Both Dorf and Moore’s writing raise issues of gender and sexuality that had been excluded from meaningful examination in musicology through much of the 20th century. Queer scholar Elizabeth Wood is a rare example among musicologists of that time, introducing the idea of Sapphonics in her first edition of Queering the Pitch in 1994. Wood defines Sapphonics as a space of lesbian possibilty created by perceived relationship between a singer and listener, often aided by a voice that defies gendered boundaries.1 The idea of Sapphonics seems to be relevant when considering the atmosphere of Paris in the 1920s: a haven for the liberated lives of the bourgeoisie, a city of exploration, promiscuity, and fulfillment. 2 This a city where female composers felt they had more chance for success, where black culture was put on the stage. Perhaps this was a place where people who had traditionally felt othered had a better chance to express themselves.
However, both Dorf and Moore argue the composers Satie and Poulenc attempted to conceal aspects of their sexuality from the public. Moore recounts Poulenc’s confessions of ‘secret’ love affairs to a close friend, and Dorf writes of Satie and Polignac’s work to omit sexual references from the Greek text of Socrate. 3 But, both examine the ways in which subtle expressions of queerness were present in these composer’s works.
Moore cites sufficient evidence from Poulenc’s ballets to show elements of camp and subtle promotion of queer culture. Moore’s article successfully argues that the presence of camp in Poulenc’s compositions was veiled in his need to blend into a heteronormative culture. For example, in his examination of the Woman in Blue from Les Biches, Moore highlights the ballet’s juxtaposition. The androgyny and cross dressing of the Woman in Blue contrasts the heteroromantic connotations of a borrowed theme from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty that she dances to. Moore summarizes these struggles for Poulenc by observing,“The act of musically being an ‘other,’ with all the underlying techniques of theatrical dissimulation, resonates strongly with the need to ‘pass’ in a closeted environment.” 4
I found Dorf’s argument to be less compelling. Dorf speaks greatly about the role of sexuality in the romantic and social life of Princesse de Polignac, the patron who commissioned Socrate from Satie. This evidence demonstrates how her gender and sexuality would have influenced the production of Socrate. However, less evidence within this article tied to Satie’s life and identity suggests that a queer reading solely from the perspective of Satie might go too far. It seems that this piece could have been influenced by Polignac just as much as, if not more than, Satie.
2 Rearick, Charles. The French in Love and War : Popular Culture in the Era of the World Wars New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997 (70).