California State University, Northridge Jean Cocteau
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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE JEAN COCTEAU AND THE MUSIC OF POST-WORLD WAR I FRANCE A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Music by Marlisa Jeanine Monroe January 1987 The Thesis of Marlisa Jeanine Monroe is approved: B~y~ri~jl{l Pfj}D. Nancy an Deusen, Ph.D. (Committee Chair) California State University, Northridge l.l. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page ABSTRACT iv INTRODUCTION • 1 I. EARLY INFLUENCES 4 II. DIAGHILEV 8 III. STRAVINSKY I 15 IV • PARADE 20 v. LE COQ ET L'ARLEQUIN 37 VI. LES SIX 47 Background • 47 The Formation of the Group 54 Les Maries de la tour Eiffel 65 The Split 79 Milhaud 83 Poulenc 90 Auric 97 Honegger 100 VII. STRAVINSKY II 109 VIII. CONCLUSION 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY 120 APPENDIX: MUSICAL CHRONOLOGY 123 iii ABSTRACT JEAN COCTEAU AND THE MUSIC OF POST-WORLD WAR I FRANCE by Marlisa Jeanine Monroe Master of Arts in Music Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a highly creative and artistically diverse individual. His talents were expressed in every field of art, and in each field he was successful. The diversity of his talent defies traditional categorization and makes it difficult to assess the singularity of his aesthetic. In the field of music, this aesthetic had a profound impact on the music of Post-World War I France. Cocteau was not a trained musician. His talent lay in his revolutionary ideas and in his position as a catalyst for these ideas. This position derived from his ability to seize the opportunities of the time: the need iv to fill the void that was emerging with the waning of German Romanticism and impressionism; the great showcase of Diaghilev • s Ballets Russes; the talents of young musicians eager to experiment and in search of direction; and a congenial artistic atmosphere. This study examines and evaluates Cocteau•s essential role in the formation and realization of the music of Post-World War I France. The strength of his influence during this period is revealed upon tracing his development from his childhood through his collaborations with Diaghilev, the composers Satie, Stravinsky, and members of Les Six, and an examination of the ideas expressed in his book, Le ~ et l'arleguin. v INTRODUCTION Post-world War I France was ripe for an artistic catharsis. The old guard, in the form of impressionism and German Romanticism, had yielded to a rapid succession of •isms• (primitivism, Fauvism, cubism), which had yet to coalesce into an answer. The need for a strong new direction was mandated by the explosion of Le Sacre du printemps, but the uniquely French situation in the arts dictated a different direction. An answer, more closely aligned with this situation, emerged toward the end of the war in the form of Parade. Parade was the indigenous product of a unique society. The Parisian art world of the early twentieth century was characterized by a democratic attitude unparalleled in any other country. There was a strong sense of camaraderie among the writers, musicians and painters frequenting the cafes of the city. Collaborative artistic efforts were the natural outgrowth of this exchange of ideas and shared spirit. An appropriate vehicle of expression, one which could incorporate a multiplicity of arts, was the ballet. Parade set the precedent. It heralded the direction of the post-war years and formally introduced the prime exponent of that direction: Jean Cocteau. l 2 Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) possessed a prolific and multi-faceted talent, and a personality of great wit and charm. This talent was expressed in many fields: in writing as a poet, playwright, novelist, critic, journalist and essayist: in ballet as a scenarist: in film as a scenarist and director: in art as a painter, sculptor, and illustrator: and in opera as a set and costume designer, and librettist. A partial accounting of Cocteau's musical collaborators yields another long list: the artists Pablo Picasso, Leon Bakst, and Raoul Dufy: the choreographers Michel Fokine, Leonid Massine, Roland Petit, Serge Lifar, and Maurice B~jart: the composers Erik Satie, the members of Les Six, Igor Stravinsky, Hans Werner Henze, Ned Rorem, and Gian-Carlo Menotti: and the great impresario Serge Diaghilev. As their names are important in assessing the accomplishments of Cocteau, so too is his in assessing theirs. Unfortunately, the great number of labels that may be attached to Cocteau, and the variety of personalities with whom he was associated, tends to paint a negative picture: one who excelled in no particular field, but dabbled in many. This picture diffuses Cocteau's impact on the arts and belies the singularity of his aesthetic. In the field of music, the strength of this aesthetic is traceable from his childhood through his collaborations with Diaghilev, 3 Stravinsky, Satie and Les Six, and in his personal manifesto, Le ~ et l'arlequin. The formation and realization of Cocteau's musical aesthetic, and the extent to which he influenced the aesthetic of his collaborators, constitutes an invaluable contribution to the music of Post-World War I France and, therefore, to the history of twentieth-century music. This contribution has never been fully assessed or comprehensively isolated. To that end, this investigation (consolidating newly-discerned and extant information) of Cocteau's musically relevant literary works and musical collaborations (including earlier works without which his achievements cannot be fully comprehended) will elucidate and provide evidence of his significant contribution to the music of Post-World War I France. CHAPTER I EARLY INFLUENCES Jean Cocteau was not a trained musician, nor did he methodically pursue the study of any of the fields in which his creativity was ultimately expressed. He did, however, have a childhood rich in artistic inspiration. He feasted on the cultural delights of Paris, from the colorful and earthy entertainments of the circus and the streets, to the spectacular productions of the city's great stages. Cocteau was raised in Paris. His parents were avid opera-, concert- and theater-goers, and he was included in these activities. In addition Cocteau's father, a broker in his father-in-law's firm by profession, possessed an avid interest in painting, which he shared with his son. The world of the circus also featured prominently in Cocteau's creative development. He was especially fond of the expressive antics of the clowns and the drama of the acrobatic acts.l Clowns and acrobats would often enter into his later artistic endeavors, elevated, of course, lJean Cocteau, Professional Secrets, tr. by Richard Howard ([New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1970]), p. 14. 4 5 from the circus ring to the stages of the great opera and concert halls of the world, to project through their lucidity that heightened sense of reality Cocteau found so appealing. Cocteau's maternal grandfather, M. Eugene Lecomte, provided his grandson with valuable musical stimulation. Lecomte was an accomplished cellist who played quartets with friends (among whom was the renowned violinist Sarasate); he owned a collection of Stradivarius violins, and had once lived in an apartment above Rossini.2 In his autobiographical writings, Cocteau reveals how the enchanted atmosphere of his grandfather's apartment, with its cabinet of precious violins, and also one of masks, and the many evenings of chamber music, supplied his inventive young mind with precious source material.3 Sarasate, with his nhuge mustache, his grey mane, his frogged Prince Albert, his watch-chain, and his trousers strapped under tiny patent-leather boots • n invoked the image of a lion tamer.4 This colorful image led to the creation of a little scenario. Cocteau and his cousins invented a game wherein they ntrappedn the lion tamer. A gate, installed on the second floor landing of 2Margaret Crosland, Cocteau (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956), p. 6. 3cocteau, ~· cit., p. 10. 4Loc. cit. 6 Lecomte's apartment, covered the exposed drop between the second floor and the hallway below. From this vantage point, the cousins could observe the image of Sarasa~e as he arranged his hair in the hallway mirror. Then, with much ceremony, they would close the gate over the dramatic vision below--" ••• the lion tamer caged!"S Thus, at an early age he was already inventing tableaux. Paradoxically, Cocteau found something lacking in the rich cultural environment of his childhood: "My family was too artistic for me to be able to rebel against them, and not artistic enough to give me useful advice.•6 He was bursting with artistic potential, but it was not being channeled or passionately nurtured. He would never be content to be merely a patron of the arts, as his parents were. His education proved no more helpful. He was recognized as a bright student, but he showed little interest in his subjects and was expelled from one school after another. In the end, he failed to pass his baccalaureate. It remained for Cocteau to absorb the riches of his childhood experiences, assimilate them, and guide his own innate artistic capabilities. SLoe. cit. 6Jean Cocteau, La Difficulte d'etre (Monaco: Editions du Rocher, 1947), p.~S, as quoted by Francis Steegmuller in Cocteau (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, [1970]), p. 8. 7 As a young poet living in Paris, Cocteau was aptly matched with the tenor of his times. His manner of dress (that of a dandy), his wit, and his talent, lent themselves to the prevailing milieu of the cafe society. The burgeoning artistic circles in the city were constantly open and searching for new stimuli. Romanticism and impressionism were waning, and none of the new "isms• were developing into movements with obvious growth potential.