{"id":1494,"date":"2022-05-22T20:33:31","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T01:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/?p=1494"},"modified":"2022-05-22T20:33:31","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T01:33:31","slug":"praise-and-dissent-in-one-fell-swoop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/2022\/05\/22\/praise-and-dissent-in-one-fell-swoop\/","title":{"rendered":"Praise and Dissent in One Fell Swoop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I\u2019m publishing all of these posts in a rather quick succession, it is nice to have some shape or form to my narrative here – and considering that this prompt is asking which of all the sources has best helped be understand my thoughts toward French music, it is only slightly amusing that I fall back on a classic: Jean Cocteau\u2019s heavily opinionated The Cock and the Harlequin<\/em>!<\/p>\n

This work is frankly (haha – get it?) very amusing! I find that it\u2019s a very unique perspective into the actual perception of what the French thought of French music at the time. Jean Cocteau is not just some guy who decided to take up a stance against the \u201cGerman blackboard musicians\u201d (which is a killer insult, by the way!) – he was a prominent artist in Paris during the 1920s! At least in the context of our class, he is most well known for his collaboration with Erik Satie on the ballet Parade<\/em> – which holds a great significance!<\/p>\n

Not only is this work from the perspective of a rather important Parisian artist, it is heavily<\/em> opinionated! Cocteau goes into an anti-German spiral for several pages, using the previously mentioned \u201cBlackboard musician\u201d insult with German composers, that the content of German art is \u201cnot digested\u201d by the German public, and claiming Wagner\u2019s compositions are \u201clong-drawn-out!\u201d. All of these quips make for quite the strongly-worded insult for 1926. When we consider the societal repression that France has felt prior to this time, it makes all the more sense that Cocteau absolutely lets loose every ounce of pent-up Germanic hate.
\nWhat makes this piece even more<\/em> entertaining, though, is that shortly following the total burns on German society and art, Cocteau proceeds to immediately praise Erik Satie! In the opening line of this discussion on Satie, Cocteau discusses how part of Satie\u2019s charm is that he does not \u201cencourage his own deification.\u201d Deification!<\/em> The act of becoming an all-powerful deity! This is the first of many compliments to our godly French composer, as Cocteau goes on to say that Satie has \u201cgreat taste for good lines\u201d and teaches \u201cthe greatest audacity, simplicity\u201d all while ensuring that we don\u2019t forget about our, or should I say Satie\u2019s \u201c[acquired] distaste for Wagner in Wagnerian circles.\u201d<\/p>\n

When considering the fact that a prominent French artist is taking the time to attack Germanic art and culture while lifting up French art and culture in the same breath, it\u2019s hard to think of another instance that truly captures this significant sentiment from the French nationalist trend. It just makes me wish I had someone who loved me as much as Jean Cocteau loved to praise Erik Satie\u2026<\/p>\n

Works Cited;
\nJean Cocteau, The Cock and the Harlequin, 2nd ed., trans. Rollo Myers (London: Verso, 1926), 14-21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I\u2019m publishing all of these posts in a rather quick succession, it is nice to have some shape or form to my narrative here – and considering that this prompt is asking which of all the sources has best helped be understand my thoughts toward French music, it is only slightly amusing that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1496,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions\/1496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}