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Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts Jordan College of the Arts

1992 Book Reviews: "Darius Milhaud" by Paul Collaer; “The Operas of Darius Milhaud" by Jeremy Drake Wayne C. Wentzel Butler University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Wentzel, Wayne C., "Book Reviews: "Darius Milhaud" by Paul Collaer; “The Operas of Darius Milhaud" by Jeremy Drake" (1992). Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts. 13. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jca_papers/13

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Jordan College of the Arts at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 882 NOTES, March 1992 covers the performance, reception, and series of reminiscences of Bart6k for Bartdk publication of Bart6k's music in Britain in Remembered (New York: Norton, 1990) and the seven years separating his last visit to has prepared an edition of Bart6k's letters the country and his death in 1945. on music soon to be available. The work is Again and again, Gillies uncovers evi- important. Perhaps future projects will al- dence that Bart6k seems to have been his low Gillies to reflect on the sources of in- own worst liability in matters of public re- formation he has amassed in these works lations. His amorous intentions for Thildi and share with us his own critical evalu- Richter (daughter of Hans) and Jelly Ara- ations of Bart6k. nyi contributed to the loss of the musical DAVID E. SCHNEIDER support of these two important Hungarian- University of California, Berkeley musical families in Britain. Bart6k's apol- ogetic stage presence and note-imperfect performances emerge as impediments to winning converts to Bart6k's musical style. Darius Milhaud. By Paul Collaer. Heseltine and Gray found Bart6k person- Translated and edited by Jane Hoh- ally ingratiating, but grew cooler towards feld Galante, with a definitive cata- the man and his music when confronted logue of works compiled from the with the highly dissonant works of the late composer's own notebooks by teens and early twenties. By giving equal coverage to Bart6k the performer and Madeleine Milhaud and revised by Bart6k the composer, Gillies invites com- Jane Hohfeld Galante. San Francisco: parison between the two. Just as Bart6k's San Francisco Press, 1988. [xv, 400 p. performances were at the same time re- ISBN 0-911302-62-X. $45.00.] spected but off-putting, his stage presence was meek and his touch steely. Still, the The Operas of Darius Milhaud. By extent to which Bart6k was generally re- Jeremy Drake. (Outstanding Disserta- spected and even ardently supported by a tions in Music from British Universi- few stalwarts speaks well for the sophisti- ties.) New York: Garland Publishing, cation of the English. Bart6k certainly baf- 1989. [439 p. ISBN 0-8240-0192-3. fled this musical public, but perhaps less $80.00.] than audiences anywhere else in the world. Bart6k in Britain serves a dual purpose: For a composer as well known and as well to explicate Bart6k and to paint a picture liked as Darius Milhaud, it is surprising that of the musical life in Britain from 1904 to there are so few books about him. There 1945. Because of the spotty nature of re- is, of course, his own autobiography, Ma vie views, correspondence, and personal rec- heureuse, known in Donald Evans's trans- ollections, both portraits are by necessity lation as Notes Without Music (London: D. sketchy, but the glimpses of the person and Dobson, 1952). Beyond that, we have to the country are potent. Gillies makes sur- turn to various articles and general books prisingly little effort to synthesize the on twentieth-century music to discover whole. Perhaps he recognizes that it is dan- much information about Milhaud and his gerous to draw generalizations from a music. This situation has been somewhat study that is limited by geography. Nev- corrected by the recent publication of ertheless Gillies could use more commen- two books: Paul Collaer's Darius Milhaud tary to alleviate what occasionally becomes and Jeremy Drake's The Operas of Darius a chronicle of an itinerary. At its best Milhaud. Gillies's direct writing style exhibits a dry Collaer, a colleague and close friend of wit as when writing about the reception of Milhaud, first wrote his book in 1939. It a concert with Jelly Aranyi, "As so often in was not published until 1947 and included the past, [Bart6k's] music was recognized as discussions of Milhaud's music through the most original, and also the ugliest, in opus 191. In 1982 he revised and updated the programme" (p. 143). the book and included Milhaud's remain- In the last several years Gillies has been ing works (opp. 192-443). The English on an impressive publishing spree. In ad- translation by Jane Galante was published dition to Bart6k in Britain, he has edited a in 1988. She knew Milhaud and worked

This content downloaded from 159.242.213.80 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:03:13 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Book Reviews 883 closely with Madeleine Milhaud in prepar- however, sees a constant evolution in ing a "Catalogue of Compositions," which the music, and a clear division into style forms the substantial last part of the book. periods. The Operas of Milhaud is Drake's 1983 doc- In order to present and sustain his view- toral thesis, reproduced from typescript by point, Collaer gives numerous generaliza- Garland Publishing as a part of its series, tions that are hard to justify: "Each com- Outstanding Dissertations in Music From position is an extension of all the others" British Universities, replete with typo- (p. 23); "Milhaud's musical style never var- graphical errors and handwritten musical ied" (p. 26); "his basic melodic inspiration, examples. his handling of counterpoint, and the Both of these books are welcome addi- whole mood that his music communicates tions to the field and they complement each never changed after 1910" (p. 27); "Chro- other somewhat. They cover slightly dif- nological order is not particularly impor- ferent territories and are written in very tant since . . . the tools of this composer's contrasting literary styles. Collaer's work is craft varied very little after about 1910" (p. the more general of the two. While it 79). Such statements are sometimes left un- touches on some biographical details, it substantiated, or are backed up by too few deals mainly with Milhaud's music itself. carefully selected examples. Collaer even refers us to Milhaud's biog- Drake works from a different perspec- raphy if we feel the need to put the music tive. He first discusses several individual into a chronological and social context. He works, notes their similarities and differ- prefers to think of his book as "a kind of ences, and then derives generalizations guided tour through the composer's works, from them. For example, after his intro- stopping before the masterpieces" (p. xv). ductions, he has a chapter on La brebis The book is general from two points of egar&e and another on the three parts of view. It includes chapters on all the dif- L'Orestie. It is then that he presents his ini- ferent genres, as well as several chapters tial ideas of neo-classicism. After a return devoted to musical generalizations about to the more specific operas, Les malheurs Milhaud's music as a whole. It is also gen- d'Orphee, Esther de Carpentras, Le pauvre eral in the sense that the musical studies are matelot, and the three "Operas-Minutes," he somewhat superficial (a guided tour) and is then able to consolidate his ideas into a seem to be aimed at the general reader. significant part of his book on style in these Drake's book, on the other hand, is more neo-classical works. He adopts the same ap- scholarly. Since his subject is narrower, he proach with the operas of the middle and can afford to devote more attention to each final periods. Drake can therefore list dis- work and attempt deeper analytical in- tinguishing characteristics of these style pe- sights. Because of its scholarly density, The riods, such as the following: Operas of Milhaud is not always as easy to read as Collaer's survey. We may be Neo-classical: Brazilian popular music, tempted to skim through some of the more jazz, polymetricality, (poly)modality, os- detailed descriptions and to glance only tinatos, very little counterpoint briefly at the charts and formal outlines. Middle Period: thick texture, held Yet these formal outlines present us with the clearest summary of Milhaud's musical chords rather than counterpoint, mo- constructions. We should also be prepared tivic development, long "amorphous" phrases, milder harmonies, less obvious to encounter many untranslated French polymodality, more 4-square rhythms quotations. While not presenting difficul- ties to music scholars, they may put off Final Period: small instrumental forces, other readers. more counterpoint, more supple For purposes of comparison, I will deal rhythms, shorter phrases, few ostinatos mainly with the two authors' discussions of opera. A major difference between them Since Collaer does not believe in chro- lies in their respective perceptions of Mil- nological evolution, he presents Milhaud's haud's music. Collaer views all of Milhaud's dramatic music out of sequence. He first works as part of a stylistic unity, with little presents those works that are on a small variance from one work to another. Drake, scale, works that portray "the essential

This content downloaded from 159.242.213.80 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:03:13 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 884 NOTES, March 1992 loneliness of the individual" (p. 105). These purpose to say that in Wagner's music, the are La brebis egaree, Les malheurs d'Orphee, Le dramatic flow is "submerged in a mist of pauvre matelot, and Esther de Carpentras. (In labored conventions," or that "it loses the his category of "dramatic works" he also direct path to our hearts" (p. 29). includes the ballets, such as La creation du Both books are also welcome for refer- monde.) He then goes on to discuss the ence purposes. Collaer's book contains a large-scale, monumental works, such as valuable catalogue of compositions com- L'Orestie, Christophe Colomb, Maximilien, Bo- piled by Madeleine Milhaud and revised by livar, and Medee, which he describes as "syn- Galante. The discography lists only histor- theses of human belief, morality, and the ical recordings in which Milhaud himself kind of behavior that is conditioned by di- performs or conducts, and the bibliogra- vine law" (p. 105). phy, compiled by R. Wood Massi, contains One of the assets of Collaer's discussions only works in English. is the large number of musical examples he Drake's frequent citing of manuscripts includes. Although a few works are not il- and preliminary sketches is very informa- lustrated at all (Bolivar, La mere coupable, tive (pp. 4-11, 64-66, 71-72, 115-118, and Saint-Louis), most are represented by etc.). An appendix supplies a brief list of several examples, with the section on significant data concerning each opera, in- L'Orestie containing twenty diverse pas- cluding the source of the libretto, the size sages. Given the scholarly nature of Drake's of orchestra, and the dates of composition, work, it may seem strange that it contains orchestration, and first performance. What so few musical examples, though Drake is particularly revealing here is how few does provide careful references to page operas are available in full score and how and measure numbers for readers who very few recordings there are of any of wish to consult the scores. In addition, the these works. Most operas have been pre- types of musical examples that Drake pre- served only on tape from French radio sents are usually quite different from those broadcasts and are housed in the Phono- in Darius Milhaud. While Collaer provides theque Nationale in Paris. exact passages from the piano-vocal scores, Both authors think highly of Milhaud's Drake is more likely to give us chord for- operas (with the exception of La mere cou- mations (p. 57), variants or transformations pable) and their efforts should rekindle in- of a theme (p. 59, 171), or a comparison terest in these works. The operas received of motives from several works (p. 190, 191). favorable responses during Milhaud's life- Galante's translation of Collaer is excel- time, but they are totally neglected now. lent in both accuracy and readability. She Books on opera barely mention Milhaud carefully preserves his colorful writing and those that do are often derogatory. style. At its best it offers vivid imagery; at Guy A. Marco's Opera: A Research and In- its worst, it could be called "purple prose." formation Guide (New York: Garland Pub- For instance, he compares the melodies in lishing, 1984) relegates Milhaud to a few Orph&e with "various kinds of flowers, some citations in a checklist. The History of Opera as fresh as lilies of the valley, others somber edited by Stanley Sadie (New York: like mauve tulips" (p. 83). A particular pas- Norton, 1980) and Opera: A History by sage in La brebis egaree is said to be "smiling Christopher Headington, Roy Westbrook inwardly" (p. 57) and a passage from Le and Terry Barfoot (New York: St. Martins pauvre matelot is "bare as a plaster wall, Press, 1987) each have only a brief para- against which is laced an espalier of suc- graph devoted to Milhaud. In his book, The cessive chromaticism" (p. 89). Despite these Experience of Opera (New York: Norton, occasional excesses, Collaer's writing is in- 1971), Paul Henry Lang includes him in formative and easily understandable. We the chapter "Out of the Main Stream." should also bear in mind that even though Donald Jay Grout's Short History of Opera the author is Belgian, he is extremely chau- devotes a few pages to Milhaud and treats vinistic about French music and decidedly him reasonably fairly and objectively, yet, biased against anything German, particu- Milhaud's stature as an opera composer di- larly the music of Wagner. While it makes minishes over the span of the several edi- sense to contrast Milhaud's language and tions. In the first (New York: Columbia aesthetic with Wagner's, it serves no real University Press, 1947) he is called a "lead-

This content downloaded from 159.242.213.80 on Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:03:13 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Book Reviews 885

ing composer of French opera during the the author of a master's thesis titled "An interwar period" (p. 524), but is merely the Analysis of Gydrgy Ligeti's Ten Pieces for "most prolific of all twentieth-century com- Wind Quintet" (University of Oregon, 1982). posers" in the second and third editions The biographical essay, consisting of (1965, p. 563, and 1988, p. 660, respec- only five pages, aims merely to orient the tively). reader. However, such brevity is often det- Milhaud fares even less well in Ethan rimental, as in this passage from p. 4: Mordden's Opera in the Twentieth Century "Ligeti and his wife, Vera, left Hungary in (New York: Oxford University Press, December of 1956. He arrived eventually 1978). Mordden refers to "freakish poly- in Cologne." Richart omits the life- tonal blocks" (p. 137), and to "an obstrep- threatening details of their escape, which erous polyphonic orchestra" (p. 152). He involved hiding under mail bags on a postal describes Milhaud as "dry as tinder" and train, and being forced to walk the final leg writes that "his superb is fragile [sic] and of the journey to the Austrian border, his gravity often lighthearted" (p. 212). It while dodging the Soviet border patrol. is in the light of such extreme bias that Ligeti's own description of the journey ap- Drake's thorough and objective discussions pears in Paul Griffiths's Gyorgy Ligeti (Lon- of Milhaud's operas should be viewed. Per- don: Robson Books, 1983, pp. 23-24), haps even Collaer's gushing praise mainly which remains the only book-length biog- counterbalances the current vogue of neg- raphy of the composer in English to date. ative opinions. Both books should contrib- Griffiths's biography also notes that ute to a re-evaluation of Milhaud's music, many of the early compositions listed as resulting in a greater number of available missing in Nordwall's monograph have scores, performances, and complete re- since come to light (ibid., 22), and that the cordings. composer intends to publish many more of WAYNE C. WENTZEL his early works in addition to those that Butler University have recently appeared from Schott. Un- fortunately, Richart has chosen to list only twenty-two selected compositions from Gyorgy Ligeti: A Bio-bibliography. Ligeti's Hungarian period. It is difficult to By Robert W. Richart. (Bio-biblio- discern the author's criteria for selection: graphies in Music, 30.) New York: he includes several brief unpublished Greenwood Press, 1990. [xii, 188 p. works, but only two of the twelve choral ISBN 0-313-25174-6. $39.95.] works published in Hungary before 1957. Richart does refer readers to Nordwall's Robert W. Richart's Gydrgy Ligeti: A Bio- catalogue, which lists details on ninety-two bibliography will be of mixed value to Ligeti published and unpublished works written scholars. Although it is the most extensive before 1957, and mentions a revised list by bibliographical work on this composer Fred Sallis of the early works, which has not since Ove Nordwall's Gydrgy Ligeti: eine appeared in print as of this writing. Ri- Monographie (Mainz: Schott, 1971), several chart's post-1956 work list does appear to abbreviated or missing elements make this be complete, with the possible exception of study less than satisfying overall. The lay- one work: 3 Objekte, for two pianos (1976), out follows the standard format of Green- supplied by Nordwall in his Ligeti work list wood's series (which extends to forty in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and volumes as of this writing): a brief bio- Musicians. I have not been able to find any graphical essay, followed by a list of works other mention of this title; if it does exist, and performances, a bibliography of writ- it appears to be unpublished. It is surpris- ings by and about the composer, and a dis- ing that Richart could not venture to con- cography. Two appendixes provide a clas- firm nor correct such an entry in a standard sified list of compositions and a selective list reference work, especially since he claims of concerts and festivals devoted to Ligeti. to have been in correspondence with Nord- An ample index of names and subjects wall (p. xi). The work list does contain con- rounds out the volume. Richart is the sec- siderable information for most of Ligeti's ond recipient of the Music Library Asso- works, including year of composition, pub- ciation's Walter Gerboth Award (1987) and lisher (but not the year of publication), tim-

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