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Aestheticism and Orientalism in Fin-De-Siècle France

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Aestheticism and Orientalism in Fin-De-Siècle France UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Musical Dandysme: Aestheticism and Orientalism in fin-de-siècle France A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology by Zarah Sophia Ersoff 2013 © Copyright by Zarah Sophia Ersoff 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Musical Dandysme: Aestheticism and Orientalism in fin-de-siècle France by Zarah Sophia Ersoff Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Mitchell Morris, Chair This dissertation explores some of the ways in which fin-de-siècle French composers negotiated the boundaries between masculinity, aestheticism and Orientalism in their music. Dandysme – in English, dandyism – refers to the philosophy and practices of the dandy, an individual (usually male) who places particular importance upon physical appearance and mannered elegance, who lives his life with an air of cold indifference, and above all, according to Charles Baudelaire, strives to elevate aesthetics to a living religion. I examine musical dandysme as a form of sonic self-fashioning through a close examination of three composers and patrons: Robert de Montesquiou, Reynaldo Hahn, and Maurice Ravel. These men were dandies in multiple senses of the word: they were deeply concerned with fashion, manners and physical appearance, but they also strove to treat their lives as Works of Art, inflected by their aestheticized approach to composition. ii While most studies of dandyism have examined it primarily as a literary and social phenomenon, my research illuminates the many ways in which Montesquiou, Hahn and Ravel incorporated the aesthetics of dandysme into their musical performance and pedagogy. More specifically, this project uses the historical figure of the French dandy-composer to theorize “posing” as a form of musical imitation. I suggest that the dandy’s aestheticism can be experienced in his music through particular forms of stylization, or poses, present in the artwork itself. Whether a type of ornament or a nostalgic recollection, these poses of musical dandysme are present throughout the works of Montesquiou, Hahn and Ravel. These composers used their music to pose both as French and as exotic subjects, thus situating themselves in relation to the temporal and geographical present of fin-de-siècle France. For example, at Montesquiou’s 1894 party “Une fête littéraire à Versailles,” theatrical and musical performance fashioned a pose of nostalgia, restaging the ancien regime for contemporary tastes at Montesquiou’s Versailles villa. In compositions like Ravel’s Shéhérazade (1903) and Hahn’s L’Île du réve (1898), the exotic poses of musical Orientalism allowed rich alignments and nuanced combinations of notions: of sexuality, gender, ethnos, or nation, to name only the most salient. Using these three men as case studies, this project develops a model of musical dandysme in order to examine the transition between late Romanticism and early Modernism in fin-de-siècle French music, from approximately 1890 to 1912. iii The dissertation of Zarah Sophia Ersoff is approved. Olivia Bloechl Raymond Knapp Jann Pasler Mitchell Morris, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv In Memory of Jeff Ersoff v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii LIST OF MUSICAL FIGURES AND VISUAL EXAMPLES vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix VITA xi INTRODUCTION 1 Composing the Dandy CHAPTER ONE 20 Montesquiou’s Arabesque and the Pose of Aristocracy in “Une fête littéraire à Versailles” CHAPTER TWO 66 “Les poses étranges” of Hahn’s L’Île du rêve CHAPTER THREE 114 “Succumbing to the Orient”: Homoerotic Orientalism and the Arabesque in Ravel’s Shéhérazade CONCLUSION 161 Camping the Dandy BIBLIOGRAPHY 168 vi LIST OF MUSICAL FIGURES AND VISUAL EXAMPLES Figure 1.1: Gustav Moreau, Salomé (1876) 13 Figure 2.1: Antoine Watteau, Mezzetin (1718-20) 20 Figure 2.2: Jacques-Émile Blanche, portrait of Proust (1891) 24 Figure 2.3: Lucie Lambert, portrait of Hahn (1907) 24 Figure 2.4: Le Pavillon Montesquiou at Versailles (1894) 27 Figure 2.5: Montesquiou posing at his Pavillion (1894) 27 Figure 2.6: Alphonse Mucha, poster for Gismonda (1895) 33 Figure 2.7: Sarah Bernhardt as Gismonda (1896) 33 Figure 2.8: Franz Xaver Winterhaller, Empress Eugenie as Marie Antoinette (1854) 35 Figure 2.9: Giovanni Boldini, portrait of Montesquiou (1897) 40 Figure 2.10: Invitation to Montesquiou’s “Une fête littéraire à Versailles” (1894) 42 Figure 2.11: Nadar, photograph of Bernhardt’s “S” curve (date unknown) 48 Figure 2.12: Montesquiou’s dedication to poet Pierre Louÿs (1893) 49 Figure 2.13: Montesquiou’s Arabesque-like Handwriting (date unknown) 50 Figure 2.14: Opening measures of Hahn’s “Fête galante” (1892) 57 Figure 2.15: Quotation of “Fêtes Galantes” in “Watteau” 62 Figure 3.1: Pierre Loti in his living room in Rochefort, c. 1890. 77 Figure 3.2: Loti poses with a hookah and friend 78 Figure 3.3: Pierre Loti in costume as an Egyptian pharoah 80 Figure 3.4: Sarah Bernhardt as Cleopatra 80 Figure 3.5: Michelangelo’s Night (c. 1530) 83 Figure 3.6: Paul Cadmus, Le ruban dénoué: Une Homage de Reynaldo Hahn (1962) 91 Figure 3.7: Hahn in Turkey (1930) 92 Figure 3.8: Hahn in Egypt (1930) 92 Figure 3.9: French Orientalist Tableau Vivant, c. 1888 93 Figure 3.10: Jean Cocteau, Reynaldo chante “L’Île heureuse” (1935) 95 Figure 3.11: Mahen’s costume from L’Île du rêve by Marcel Multzer 102 Figure 3.12: Cover of the 1994 CD Tahiti: Dream Island 102 Figure 3.13: Loti is Baptized at the Waterfall Tableau 105 Figure 3.14: The Ancient Tahitian Chorus sings “avec une certain langeur”` 107 Figure 3.15: Tsen Lee’s deceptive diatonicism 109 Figure 3.16: Gauguin, D’où Venons Nous/Que Sommes Nous/Où Allons Nous (1898) 112 Figure 4.1: Ravel at his home in Montfort, c. 1928. 114 Figure 4.2: Shéhérazade with King Shahryar 118 Figure 4.3: Map of Burton’s “Sotadic Zone” 121 Figure 4.4: Robert de Montesquiou in costume as Prince Hussein (1885) 124 Figure 4.5: Montesquiou in costume as John the Baptist in Salomè (1885) 124 Figure 4.6: Montesquiou’s rings (1885) 124 Figure 4.7: Klingsor’s caricature of himself as an Oriental magician 128 Figure 4.8: Arabesque design in a Mosque 131 Figure 4.9: Arabesque in an Art Nouveau Advertisement (Alphonse Mucha, 1897) 131 Figure 4.10: Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1 (1888) 132 Figure 4.11: Arabesque in Ravel’s “La Flûte Enchantée” from Shéhérazade (1903) 132 Figure 4.12: Triplet figure from Ravel’s orchestral suite Shéhérazade 136 Figure 4.13: Related triplet figure in “Asie” 137 vii Figure 4.14: Triplet figure anticipating “je voudrais” in “Asie” 137 Figure 4.15: Antoine Watteau, L’Indifférent (c. 1717) 141 Figure 4.16: Opening measures of “L’Indifférent” 152 Figure 4.17: Quotation from String Quartet 154 Figure 5.1: Frontispiece for Hahn’s operetta Brummell (1930) 167 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although completing a dissertation is an often-solitary process, I could not have completed this project without the support of many individuals. This dissertation has its roots in Tamara Levitz’s graduate seminar on “Uncanny Modernism,” which first sparked my interest in Ravel, biography and posing in 2005. My gratitude goes first and foremost to my advisor, Mitchell Morris, whose generous spirit and intellectual curiosity has continually helped me understand the musical dandy in new and creative ways. He has repeatedly gone above and beyond what is expected of an advisor and mentor, in terms of both academic and personal support. I look forward to joining the Sunday brunch club of his former advisees at AMS. I also thank each of my committee members, who contributed to this project in novel and meaningful ways. I am grateful to Olivia Bloechl’s support in the form of an early independent study on French song in which we studied Debussy’s Fêtes galantes and Ravel’s Chansons madécasses. Her attunement to both musical detail and the possibilities of signification in vocal performance has shaped my second and third chapters in particular. To Raymond Knapp, I am grateful for many things, but especially to his discussions about the writing and revision process as an anchor through difficult times. His emails and several meetings in March and April 2013 proved crucial to my completion of the dissertation during a challenging period in my life. I only wish I had had more time to include more musical examples, which I know he would have loved. Finally, I am grateful to Jann Pasler, for being very generous with her feedback on this project, especially as it neared its final form. Her careful reading of several drafts of the manuscript helped point me in the direction of “music as public utility” and also helped me to connect my observations about the dandy to the broader French musical culture at the fin de siècle. ix My deepest thanks goes to Barbara van Nostrand, whose careful stewardship of departmental finances enabled me to receive a fellowship during Winter 2013, a crucial time for the completion of my Ph.D. Barbara and Robert Fink (Musicology Department Chair from 2010-2013) made a fierce team. Thanks also to Sam Baltimore, Alexandra Apolloni, Jill Rogers and Lindsey Johnson, for always being ready for mornings of hiking in Runyon Canyon, afternoons of writing at the West Hollywood library, and evenings of playing games at each other’s apartments. To Marcus Desmond Harmon and Graham Raulerson, for their close friendship and support, and for showing me that my own completion of the Ph.D. was both imminently and immanently possible. To Yetta Howard, for being a role model academic, in terms of both intellectual creativity and drive, and for reminding me to be be fiercely independent and true to myself, even in a difficult job market.
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