The Composer As Intellectual : Music and Ideology in France, 1914-1940

In The Composer as Intellectual , musicologist Jane Fulcher reveals the extent to which leading French composers between the world wars were not only aware of, but engaged intellectually and creatively with the central political and ideological issues of the period. Employing recent sociological and historical insights, she demonstrates the extent to which composers, particularly those in Paris since the Dreyfus Affair, considered themselves and were considered to be intellectuals, and interacted closely with intellectuals in other fields. Their consciousness raised by the First World War and the xenophobic nationalism of official culture, some joined parties or movements, allying themselves with and propagating different sets of cultural and political-social goals. Fulcher shows how these composers furthered their ideals through the specific language and means of their art, rejecting the dominant cultural exclusions or constraints of conservative postwar institutions and creatively translating their cultural values into terms of form and style. This was not only the case with Debussy in wartime, but with Ravel in the twenties, when he became a socialist and unequivocally rejected a narrow, exclusionary nationalism. It was also the case with the group called "Les Six," who responded culturally in the twenties and then politically in the thirties, when most of them supported the programs of the Popular Front. Others could not be enthusiastic about the latter and, largely excluded from official culture, sought out other more compatible movements or returned to the Catholic Church. Like other French Catholics, they faced the crisis of Catholicism in the thirties when the church not only supported Franco, but Mussolini's imperialistic aggression in Ethiopia. While Poulenc embraced traditional Catholicism, Messiaen turned to more progressive Catholic movements that embraced modern art and insisted that religion must cross national and racial boundaries. Fulcher demonstrates how closely music had become a field of clashing ideologies in this period. She shows also how certain French composers responded, and how their responses influenced specific aspects of their professional and stylistic development. She thus argues that, from this perspective, we can not only better understand specific aspects of the stylistic evolution of these composers, but also perceive the role that their art played in the ideological battles and in heightening cultural-political awareness of their time. Contents......Page 13 The Artist as Intellectual?......Page 19 The Composer, Public Issues, and Symbols......Page 20 The Political and Symbolic Background......Page 26 The State, National Symbols, and the Dialogue......Page 27 Two Histories and Their Intersection......Page 33 French Identity and the Classic Myth......Page 35 The Myth and Music in Wartime......Page 38 Imagining the French Community through Opera......Page 39 Defining the “Classic Masters” in Concerts......Page 42 “Defending” French Music and Its “Purity”......Page 47 Professional Interests versus Cultural Politics......Page 49 The Orthodox Discourse and Its Boundaries......Page 50 Wartime Ideology and Musicology......Page 56 Reclassification of Genres......Page 58 Resistance to the War and Its Culture......Page 61 How to Defend “la Musique Française”......Page 62 Charpentier’s Double-Voiced Schemes......Page 66 Debussy’s Dialogue with Orthodoxy......Page 68 Ravel’s Inflections of Tradition: The Tombeau......Page 81 Satie’s Subversions: Language and the Dialogic in Parade......Page 86 The Birth of the “Next Generation”......Page 100 Commemoration, Spiritualism, and the Classic in Music......Page 102 Political and Symbolic Confrontations......Page 105 Consecration, Concerts, and the Orientation of Taste......Page 107 The Opera of Conservative Ideas......Page 112 Reclassifications in Scholarship and Criticism......Page 124 New Goals in French Musical Education......Page 129 The Complex Case of Nadia Boulanger......Page 132 Forging the French Image Abroad......Page 133 The Action Française and “Intelligence”......Page 135 The “Schola d’Action Française”......Page 138 The Left: Universalism and the “Classic”......Page 139 Syndicalism, Music, and the Fêtes du Peuple......Page 142 The Older Generation and Its Choices......Page 149 D’Indy: Innovation versus Dogma......Page 150 Ravel: Reasserting the Universal and the Modern......Page 152 Satie and Leftist Individualism: Socrate......Page 162 Wiéner’s Challenge through Repertoire......Page 168 The Counterculture and Its Supporters......Page 172 Cocteau: Protecting Modernism with Nationalism......Page 178 Collet and the Myth of Les Six......Page 183 Legitimizing Modernity through Tradition: Boulanger and Stravinsky......Page 185 Les Six and Neoclassicism: Reality versus Myth......Page 188 Auric: The National or the Universal?......Page 189 Milhaud and the Transcendent Collectivity......Page 191 Honegger and the Dilemma of the “National”......Page 200 Poulenc: Modernity and Tradition......Page 204 Durey: Aesthetic and Political Integrity......Page 207 Tailleferre and Dual Marginality......Page 209 Nationalism, Xenophobia, and Revenge on “the Modern”......Page 211 Antifascism and the Politics of the Spectacle......Page 215 The Political and Cultural Background......Page 217 The New Role of French Left Intellectuals......Page 219 The Ideology of Culture in 1936......Page 221 Themes, Myths, and Programs of the Popular Front......Page 223 Redirecting French Musical Culture......Page 225 Roussel and the Fédération Musicale Populaire......Page 227 Koechlin: Style and Ideological Investment......Page 231 The “Defense” of Musical Culture......Page 235 Attacks on Tradition and “la Grande Musique”......Page 237 Les Six as Cultural Advisors......Page 239 Aesthetics, Style, and “Engagement”......Page 242 Le 14 juillet: Politics and Representation......Page 250 Performance and Ideology: The 1937 Exposition......Page 253 Political Dissension and the Symbolic Battle......Page 258 Profascist and Romantic Currents......Page 259 The Oppositional Musical Aesthetic......Page 261 The Return of “d’Indysme” and “Wagnerisme”......Page 263 Attacks on Government Programs and on Les Six......Page 265 Ideological Constructions of Ravel......Page 268 Other Composers Appropriated......Page 271 Poulenc and Sauguet: Political and Aesthetic Resistance......Page 274 The Case of Poulenc’s Litanies à la vierge noire......Page 277 Honegger’s Aesthetic and Political “Nonconformism”......Page 281 From Jeanne au bûcher to Frontisme......Page 286 Reconstruction of Ravel and the Context......Page 291 Delegitimizing Musical Neoclassicism......Page 293 Revalorizing Tradition and “Spirit”......Page 297 The Nonconformist Movement and Its Impact......Page 301 Leftist Spiritualism and Youth,......Page 303 The Conservative Catholic Avant-Garde......Page 304 Music in Nonconformist Journals......Page 305 Nonconformism and Musical Innovation: Recontextualizing Jeune France......Page 307 The Framing Manifesto and Its Discourse......Page 309 The Choice of Intellectual Sponsors......Page 311 Beyond Modernism: Olivier Messiaen......Page 312 Beyond “Orientalism” to the Cosmic: André Jolivet......Page 318 Critical Readings on the Right and the Left......Page 324 Redefining “Frenchness” in Music......Page 326 Jeanne au bûcher in 1939......Page 328 Resistance Despite the Odds......Page 330 The Subtle Symbolic Dialogue and Its Impact......Page 335 The Convergence of French Music and Politics......Page 337 From Political Utterance and Discourse Back to “Text”......Page 338 Notes......Page 341 Bibliography......Page 443 A......Page 479 C......Page 480 E......Page 482 H......Page 483 L......Page 484 M......Page 485 P......Page 486 R......Page 487 T......Page 488 Z......Page 489 In The Composer as Intellectual, musicologist Jane Fulcher reveals the extent to which leading French composers between the world wars were not only aware of but also engaged intellectually and creatively with the central political and ideological issues of the period. Employing recent sociological and historical insights, she demonstrates the extent to which composers, particularly those in Paris since the Dreyfus Affair, considered themselves, and were considered to be intellectuals, and interacted closely with intellectuals in other fields. Their consciousness raised by the First World War and the xenophobic nationalism of official culture, some joined parties or movements, allying themselves with and propagating different sets of cultural and political-social goals.Fulcher shows how these composers furthered their ideals through the specific language and means of their art, rejecting the dominant cultural exclusions or constraints of conservative postwar institutions and creatively translating their cultural values into terms of form and style. This was not only the case with Debussy in wartime, but also with Ravel in the twenties, when he became a socialist and unequivocally refused to espouse a narrow, exclusionary nationalism. It was also the case with the group called "Les Six," who responded culturally in the twenties and then politically in the thirties, when most of them supported the programs of the Popular Front. Others could not be enthusiastic about the latter and, largely excluded from official culture, sought out more compatible movements or returned to the Catholic Church. Like many French Catholics, they faced the crisis of Catholicism in the thirties when the church not only supported Franco, but also Mussolini's imperialistic aggression in Ethiopia. While Poulenc embraced traditional Catholicism, Messiaen turned to more progressive Catholic movements that embraced modern art and insisted that religion must cross national and racial boundaries.Fulcher demonstrates how closely music had become a field of clashing ideologies in this period. She shows also how certain French composers responded, and how their responses influenced specific aspects of their professional and stylistic development. She thus argues that, from this perspective, we can not only better understand specific aspects of the stylistic evolution of these composers, but also perceive the role that their art played in the ideological battles and in heightening cultural-political awareness of their time. In The Composer as Intellectual, musicologist Jane Fulcher reveals the extent to which leading French composers between the World Wars were not only aware of but also engaged intellectually and creatively with the central political and ideological issues of the period. Employing recent sociological and historical insights, she demonstrates the extent to which composers, particularly those in Paris since the Dreyfus Affair, considered themselves and were considered to be intellectuals, and interacted closely with intellectuals in other fields. Their consciousness raised by the First World War and the xenophobic nationalism of official culture, some joined parties or movements, allying themselves with and propagating different sets of cultural and political-social goals. Fulcher shows how these composers furthered their ideals through the specific language and means of their art, rejecting the dominant cultural exclusions or constraints of conservative postwar institutions and creatively translating their cultural values into terms of form and style. This was not only the case with Debussy in wartime, but with Ravel in the twenties, when he became a socialist and unequivocally refused to espouse a narrow, exclusionary nationalism. It was also the case with the group called'Les Six,'who responded culturally in the twenties and then politically in the thirties, when most of them supported the programs of the Popular Front. Others could not be enthusiastic about the latter and, largely excluded from official culture, sought out more compatible movements or returned to the Catholic Church. Like many French Catholics, they faced the crisis of Catholicism in the thirties when the church not only supported Franco, but Mussolini's imperialistic aggression in Ethiopia. While Poulenc embraced traditional Catholicism, Messiaen turned to more progressive Catholic movements that embraced modern art and insisted that religion must cross national and racial boundaries. Fulcher demonstrates how closely music had become a field of clashing ideologies in this period. She shows also how certain French composers responded, and how their responses influenced specific aspects of their professional and stylistic development. She thus argues that, from this perspective, we can not only better understand specific aspects of the stylistic evolution of these composers, but also perceive the role that their art played in the ideological battles and in heightening cultural-political awareness of their time. In The Composer As Intellectual, Musicologist Jane Fulcher Reveals The Extent To Which Leading French Composers Between The World Wars Were Not Only Aware Of But Also Engaged Intellectually And Creatively With The Central Political And Ideological Issues Of The Period. Employing Recent Sociological And Historical Insights, She Demonstrates The Extent To Which Composers, Particularly Those In Paris Since The Dreyfus Affair, Considered Themselves, And Were Considered To Be Intellectuals, And Interacted Closely With Intellectuals In Other Fields. Their Consciousness Raised By The First World War And The Xenophobic Nationalism Of Official Culture, Some Joined Parties Or Movements, Allying Themselves With And Propagating Different Sets Of Cultural And Political-social Goals.--jacket. Wartime Nationalism, Classicism, And Their Limits -- Intellectual And Creative Responses -- National Or Universal In The Twenties -- French Composers As Intellectuals And The Issues -- The Defense Of French Culture In The Thirites -- The Return To Spirit -- The Search For Oppositionality -- Seeds Of The Vichy And Resistance Aesthetics. Jane F. Fulcher. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 325-462) And Index. As a follow-up to her book exploring musical and political cultures in France from the Dreyfus Affair to the First World War, the author here applies the same approach to the years from 1914-1940, arguing that French musical meanings are best explained not in terms of artistic movements, but rather in terms of the political culture On 16 December 1915, the director of the recently reopened Paris Opera displayed his political acumen to a government still skeptical of opera's relevance in wartime.