Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword, by Jesse Eschbach
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader on Terminology
- Introduction
- Chapter One Duruflé's Childhood and Early Education
- Chapter Two Life at the Cathedral Choir School
- Chapter Three Lessons with Charles Tournemire
- Chapter Four Lessons with Louis Vierne
- Chapter Five The Conservatoire Student
- Chapter Six Duruflé's Distinctions
- Chapter Seven The Contested Successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde
- Chapter Eight Duruflé's Performing Career
- Chapter Nine The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Ten The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Eleven Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire
- Chapter Twelve Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Thirteen Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Fourteen Duruflé's Compositions: Their Genesis and First Performances
- Chapter Fifteen Duruflé's Role in the Plainsong Revival
- Chapter Sixteen The Vichy Commissions
- Chapter Seventeen The Requiem
- Chapter Eighteen The Musical History of Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Nineteen The Organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Twenty Duruflé as Organist and Teacher
- Chapter Twenty-One Duruflé and Organ Design
- Chapter Twenty-Two The Church in Transition
- Chapter Twenty-Three The North American Tours
- Chapter Twenty-Four The Man Duruflé
- Appendix A Maurice Duruflé
- Appendix B Discography
- Appendix C Stoplists of Organs Important to the Careers of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
Chapter Sixteen - The Vichy Commissions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword, by Jesse Eschbach
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader on Terminology
- Introduction
- Chapter One Duruflé's Childhood and Early Education
- Chapter Two Life at the Cathedral Choir School
- Chapter Three Lessons with Charles Tournemire
- Chapter Four Lessons with Louis Vierne
- Chapter Five The Conservatoire Student
- Chapter Six Duruflé's Distinctions
- Chapter Seven The Contested Successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde
- Chapter Eight Duruflé's Performing Career
- Chapter Nine The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Ten The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Eleven Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire
- Chapter Twelve Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Thirteen Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Fourteen Duruflé's Compositions: Their Genesis and First Performances
- Chapter Fifteen Duruflé's Role in the Plainsong Revival
- Chapter Sixteen The Vichy Commissions
- Chapter Seventeen The Requiem
- Chapter Eighteen The Musical History of Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Nineteen The Organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Twenty Duruflé as Organist and Teacher
- Chapter Twenty-One Duruflé and Organ Design
- Chapter Twenty-Two The Church in Transition
- Chapter Twenty-Three The North American Tours
- Chapter Twenty-Four The Man Duruflé
- Appendix A Maurice Duruflé
- Appendix B Discography
- Appendix C Stoplists of Organs Important to the Careers of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
Summary
In the late 1930s, before the Second World War began, the grave economic conditions in France had become a serious concern of the government. In an effort to ameliorate the situation, the Administration des Beaux-Arts began awarding commissions to composers in 1938, giving them an incentive to work. The official title of the commissions program was “Commandes exceptionnelles aux artistes vivants et compositeurs de musique en vue de lutter contre le chômage.”It was indeed a radical notion on the part of the Third Republic to institute such a program in response to the worsening economy.
The first commissions were awarded, in 1938, to Elsa Barraine, Yvonne Desportes, Charles Koechlin, Paul Le Flem, Georges Migot, Darius Milhaud, and Germaine Tailleferre, among a total of twelve who were commissioned to write either a symphonic work, a ballet or opera in one act, or an opera or similar work in three acts.
In 1939, another eight composers were commissioned to write either a symphonic poem, a ballet, an opera or similar work, or incidental music for a dramatic work. Eugène Bozza and Claude Delvincourt were among them.
In the first half of 1940, prior to the June invasion of Paris by the Germans, only two commissions were awarded. They went to Alfred Bachelet, for a symphonic poem, and to Henri Hirschmann, for an opera or similar work.
The new Vichy regime, formally established in July 1940 after France's defeat by Germany, continued the program of commissions established by the now displaced Third Republic. It spent a considerable amount of money to relieve the severe unemployment in France, awarding a total of eighty-one commissions throughout the war to composers needing financial incentive to produce new works. Because the Vichy government took music seriously for its propaganda value, it generally restricted its awards to composers who upheld the conservative, antimodernist, and pro-Catholic sentiments of the regime.
The government offered 10,000 francs for a symphonic poem, 20,000 francs for a symphony, and 30,000 francs for an opera or similar work. The monetary awards for the commissions were not intended to be generous, but were large enough merely to free the composer to devote his or her time to the composition for as long as needed, roughly six to twelve months.
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- Information
- Maurice DurufléThe Man and His Music, pp. 156 - 165Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007