is typical of the opera-buffa with its ensemble and chorus singing.

But it is also reminiscent of the operetta and the music-hall revues in which ensemble singing was a standard practice, especially at the end of an act. The harmonic progressions and phrase lengths within this finale are traditional with some variety introduced by

Poulenc. An important element of the popular aesthetic that is incorporated in the finale is the necessity for the chorus to sing and articulate precisely and pronounce the words clearly because of the allegro tempo and the repetitive nature of the text (see example 6.15). 228

Et cejiemtont la Ixiuljln - j>4r' et cepemlant labonl.in - g&r1 et cependant taboulan-

Example 6.15 - Act I, Scene 8 (finale), R.92 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

Following an entr'acte that opened with a solemn gavotte-like dance and introduced the birth of the husband's 40,049 babies with falsetto cries of "Papa" and the chorus' sombre singing of the need for more children, Act II, Scene 1 requires the husband to again demonstrate an agility in the clear articulation of rapidly repeated words that recall the declamatory style of Maurice Chevalier (see example 6.16). 229

Tw\s vlte J-160

Ah! c'est fou,' c'est foil, c'estfou les jftUwt de la pa - ter j- ni-U Quaran-temiirquarant*

en un seul jour Mon bon-hcur ertr*mp!et,raontoH-t«urestcom]>iet tfL.ES NOUVEAUX-NftS

sanspidak

Example 6.16 - Act II, Scene 1, R.9 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

In the above example, elements of the popular are seen in Poulenc's use of 6/8 time with a sparse orchestral accompaniment of dry staccato forte octaves to mark beats 1 and 2. The prominence of strong V-I cadences and the appearance of primarily dominant and tonic chords within chromatically descending basses surrounded by upper and lower neighbour notes near the cadential points suggest the simplicity heard in a number of chanson accompaniments. The straight IV-V7-I cadence that concludes the scene (not shown) also provides a reference to those accompaniments. The four-bar "tralala" refrain of the babies

(sung by the tenors) with falsetto answered by the husband's four-bar demand for silence in jffalso point to the popular idiom (see example 6.17). The majority of the phrase lengths are four bars, reinforcing the metric regularity of the scene while the rhythmic patterns and the 230

melodic outline recall the figures heard in French children's rounds. This can be observed in La boulangere, a children's round from the early eighteenth century that was originally a chanson grivoise whose music accompanied quadrilles (see example 6.18).

/£g\ Les noiweatix-nis se dressent h nauveau.

IcM.

Example 6.17 - Act II, Scene 1, R.12 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

! Jz .Jb 3§£a ^z0 ,„*:.: • *. r P i P r P r^ La bou - Ian - gere a des e - cus qui ne !ui cou - tent gue

at=*M r pr PT pr E j J'JJ'ij- J n Lo bou-Ian - gere a des e - cus qui ne lui cou - tent gue re. Elle en &J ^ J^IJ J'J J:U JlJW'flj J'j-J^H^J a, je les ai vus! J'ai vu la bou - Ian - gere aux e - cus, Jai vu la bou - Ian - ge

P Pl^ -~J~ '"« * i)...,,„^l « ^ L__+ » ^- re. J'a! vu la bou • Ian-gere aux e • cus, J'ai vu la bou - Ian- re.

Example 6.18 -La boulangere 231

In the following scene, a journalist from Paris upon hearing of the husband's exploits arrives in Zanzibar. The husband demonstrates his reproductive skills when asked by the journalist to witness this unbelievable feat. To emphasize the husband's magical gestures that bring to life his son-journalist, Poulenc introduced a circus-inspired phrase at

R.27 of Act II, scene 3 (see example 6.19). In that dramatic eight-bar phrase, we hear a.ff ostinato in all instruments repeated four times with every beat clearly accented, followed by a/scale passage that ends with a thunderous chord while the singer is required to use fff on

"Allons" and ffff on "Chantez." The loud dynamics, the repeated chords, the numerous accents all work to create the general anticipation often felt by the audience during an amazing circus act. The husband's incitements equally recall the ring leader's encouragements and descriptions of the action performed under the audience's eyes.

Al - Ions at - Ions

Toimerve. LefilspS ans)se dresse dans son Mvceau,une badine & la main..

chan - • — tez

Example 6.19 - Act II, Scene 3, R.27 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) «

232

This scene then leads to the son-journalist who begins singing "as fast as possible but always very precisely" (uLeplus vitepossible mais d'un debit tres precis "), similarly to the way many Parisian entertainment singers did, against a very light staccato accompaniment.

At R.29 the singing changes to become very legato while the accompaniment continues to be staccato. This lyrical melody, through its contrast with the previous section, highlights the list of imaginary crimes that the son uses to blackmail his father: "...that you have stolen, killed, denounced, clobbered, provoked" (que vous avez vole tue donne sonne barbe). The attention brought by Poulenc to these words sung in a breathless ascent brings to mind Poulenc's own views of the Belle Epoque and the crimes that were commonly reported in the daily newspapers of his childhood.

In the last two scenes of Act II, Poulenc continued to introduce a number of lowbrow elements that emphasized both the burlesque and the emotive found in the plot.

Following Le Mari's recognition of his wife in scene 7, Poulenc wrote for Therese's character a charming legato waltz-like (3/8 time) pp melody in G-flat major (see example

6.20). Although the melody gradually moves to chromaticism and departs from a regular eight-bar phrase, it is easy to remember because of its repeated sequential pattern. 233

/TX Le gendarme,indifferent, tntrc dans le -3 iV_/ \lt)(l6r^ (UVPC otiarmc) J. = 46 har. THBKftsB m SR Ms Hi

la fleur du ba - m - nier Ch»» - sons a la Zan - a - ba -

-ml ~ se XJ» 6 - ifc - phants et vfens r4 - gnor sar !e grand ra»ur

Example 6.20 - Act II, Scene 7, R.61 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

This melody then effortlessly leads to the finale in Scene 8 and its waltz in 3/4 time

(see example 6.21). Here the melody is ascending chromatically for eight measures and then becomes arpeggiated for the next eight measures. This short duet between Therese and her husband, supported by a typical valse-musette accompaniment is quickly taken up by the chorus. 234

Ah , '. . Ah

Example 6.21 - Act II, Scene 8, R.63 Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944)

Then at R.67 this waltz gives way to a farcical buffa finale. This whole scene is dominated by eight-bar phrases with only a few exceptions. Strong perfect cadences are heard at the end of each phrase no matter the divergences in the phrase length. Again, as so often noted in this opera, the essential need for very clear pronunciation is manifested in the rapid passages, not only for the individual singers but also for the chorus.

For every example demonstrating a popular aesthetic as presented in this section,

Poulenc also wrote sections using the classical operatic style. This successful mixture of lowbrow and highbrow arts can be directly linked to the techniques developed by so many artists of the Belle Epoque, as was discussed in Chapter 2. Poulenc's careful choice in the

1940s of an early-twentieth-century play by Apollinaire, which was truly representative of the "new spirit" that had taken hold of the late teens and 1920s, is illustrative of the composer's personal, as well as cultural, nostalgia. This particular selection - a play by a writer whose works had a significant impact on French arts - at a time of global unrest and 235

foreign occupation is yet another indication of Poulenc's patriotism and strong identification as a Frenchman.

Post World War II Compositions

Following the end of the Second World War, Poulenc's time became routinely divided between composition in Noizay during the summer/fall months and concert life in the winter/spring seasons. The year following the production of Les Mamelles de Tiresias,

Poulenc and Bernac went on their first North American tour, from 22 October to 14

December 1948. The duo was to return twice more to the United States: December 1949-

March 1950346 and January-March 1952. Poulenc would return a fourth time, with Denise

Duval this time in February-March 1960 and one last time by himself in January 1961.

Poulenc viewed these tours in a positive light because of the overwhelmingly warm reception given by the American media and public for his music.347 Between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, Poulenc's output continued to be varied: melodies, song cycles, sacred works, a concerto, a sonata and even a sinfonietta.

In 1949 Poulenc wrote a Concerto for piano and orchestra that had been intended for the composer's first North American tour, but was only ready for the second one.348

Consisting of the typical three-movement form, with the first two easily fitting in with the

On 24 January 1950, Poulenc and Bemac appeared in a Women's Musical Club of Toronto recital, performing the first song from Banalites, along with other works by Schubert, Debussy, et al. 347 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.654. Letter from Poulenc to Brigitte Manceaux (Boston, 10 November 1948): "Ton Poupoule succombe ... sous un tel succes que j'en suis un peu baba. Le recital de New York a ete un triomphe inoui. Salle comble. ... Quand on perce ici c'est a en perdre la tete. Hier telephones sans arret de maisons de disques, editeurs, etc..." //p.719 Letter from Poulenc to Simone Girard (New York City, 28 January 1952): "On m'aime beaucoup ici; enfin un endroit 6u on m'aime." //p.943 Letter from Poulenc to Stephane Audel (Chicago, March 1960): "Ce voyage me rajeunit de dix ans. J'en avais bien bien besoin!!! ... Decidement j'aime PAmerique et PAmerique m'aime." 348 Ibid., p.543. Letter from Poulenc to Andre Jolivet (October 1943): "Maintenant je pense ecrire mon Concerto pour piano et orchestre pour ma tournee d'Amerique d'apres guerre." 236

audience's expectation of a "serious" Poulenc work, the finale, titled "Rondeau a la francaise," came as a shock for many listeners. On many occasions during the early part of

1950, Poulenc wrote in his correspondence about the upset he experienced because of this movement's "impertinence and bad-boy side."349 His desire to present a different side of

Paris, "that of La Bastille instead of Passy" was not well received, especially in Boston where the public was "too Sibelius" according to Poulenc. Yet during its presentation at the concert held in Montreal, Canada on 1 February 1950, the same movement was encored.

Poulenc explained it thus: "To my stupefaction, we encored the finale of my concerto last night. The Canadian French-Catholic culture explains this reception, for me unforeseen."350

Despite his confidence that the negative response was due to a cultural misunderstanding,

Poulenc did not "get his revenge in Aix during a beautiful summer evening"351 as he thought he would. When he performed his concerto at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence during that summer of 1950, the critics were divided. It is at that time that Claude Rostand coined his famous description of Poulenc in an article in Paris-Presse in defence of the composer:

The monk and the rascal. There exist two personalities in Poulenc: there is, if I dare say so, a monk and a rascal. It is the latter who has signed the new concerto. A bad boy, sensual and affectionate, mischievous and soft, gracious and abrupt, aristocrat and plebeian, and who brings infinite eminence to the working class accent.352

349 Francis Poulenc, "Feuilles americaines" in A batons rompus, Lucie Kayas, ed. (Paris: Actes Sud, 1999), p.226. "Le 'Rondeau a la francaise' a choque, par son impertinence et son cote mauvais garcon.... J'esperais que cette vue de Paris, eviderament plus 'du cote de la Bastille que du cote de Passy' amuserait le public. Au fond je le crois decu." 350 Ibid, in A batons rompus, p.230. "A ma stupefaction, on a bisse hier soir le finale de mon concerto. La culture franco-catholique du Canada explique cet accueil, pour moi imprevu." 351 Poulenc, Correspondence, p.677. Letter from Poulenc to Charles Munch (15 February 1950): "Vous verrez, nous aurons notre revanche a Aix par une belle nuit d'ete." 5 Quoted from Claude Rostand in Paris-Presse (26 July 1950) in Poulenc, Correspondance, p.693. "Le moine et le voyou. II y a deux personnes chez Poulenc: il y a, si j'ose dire, du moine et du voyou. C'est le 237

The contrast of this third movement to its rather sombre counterparts and the expectation of the public who was getting used to Poulenc's latest "serious" works induced this negative response. Yet, whatever the reason, Poulenc will write to Charles Munch in 1960 that "if the Concerto was never heard again in Boston, it was because it was not worthy" and that "I had been wrong to write at age 50 in the style of his 30s."353 Whether justified or not, this regret by Poulenc was yet another example of his ongoing anxiety regarding his position within the artistic world.

The Parisian aesthetic heard in the 1949 concerto will again appear during the early

1950s with L'Embarquementpour Cythere (1951). This work is a valse-musette for two pianos with the following directions: "Quick and happy, no rubato, use of strict time with one beat per measure." Derived from music composed for Henri Lavorel's film Voyage en

Amerique of the same year, Poulenc wrote L 'Embarquement at Arthur Gold 5 and Robert

Fizdale's request for a brilliant piece to close their Town Hall Concert in New York in

1952. In a letter written to the piano duo in August 1951, Poulenc recommended that they keep this work as a "surprise-bomb." He added: "I know that you will play this work with much elegance. It will remind you of Jules, Mimile, Toto de la Bastille, and for the public,

I hope, simply Paris."355 Here again we see Poulenc's desire to convey his love of working- class, common Paris to the listeners. To reflect this Parisian atmosphere, Poulenc second qui a signe le nouveau concerto. Un mauvais garcon, sensuel et calin, polisson et attendri, gracieux et brusque, aristocrate et peuple, et qui a infiniment de distinction dans l'accent faubourien." 353 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.962. Letter from Poulenc to Munch (17 October 1960): "Je ne peux pas jouer le vieux Concerto. Si on ne l'a jamais reentendu a Boston c'est qu'il n'en valait pas la peine. J'ai eu le tort de l'ecrire, a 50 ans dans le style de mes 30 ans!" 354 Arthur Gold was born in Toronto in 1917. 355 Poulenc, Correspondance, p.985, footnote 2. "Je sais que vous jouerez cette piece avec beaucoup d'elegance. Elle vous rappellera Jules, Mimile, Toto de la Bastille et au public, je l'espere, simplement Paris." (Robert Fizdale's Archives) Note: the references to Jules, Mimile and Toto are probably common nicknames used in Paris, in the same way that "titi" refers to the common Parisian. "Mimile" was also the title of a chanson from 1939 performed by Chevalier (Georges Van Parys/music; Jean Boyer/text). 238

composed the melodic line based on eight-bar phrases and the alternation of two themes

(ABAB'A'B"A"Codetta) in imitation of the refrain/verse form found in the chanson. As seen in example 6.22, the accompaniment consists primarily of accordion-like chords in 3/4 time with some variety occurring during the B sections yet still largely maintaining a valse- musette accompaniment. Again, as in a number of works discussed thus far, the harmonic progression follows the traditional I-IV-V-I (as well as sometimes I-II7-V-I) with some use of iii6 and vi as passing chords between the tonic (I-iii6-vi-I).

Example 6.22 - Opening from L 'Embarquementpour Cythere (1951)

In contrast to this use of the popular aesthetic, the mid-1950s were marked by

Poulenc's obsession with Les Dialogues des Carmelites (1953-57) and La Voix humaine

(1958). Both of these works were to take a great toll on Poulenc emotionally. Regular bouts of depression resulting in his voluntary stay at a clinic at the end of 1954 as well as the death of his lover Lucien Roubert (12 October 1955) following a five-year stormy 239

relationship and the copyright problems involving the libretto of Les Dialogues, created a tumultuous atmosphere for Poulenc. Then the global success of his opera led the composer through difficult times of self-doubt over his abilities to repeat this success and maintain this new-found fame. Eventually Poulenc recovered his confidence and created works such as (1959), La Dame de Monte-Carlo (1961) and Sept reports des tenebres (also

1961).

One of Poulenc's last work making use of his beloved Parisian aesthetic was his last piano improvisation, Improvisation no. 15 (1959), conceived as an homage to Edith Piaf, the great chanteuse realiste at the height of her career. Although no writings survived of

Poulenc's view of Piaf (except for the one mention of "/a mome Piaf in connection with Le disparu), one can see that the composer was quite familiar with this performer and her singing style. Piaf was known for her realism and ability to convey the suffering and sadness held in the words of many of her songs. The fact that Poulenc chose to connect her early stage-name "la mome" (the sparrow) with a work (Le disparu) that "evokes the

Parisian Resistance and its daily tragedies [and] ...succeeds in expressing the haunting sadness, followed by the sentiment of revolt which gives way to despair and resignation"356 demonstrates his knowledge and understanding of Piaf s style. In this piano work, as in Les chemins de Vamour (1940) and Nos souvenirs qui chantent (1962), Poulenc used an overall ternary form (ABA'). The six-bar introduction outlines the primary thematic material (see example 6.23).

Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc et ses melodies, pp. 174-175. "Ce petit poeme evoque la 'Resistance' parisienne et ses tragedies quotidiennes. ... Par ce precede qui donne son unite a la melodie, le musicien reussit, sans aucune sentimentalite, a exprimer la tristesse lancinante, puis le sentiment de revolte et enfin le desespoir et la resignation, suggeres par ce poeme qui pouvait toucher Poulenc..." 240

PIANO

Cedejc un peu

Tempo slibito >—-rf\

r >' f . r

Example 6.23 - Opening from Improvisation no. 15 (1959)

The melody is largely stepwise, easy to sing and remember as most chansons are. It consists primarily of four-bar phrases with the A sections being the most regular (20 measures the first time and 24 measures the second time; similar lengths to the phrases of the chanson's refrain) and set in the tonality of C minor. The first five measures of the B section, heard in C major, are more instrumental-like with downward leaps of an octave or a seventh that are immediately followed by an ascending scalar passage, possibly a reference to the instrumental interludes found in the chanson, especially since these measures are

followed by a false return to A. Although the tonality returns to the minor, the key is wrong

(A minor instead of C minor) and the addition of a two-bar sequence is used to return to the 241

true A section and its original key of C minor. As for the harmonic progression of the main theme, it consists primarily of a descending sequence (i-iv-VII-III-VI-iio-V-i) with slight variations to this traditional pattern, such as using V7oflII instead of VII and V9ofV instead ofiio.

Poulenc included a number of performance directions in order for the pianist to recreate the style of singing used by Piaf. As seen in the above example, Poulenc made much use of "ceder" (slowing down) followed by "lenf (slow) with a sudden return to the original tempo in order to imitate the liberties taken by Piaf during her singing. The composer also used a triple metre typical of many chansons with a sentimental theme, a specialty of Piaf. The main time signature used is 9/8 but Poulenc also introduced measures in 6/8 and 12/8 which are used to build in ritardandos and evoke the fluidity and freedom of popular singers such as Piaf and Chevalier. The contrasts in dynamics, such as moving from pp to/within a few measures when the melody is repeated, such as between mm. 14-

19, directly conjure up the emotional stage performances of Piaf and the turmoil surrounding her life.

Conclusion

As witnessed in the above examples, in the latter part of Poulenc's oeuvre, his inclusion of the Parisian lowbrow aesthetic is primarily motivated by his feelings of nostalgia. Yet the years surrounding World War II also included a patriotic inclination in his choices of poetry and musical styles. As demonstrated in his correspondence, Poulenc experienced great anxiety about his advancing age. His desire to again live through certain moments of his youth and the occasional realization of the futility of this longing impacted 242

his compositional choices many times. The joyful and carefree atmosphere of his early adulthood was to remain ever present, providing instants of pride such as the satisfaction he felt with Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) as well as moments of disappointment such as the audience's negative reaction to the "Rondeau a la francaise" of his Concerto pour piano et orchestre (1949). Conclusion

Francis Poulenc grew up and developed his musical style, both as a performer and as a composer, during a unique time in history. Early-twentieth-century Paris provided an unparalleled environment where tradition and avant-garde, not only co-existed, but also fought for primacy. The consistent tension that permeated French society in the first decades of the century helped in shaping Poulenc's personality and played a major role in the definition of his identity as a composer. Although other musicians and composers were equally impacted by this socio-political as well as cultural dichotomy, Poulenc was irrevocably shaped by the events that marked his early life. Factors such as his impressionable age, his social status, where he lived, his educational background and his friendships combined with his personal tastes and his eclectic character, all played an important role in Poulenc's development as a composer who chose to use a typically French aesthetic that easily brought together lowbrow and highbrow idioms. His personal experiences with Parisian entertainment, such as meeting Fortuge, witnessing first hand the early performances of Chevalier and attending shows in both the boulevard cafes and the music-halls, merged with the dominating ideologies of the period and helped define his future views of the Belle Epoque and of his own early years. To a great extent, Poulenc became a product of his time: a man marked by the nostalgia and patriotism that marked

French society.

This thesis examined the manner in which these ideologies of nostalgia and patriotism influenced Poulenc's use of the Parisian popular aesthetic. As demonstrated in

the analysis of many compositions, the appearance of the popular aesthetic in Poulenc was motivated by various reasons. In a number of Poulenc's personal as well as musical

243 244

writings, nostalgia and sadness became associated with an irreversible past, that of the Belle

Epoque and the composer's carefree childhood. This correlation often played a foremost role in Poulenc's choices when it came to poetry and musical style, with a definitive link established between poems written during the early-twentieth century portraying Parisian images and the appearance of the Parisian lowbrow aesthetic in the music. At the same time, Poulenc's use of the popular idiom was driven by his desire to underline the humour and carefree atmosphere in a composition. By observing Poulenc's adolescence and early adulthood, one realizes that many of his comfortable early memories were directly tied to his evenings at Parisian popular establishments. The cheerful, eclectic and chaotic surroundings created a lasting memory for the composer, and it was often the attempt to reconstruct this atmosphere that stimulated Poulenc's lowbrow aesthetic.

The other element that encouraged the surfacing of the lowbrow aesthetic in Poulenc was his personal identification as a Frenchman and especially a Parigot. Growing up in

Paris and born to a mother whose family had been Parisian for many generations, reinforced his close ties to the capital city. His childhood spent primarily in Paris and its near suburb

Nogent-sur-Marne infused Poulenc with an intimate comprehension of what it meant to be

Parisian as well as French. By living in the heart of one of the most exciting cities in the world, at a time when personalities such as Diaghilev, Picasso, Stravinsky, Cocteau and

Satie lived and interacted with one another, and by becoming early on a valuable part of this circle, Poulenc forged a lifelong connection to this era. Intertwined to this incredible artistic opportunity is the composer's search for an identity. Poulenc, as any young adult, sought to build his independence, both personally and professionally. Living with his sister

Jeanne, following their parents' deaths, Poulenc found a supportive environment in which 245

to pursue his musical aspirations. Through a growing circle of friends and acquaintances, the young man continued to expand his previous knowledge of the various artistic and literary movements that saturated Paris in those years. Exposed to new thoughts and ideologies such as Satie's and Cocteau's everyday aesthetic, Poulenc was able to integrate his love for the French popular chanson within his developing compositional style, as well as be provided opportunities to try out this style in public forums, such as the concerts organized on the rue Huyghens.

Beyond this immediate circle of influence, French politics and socio-cultural policies as well as the overall impact of the First World War on French society cannot be overestimated. A large number of artistic movements were directly shaped by these larger issues (e.g. Dadaism was a direct response to the insanity of the Great War). Thus, despite

Poulenc's young age, characteristically plagued by self-centeredness, and his apparent lack of interest in politics, this composer was not oblivious to the various social and political currents of his time. One of the main beliefs of the time, both pre and postwar, was the search for a French identity within a growing globalization. The nationalist and patriotic movements involved every French citizen and the war placed this concern at the forefront.

The composer was not impervious to this question of national identity since the majority of his acquaintances had been affected by the war, either directly or indirectly (e.g. Cocteau and the Count of Beaumont both participated in the war and Stravinsky had left Paris for

Switzerland). As explored in this thesis, the question of identity for Poulenc was closely linked to the view he had of himself as a Parigot. Poulenc's patriotism took on many facets, but the one that concerned us primarily in this research was how he incorporated

Parisian lowbrow aesthetic in his works with the purpose of expounding his identity. On 246

many occasions this inclusion of popular idioms was a means of self-expression (e.g.

Cocardes, Le Bal masque, Les Mamelles de Tiresias). Yet in other cases, Poulenc sought to present an intimate image of his Paris (e.g. Concerto pour piano et orchestre, "Rondeau a la francaise," L 'Embarquement pour Cythere) in hopes of acquainting a foreign public with his everyday city instead of the usual one seen by the majority of tourists.

Poulenc maintained his popular aesthetic throughout his life despite some of the criticism he suffered because of its use. The mixture of lowbrow and highbrow was his way of retaining his French identity while at the same time perpetuating a disappearing tradition.

Through stylistic allusion, Poulenc succeeded in creating musical works that were normally accepted by the "serious" art public while at the same time appealed to the general public.

Poulenc possessed the ability to tap into the memories of French audiences, transporting them to an earlier era while, at the same time, investing his music with a distinctly French sound with which his countrymen could identify even if they were not familiar with

Parisian popular culture per se. Yet to the composer's surprise some of these specifically

Parisian/nogentais works (e.g. Le Bal masque) were also admired by foreigners. It is my opinion that some of the popular aesthetic suggested in Poulenc's oeuvre, such as the circus and the country fair, had acquired, over the years, an international flavour as well as an overall nostalgic association. For a worldwide generation that was consistently faced with fast-paced changes, this music, despite its characteristically French qualities, provided it with an opportunity for a nostalgic backward glance at its own youthful entertainment. This combination of lowbrow and nostalgia as well as honest respect for the popular culture of his youth became an essential quality of Poulenc's music. 247

Further research

Poulenc's interactions with lowbrow aesthetic held a high degree of complexity because of the many definitions that can be given to this aesthetic as well as the composer's tendency to allude to a style rather than provide direct quotations. Although this thesis focused on Poulenc's integration of Parisian popular culture as found in the cafe-concert, the music-hall, the circus, the fete foraine and the bal musette, there is also work left to be done regarding Poulenc's use of French folklore in his works (e.g. Chansons frangaises,

Chansons gaillardes, Chansons villageoises), a popular genre that was beyond the one established for this research. The composer's propensity to combine neo-classicism (as heard in Concert champetre or Aubade), early French musical sources (as found in the songs heard in the ballet Les Biches or the Suite francaise based on works by mid-sixteenth- century composer, Claude Gervaise) and his own twentieth-century musical language make the many delineations difficult to separate at times yet these numerous layers of musical language are all essential to our understanding of Francis Poulenc the composer.

This thesis restricted itself to the composer's use of nostalgia and patriotism as found in the compositions containing Parisian popular culture. Another facet to this topic that should be pursued is Poulenc's use of nostalgia and patriotism in other contexts, as heard in works such as Aubade, Melancolie and Figure humaine, to name but a few. The composer's nostalgia went beyond his memories of Parisian entertainment. His desire for the past was also linked to the emotional stability that existed before the emergence of his homosexuality as well as his return to Catholicism. 248

Looking at the research into French popular culture, one realizes that there is still much work to be accomplished. A deeper exploration of early-twentieth-century Parisian chanson and its repertoire is much needed. Up to this point, there has been research into nineteenth-century chanson (e.g. Mary Ellen Poole, Charles Rearick), into the chanson as found during the First World War (e.g. Regina M. Sweeney) and into mid-twentieth-century singer-songwriters (e.g. Peter Hawkins). Other issues that have been examined, as previously mentioned, are the role of the chanson as the people's voice as well as various performers' biographies. But in these types of research the music has been ignored in favour of either the texts and their social significance, or the performers' life and times. A closer comparison of the numerous sheet music publications of the period with the various recordings is necessary in order to provide a better understanding of Parisian popular culture. Another area of research consists in the investigation of the impact of globalization on French popular culture, especially the interactions that developed between American music and French, primarily Parisian, music during the 1920s and 1930s, not only as found in the music-halls and the circus but also in cinematography and overall popular music.

Finally an exploration into the links that existed between French popular music and the

French-Canadian community could reveal some interesting information regarding possible influences.

As can be seen from this list of topics deserving further research, my thesis has uncovered but the tip of the iceberg. Yet with this study, I hope that scholars will have gained a new insight into Francis Poulenc's voyou personality and through this a greater respect for his, at times, lesser-known works. Bibliography

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100 arts de bal musette: les grands classiques de I'accordeon et de la chanson musette. Sony BMG Music Entertainment, BIEM/GEMA 82876895262-272 (2 CDs), 2006.

Anthologie de la chanson francaise enregistree: les annees 1900-1920. EPM Musique, EPM 3017552 (10 CDs), 2007.

Anthologie de la chanson frangaise enregistree: les annees 1920-1930. EPM Musique, VC 101 (10 CDs), 1993.

Caf cone' vol.1. Disque Forlane/Disques DOM, FOR 19243, n.d.

Chansons coquines et equivoques. Soldore, SOL 627, 2003.

Feteforaine & cirque: 1928-1954. Groupe Fremeaux Colombini SAS, FA 5124 (2 CDs), 2005.

L 'age d'or du Moulin Rouge. Mastertech PTY Ltd., 504432, 2001.

Les chansons de ces annees-ld... 1850-1899. Disque Forlane/UMIP France, 19161, 1999.

Les chansons de ces annees-ld... 1900-1913. Disque Forlane/ UMIP France, 19169, 1999.

Les chansons de ces annees-ld... 1914-1918. Disque Forlane/ UMIP France, 19171, 1999.

Les chansons de ces annees-ld... 1919-1924. Disque Forlane/ UMIP France, 19172, 1999.

Les musiques du cirque. Membran Music Ltd., 223625-205, 2006.

Les vedettes frangaises : le cafe-concert et la revue. Mudisque de France, MDF 102.612- 615 (4 CDs), 1996.

Musiques de cirque: Cocktail Collection, Great Circus Orchestra. Disques Vogue SA, BM 830,1994.

Musique de cirque par lafanfouille d'Orleans. Inter Loisirs Disc Sari, ILD 642110, 1991.

On chante a Montmartre. Soldore, SOL 559, 2001.

Rendez-vous au bal musette, vol.1. Membran Music Ltd., 223047-205, 2005. 262

Chevalier, Maurice. Maurice Chevalier: 1919-1930. Groupe Fremeaux Colombini SA, FA162(2CDs), 1999.

Damia. La guinguette aferme ses volets. Membran Music Ltd., 222649-205, 2004.

Mistinguett. Mistinguett: Les legendes d'or. Disky Communications Europe B.V., FSI 645022,2001.

Piaf, Edith. Adieu mon cceur. Membran Music Ltd., 223493-321 (10 CDs), n.d.

Scotto, Vincent. 52 chansons de Vincent Scotto. Virgin France, (2 CDs), 1991.

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Arts du spectacle. Recueil factile d'articles depresse concernant: Bach, 8-RO-15810 (R 167300) Charlus, 8-RO-15902 Dranem, 8-RO-15979 Frehel, dite Pervenche, 8-RO-16033 Gabriel Fortuge, 8-RO-16025 (R 16740) Jeanne Bloch, 8-RO-15844 Maurice Chevalier, 8-RO-15913 (R 123481-123483) Mayol, 8-RO-16185 Mistinguett, 4-RO-16206 (R 123536) Paulus, 8-RO-16266 Polin, 8-RO-16298 Le music-hall, 8-RO-15678 (R 123756) Les spectacles de revues de music-hall, 8-RO-17908 Presse et de caricatures concernant le cirque, le music-hall et les spectacles de varietes (1923-1931), 4-RO-17586 (vol. 1-10)

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