{"id":163,"date":"2020-02-24T22:42:09","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T04:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/?p=163"},"modified":"2020-02-24T22:42:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T04:42:09","slug":"how-do-we-define-french-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/2020\/02\/24\/how-do-we-define-french-music\/","title":{"rendered":"How do we define French Music?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The societal changes that drove music during the \u201cBelle Epoque\u201d were really the same changes that drove the reformation of everything else from technology to art. After establishing the Third Republic in France, an optimistic and proud mindset emerged, finally feeling some stability in France. Musicians and composers used that to their advantage, wanting to create that specific \u201cfrench sound\u201d that appealed to them and French citizens because they were finally feeling at peace with their country. People started paying more attention because it was played in leisure settings like \u201csalons de musique\u201d and cabarets<\/a>. (1) This created a pop culture around music that actually caused more arguments between musicians about what music actually constitutes \u201cFrench.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Toulouse-Lautrec
Troupe de Mlle \u00c9glantine commissioned by cabaret dancer Jane Avril to advertise her appearance at the Palace Theatre in London (1896)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In general, the aspects of French debates relating to musical identity were clear, revolving around the idea of individual national identity, that was primarily anti-german. However, there were quite a few contradictions within that idea. The hope to create an entirely original musical sound and style was unrealistic, but that notion was not realized by all composers of the time. Most of the debates didn\u2019t stem from the question of the music sounding French, but more so the question of how \u201cpure\u201d the “frenchness” of the music could be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jean Cocteau served to perpetuate these debates, despite him not being a musician or composer himself. <\/span>Le Coq et L’arlequin <\/span><\/i><\/a>became a very influential piece concerning French music during the \u201cbelle epoque\u201d which definitely contributed to the idea that music had to be \u201cpure French.\u201d (2) Composers like Ravel and Milhaud brushed it off, knowing that this notion of \u201cpure music\u201d was virtually impossible since all music had to be inspired from somewhere, and usually previous styles of music in this case. Cocteau\u2019s philosophical thoughts on French music had many composers butting heads over who\u2019s music was truly French.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The element that often makes sense to me the last is the use of exoticism in French music during the belle epoque. Debussy, Ravel, and many other composers had clear elements of other cultures’ music<\/a>, especially those seen as \u201clesser countries\u201d to the French, like gamelan music or \u201cgypsy\u201d music. Additionally, both composers drew upon their southern neighbors, incorporating Spanish influence into their music (3). I wonder why they saw those types of music as a fit into French music, whereas German classical music, already similar to French music was completely off limits as an influence to French composers. French composers such as Saint-Saens had done similar things with “exotic” influences in music, so was that another form of “frenchness” in music? Were the composers of the early twentieth century trying to incorporate the earlier French composers or actually draw upon other cultures in a new way? I wonder if the incorporation of \u201cexotic\u201d music into French compositions was really an appropriation of those types of music, or a jab at Germany, saying that these countries were better to create music from than they were? Or both?<\/span><\/p>\n

Audio Recording of Ravel’s Scheherazade<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 (4) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Audio Recording of Debussy’s Images pour Orchestre: Ib\u00e9ria\u00a0<\/a>(6)<\/p>\n

Program Notes on Ravel’s Scheherazade\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 (5) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Program Notes on Debussy’s Images pour Orchestra: Ib\u00e9ria<\/a>\u00a0(7)<\/p>\n

(1): Le Troupe de Mlle \u00c9glantine:<\/em>\u00a0Commissioned by Cabaret Dancer Jane Avril to Advertise Her Appearance at the Palace Theatre in London (1896)<\/i>. April 5, 2016. Long Wharf Theatre <\/i>. https:\/\/www.longwharf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/4.-toulouse-lautrec-troupe-de_mlle-eglantineebay.jpg.<\/p>\n

(2): Cocteau, Jean. Cock and Harlequin. Notes Concerning Music ..<\/i> London: Egoist Press, 1921.<\/p>\n

(3): Berkeley Daily Planet. \u201cArts & Events.\u201d Ravel & Debussy: Orientalism & Exoticism. Category: Arts & Events from The Berkeley Daily Planet. Accessed February 25, 2020. http:\/\/www.berkeleydailyplanet.com\/issue\/2018-04-20\/article\/46657?headline=Ravel-Debussy-Orientalism-Exoticism–Reviewed-By-James-Roy-MacBean.<\/p>\n

(4): neuIlaryRheinKlange. “Maurice Ravel – Sh\u00e9h\u00e9razade, ouverture de f\u00e9erie” YouTube<\/i> video, 13:30. September 1, 2012. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4cAL2qW-IQ4<\/p>\n

(5): \u201cProgram Notes-Ravel: Sh\u00e9h\u00e9razade, Three Poems of Tristan Klingsor for Voice and Orchestra.\u201d San Francisco Symphony. Accessed February 25, 2020. https:\/\/www.sfsymphony.org\/Data\/Event-Data\/Program-Notes\/R\/Ravel-Sheherazade.<\/p>\n

(6): Paco M. \u201cClaude Debussy: Ib\u00e9ria, Images pour orchestre II (1912)\u201d YouTube<\/i> video, 18:49. December 23, 2015. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8v0LGIuhOsU<\/p>\n

(7): \u201cProgram Notes- Debussy: Iberia from Images Pour Orchestra.\u201d San Francisco Symphony. Accessed February 25, 2020. https:\/\/www.sfsymphony.org\/Data\/Event-Data\/Program-Notes\/D\/Debussy-Iberia-from-images-pour-orchestra.<\/p>\n

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The societal changes that drove music during the \u201cBelle Epoque\u201d were really the same changes that drove the reformation of everything else from technology to art. After establishing the Third Republic in France, an optimistic and proud mindset emerged, finally feeling some stability in France. Musicians and composers used that to their advantage, wanting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,13,9,12,14,2],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-belle-epoque","tag-claude-debussy","tag-french-music","tag-french-nationalism","tag-jean-cocteau","tag-maurice-ravel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","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\/3600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}