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Music in France in the Years 1911–1913 According to Jean Chantavoine: Independent Thinking and Political Constraints
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 April 2011
Extract
On the eve of the First World War the French musical press enjoyed a freedom of expression which allowed it to put works and composers into clear-cut categories. This same freedom of expression authorized it to denounce explicitly the state's stranglehold over the organization of its grand theatres through the implementation of the cahiers des charges. This study is based on the articles which Jean Chantavoine published in l'Année musicale in 1911, 1912 and 1913. He writes annual statements which were more organizationally – rather than musically – orientated, and it is this feature which forms the basis of this article. In fact, Chantavoine (1877–1952), critic for the Journal des débats, Excelsior, etc., had no hesitation in criticizing state interference in the cultural dynamic of the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique, which he saw as leading to musical productions more abundant in quantity than quality. In order to appreciate his views more fully, an overview of three cahiers des charges is provided: those of 1908 and 1914 for the Opéra and of 1911 for the Opéra-Comique. For example, since subventions were distributed unequally between the two theatres, it is noticeable that the number of productions is greater for the Opéra-Comique, when, paradoxically, it was that theatre which received the smallest financial subsidy. In summarizing the years 1911–13 Chantavoine quite rightly takes these circumstances into account, and in reviews of the years’ principal productions he unintentionally provides a more accurate picture of himself as critic than the musical year as whole. In the course of his reviews, therefore, one can observe the emergence of certain traits of his aesthetic personality. He appears a complex character, for instance, interested in folk idioms, but only if they have obvious or immediate relevance. Finally, however, he illustrates the decisive position Paris occupied in the European musical panorama, and offers readers a valuable survey of the musical years before the war.
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References
1 For example, in Paris in the 1910s: Alfred Bruneau (Le Matin), Gustave Samazeuilh (République française), Reynaldo Hahn (Le Journal), Florent Schmitt (La France), Charles Kœchlin (La Revue hebdomadaire), Gabriel Fauré (Le Figaro), Paul Dukas (La Revue hebdomadaire, et al.), etc.
2 Correspondance de Beethoven (Paris, 1913)Google Scholar; Beethoven (Paris, 1907)Google Scholar; Les Symphonies de Beethoven (Paris, 1932)Google Scholar.
3 Co-written with Michel Brenet (Paris, 1911).Google Scholar
4 Published in Brussels (1948).
5 Mozart dans Mozart (Paris, 1948)Google Scholar; also Mozart (Paris, 1948)Google Scholar.
6 Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, for one.
7 In August 1933, he wrote in the Ménestrel on unpublished scores by Bizet. He also authored (with Maurice Léna) the new version of Beethoven's ballet Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus given at the Paris Opéra in 1929.
8 Such as the Revue et gazette de Paris; see Ellis, Katharine, Music Criticism in Nineteenth-Century France: ‘La Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris’, 1834–1880 (Cambridge, 1995), 301ppCrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 It merged with the Revue SIM in 1914.
10 See the survey by Danièle Pistone, Revue internationale de musique française, 17 (June 1985): 87–100.
11 The Revue de musicologie française was founded only in 1917.
12 L'Année musicale 1911, published by Brenet, M., Chantavoine, J., Laloy, L., Laurencie, L. de La, 2nd edn (Geneva, 1972), 314pp.Google Scholar; l'Année musicale 1912, ibid., 311pp.; l'Année musicale 1913, ibid., 358pp.
13 l'Année musicale 1911, 256.
14 This administrative set-up, which went through many variants, ended in 1939; see Lejeune, A. and Wolff, S., Les Quinze Salles de l'Opéra de Paris (1669–1955) (Paris, 1955)Google Scholar.
15 l'Année musicale 1911, 256.
16 An article in Excelsior for Tuesday, 19 Nov. 1912, waxed indignant at this state of affairs: ‘The Opéra-Comique chorus is as costly as the one at the Opéra. The OpéraComique gives 400 performances a year against 194 at the Opéra, where tickets are more expensive. … Yet the Opéra-Comique subvention is only 300,000 against 800,000 francs for the Opéra.’
17 All cahiers des charges are kept at the Archives Nationales de France (Paris).
18 The 1914 cahier was signed by Louis Barthou and Jacques Rouché. The one for 1908 (drafted on 27 Dec. 1907) was co-signed by Aristide Briand, André Messager, and Leimistin Broussan.
19 In articles 4, 11, 14 and 15.
20 Including details on free or discounted performances and the many revivals of older works.
21 G.B., Excelsior for 16 Mar. 1911. SeeGoogle ScholarDufourt, H. and Fauquet, J. M, ‘Le Budget de la musique sous la IIIe République’, in La Musique: Du théorique au politique (Paris, 1990).Google Scholar
22 l'Année musicale 1913, 283.
23 l'Année musicale 1911, 257.
24 l'Année musicale 1913, 283; further on, he explains his views in these terms: ‘At symphonic concerts, the general diffidence of the audience towards any new work prompts directors or conductors to accept, most of the time, only unimportant creations that qualify as trifles or sketches rather than real works’ (pp. 257–8).
25 Guide du concert, 30 Dec. 1911, 202.
26 Programmatic music vs. pure music.
27 On the ‘Schola Cantorum network’, see Faure, Michel, Du Néoclassicisme musical dans la France du premier XXe siècle (Paris, 1997), 74–8Google Scholar.
28 l'Année musicale 1911, 259–60.
29 Ibid.
30 Many examples could prove this assertion wrong.
31 Ravel founded the SMI in 1909 following the rejection by the Société nationale (itself created in 1871, headed in 1911 by Vincent D'Indy, and under the aegis of scholistes) of Maurice Delage's symphonic poem Conté par la mer. The inaugural concert of the SMI took place only on 20 April 1910, at the Salle Gaveau. Aubert, Schmitt, Delage, Kodály, Roger-Ducasse, Debussy, Fauré, Ravel and Caplet were on the programme.
32 l'Année musicale 1913, 283.
33 See Duchesneau, Michel, ‘La musique française pendant la guerre 1914–1918: autour de la tentative de fusion de la SNM et de la SMI’, Revue de musicologie, 82/1 (1996): 123–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
34 ‘Under this title and the auspices of the masters Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Paladilhe, Théodore Dubois, Gabriel Fauré and Widor, all members of the Academy, an admirable enterprise has just been launched with a view to welcoming and performing in Paris compositions by French musicians and to rewarding and publicizing the best. … Any French composer may, each year, present one of his works to the Salon des musiciens français. The presentation of these works will entail no expenses for the authors’ (Le Journal, 13 Dec. 1911, 5).
35 Bender, Gabriel, Guide du concert, 6 May 1911, 377.Google Scholar Chantavoine makes the point again in Excelsior for 26 May and 4 Aug. 1913. See also the Revue française de musique for 1 Mar. 1912, 36:Google Scholar ‘Small concerts? There are too many of them and they harm each other’ (F. Gaiffé).
36 Premiered at the Roman theatre in Béziers on 30 Aug. 1898, the work then was unanimously praised in the press: ‘unprecedented spectacle’ (Le Temps, 4 Sept. 1899), ‘more than an artistic delight’ (Le Figaro, 30 Aug. 1898); see also Le Soleil for 12 Nov., Le Ménestrel for 4 Sept., or the article by Gaston Carraud in La Liberté for 13 Nov. 1898. As for Emile Baumann, he concluded: ‘To exalt an entire people towards such sublime images of beauty is one of the most august bonds of love music could achieve’ (‘Camille Saint-Saëns et Déjanire’, La Nouvelle Revue, nd., p. 18).
37 The programme of the dress rehearsal on 30 Apr. 1911 indicates the performance of Chabrier's Gwendoline, the opera in three acts on a libretto by Catulle Mendès, and his ballet España after Mme Jane Catulle-Mendès. Judith Gautier (1850–1917, daughter of the poet, herself a critic for La Presse and La Liberté) devoted a laudatory two-part article to this revival in Excelsior for Thursday, 4 May 1911. Jane Catulle-Mendès responded to her in the issue for Saturday, 6 May 1911, objecting to three of her supposedly unjustified statements: the lack of a dance number for Mlle Zambelli, the incongruity of having Spaniards in the Bresse country, and the inclusion of Idylle, orchestrated for this ballet.
38 See Le Jour for 29 Dec. 1893, l'Echo de Paris for 27 Dec., Le Figaro for 28 Dec., and the perceptive article by Bruneau in Gil Blas for 29 Dec. 1893.
39 Ravel himself explained his project: ‘What did I intend when I wrote l'Heure espagnole? Something rather ambitious: to revive Italian opera buffa – but only in its principle. … l'Heure espagnole is a musical comedy’ (letter to Le Figaro, 17 May 1911).
40 L'Année musicale 1911, 254. Lalo too was intrigued by Ravel's orchestration, even though he did not like this new work much: ‘The orchestra is charming, singular, diverse, full of subtle timbres and rare sonorities’ (Le Temps, 28 May 1911).
41 L'Année musicale 1911, 254. Among others, Reynaldo Hahn was also cool towards the score and confessed: ‘I have the utmost respect for Mr Magnard, his mind, his ideas, the classical perfection of his style, but his music proper remains foreign to me; it does not seduce me, it has no effect on me’ (Le Journal, 24 Dec. 1911, 5). Conversely, there were favourable reviews by G. Pioch and L. Vuillemin in Musica (Mar. 1910, 34; and Feb. 1911, 27).
42 Chantavoine was in fact not alone in judging the art of Ropartz with reference to Franckist criteria. See the following quotation by Emile Vuillermoz: ‘Of all the composers who have aspired to the intellectual heritage of César Franck, Guy Ropartz, an uprooted Breton, may be the one who is finding it hardest to smother the revolts of his sensitivity and to follow the sublime rules of the Order’ (SIM, 5, ‘Les Théâtres’, 59).
43 1912 being the year of the death of Massenet, Chantavoine devoted his first two pages to him, which, for an article of this size, was not negligible. He thus showed his attachment to the music of the past and to the genre of opera. Yet he recognized that Massenet had said all he had to say: ‘One has to admit that [M. Massenet and M. Saint-Saëns] have reached a point in their careers and in their lives where one can hardly expect them to renew their art or even their manner’ (l'Année musicale 1911, 258).
44 l'Année musicale 1912, 232.
45 Ibid., 230.
46 Art, 7 Sept. 1955.
47 It was premiered at the Châtelet on 22 Apr. 1912 with Natasha Trouhanova, with sets and costumes by René Piot.
48 Chantavoine, ‘Les Grands Concerts’, Excelsior, Monday, 30 Mar. 1911.
49 Ibid., 231.
50 Born in Tyrol on 30 December 1857, Lazzari (who died in Suresnes on 10 June 1944) was a student of Guiraud at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, where his classmates included Dukas and Gédalge, and was an influential member of the SN. La Lépreuse, a tragédie légendaire in three acts, was premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 7 Feb. 1912.
51 Chantavoine, , ‘Les Grands Concerts’, 229.Google Scholar He also proposed an intriguing parallel between Berlioz and Edmond Malherbe (winner of the Prix de Rome in 1899), whose performances of popular drames lyriques were too expensive in production costs.
52 Le Figaro, 8 Feb. 1912.
53 See Pougin's, Arthur article in his column ‘La Semaine théâtrale’, Le Ménestrel, 10 Feb. 1912.Google Scholar
54 Chantavoine did most of the Ballets russes coverage for Excelsior.
55 Thus Henry Malherbe instigated a survey of composers to determine their interest in that Russian season. He himself doubted the validity of this import: ‘Aren't those impassioned litanies smothering the impressionism and grace of French music? Will they diminish our glory or serve our school?’ (Excelsior, Thursday, 16 Mar. 1911, 7, together with the responses of Leroux and Pierné; those of Massenet and Debussy – see 11 Feb. – had come before; see on Thursday, 9 Mar. 1911, 5, those of Dukas and Bruneau, the latter having been in charge of the two reports on Russian music in 1900 and 1903.
56 Premiered on 8 June 1912 at the Théâtre du Châtelet with Nijinsky and Karsavina. Le Dieu bleu and Daphnis have this in common, that they were both choreographed by Fokine.
57 L'Année musicale 1912, p. 231. The choice of adjective is perplexing.
58 Excelsior, Monday, 3 Apr. 1911.
59 On the reception of the Russians in Paris, see Marnat, Marcel, Maurice Ravel (Paris, 1986), 269–72.Google Scholar
60 L'Année musicale 1913, 288. Elsewhere, he confessed more openly that he did not care for Le Sacre: see Excelsiorfor 17 and 30 May 1913.
61 l'Année musicale 1913, 284.
62 Before the final version premiered in Paris on 10 May 1913, the work had been staged at the Monte Carlo Opera on 4 Mar. 1913. Following its failure at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the work was heard again in Brussels and Rouen a few months later. Then there was the hiatus of the war years.
63 The purpose of the theatre, he points out, was to give a permanent home to seasons that were hitherto temporary and ‘the affair of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées shows the failure of money-driven snobbery’ (l'Année musicale 1913, 288–9).
64 Ibid., 286.
65 One sentence is devoted to the work: ‘M. Claude Debussy has provided stage music with orchestra and chorus, always of a refined character, but possibly broader than usual' (l'Année musicale 1911, 254). And later, ‘M. Claude Debussy … has limited himself to a rather subsidiary role’ (p. 258).
66 l'Année musicale 1911, 288.
67 l'Année musicale 1912, 230. See the cahiers des charges for 1908, 1911 and 1914 (articles 12, 39 and 12 respectively).
68 According to him, ‘Paris could become for music worldwide a field of experimentation as it already is for painting’ (l'Année musicale 1913, 287).
69 Le Goût musical en France, cited in Goubault, Christian, La Critique musicale dans la presse française de 1870 à 1914 (Geneva and Paris, 1984), 485Google Scholar.