Arthur Honegger was important to French music as a member of Les Six, but according to Harry Halbreich’s biography of the composer, he was the black sheep of the group. Halbreich’s biography leads the reader through a timeline of Honegger’s life, and the section for 1920 details the beginnings of the famous group of French […]
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Following France’s embarrassing defeat during the Franco-Prussian and the subsequent formation of the German Empire, many French musicians sought to manufacture a unique French national identity by defining France’s national style. Championed at the time by composers such as Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Franck, they opened the way for the innovations of Debussy and, later, Satie. […]
Reception towards the influx of black cultural products in 1920s France consisted of equal parts attraction and enjoyment but also revulsion and fear. Reading through French author’s impressions of La Revue Nègre, which they describe as “soft, splenetic, brutal, lustful, or sad,” “something animal,” and “frenetic and devilish,” it is clear that what 1920s Parisians […]
One of the first thoughts that came to my mind when deciding on Coco Chanel for my paper topic was how she no doubt changed women’s’ fashion forever with her impact on social change and push for women’s’ independence. Chanel’s styles such as trousers and suits for women, popularizing skin tan, the color black, branded […]
When picking my topic for the first paper I was immediately attracted to Josephine Baker. I was familiar with her work as a civil rights activist for both France during World War II and America in the 1950s. While I was aware of her French performing career, I was entirely ignorant of her popularity and […]