CHAPTER 1

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The Group of the Six

Short overview of the history of the group

On May 18^th, 1917 at the Théatre du Chatelet in Paris the premier of the ballet Parade took place. Many people consider this to be a very crucial moment for the Group of the Six. This ballet was already full of artistic elements and essential ideas that would go on to characterise it. The ballet was a joint venture between French artists and a Russian choreographer, with music by Enric Satie, scenario by Jean Cocteau, costume and set by Pablo Picasso and choreography by Léonide Massine, all unified through being active in the artistic Parisian scene of the time.

The purpose of the collaboration of these artists was to reinvent a French style, form a new tradition and create a unique French aesthetic to counter the predominant European romantic ideology of the day.

Satie was considered to be the focal figure of this movement and the artistic revolution proceeded to revolve around him. Poets and writers, such as Blaise Cendrars and Guillaume Apollinaire held Satie in high regard for his pioneering leadership. Various young composers clustered around him, bewildered by the new character of his composition style.

On June 6^th 1917, a few weeks after the scandalous premiere of Parade, the first concert of the newly formed group “Les Nouveaux Jeunes” took place. It consisted of young French composers, who were bound together by their shared regard for Satie, and Satie himself.

That evening at the Salle Huyghens (a boutique which was used as a gallery for paintings by Modigliani, Picasso and Matisse) a piano reduction of the Parade for four hands was played along with pieces by Auric, Honegger and Durey. Works by Cendrars, Apolinaire, Jacob and Cocteau were also read. ¹

Les Nouveaux Jeunnes evolved greatly between 1917 and 1919, with the addition of Poulenc, Tailleferre and Milhaud and the departure of Satie in 1918. They commenced giving several concerts, predominantly at the Salle Huyghens and Theatre du Viux-Colombien.

We can see Les Nouveaux Jeunnes almost as a germinal version of The Group of the Six. It's within this early group that between 1918 and 1920 the boundary of a new style took shape.

Cocteau played an important role within the Group of the Six. With the success from the publishing of The Cock and the Harlequin on the 19^th of March, 1918, he established himself not only as spokesman, promoter and impresario, but as the sole theoretician of the group.

It can seem that the group was spontaneously formed, almost as if it was simply discovered and named by the French composer and music critic Henri Collet in one of his article in 1920. Nevertheless, the article was no coincidence. Cocteau's planning was essential in bringing it to fruition. Collet spent over a year trying to establish a group whose media impact would be far-reaching.

On the April 5^th 1919, at the Salle Huygnes, Cocteau organized the first concert exclusively with six of the musicians of the Nouveaux Jeunes. The program featured premieres of Auric's Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Milhaud's String Quartet no. 4, and Poulenc's Mouvements perpétuels, as well as premieres of works by Durey, Honegger and Tailleferre.²

On the 28^th July of the same year, Cocteau made the following statement in an article that appeared in the Paris-Midi:

'Here it is; the end of the working year. The year of germs. The swarming is a bit more organized. One can distinguish the families. I am looking forward to balancing the books for

the Jeunes' musical year 1919'.

At the end of his article he also added a list of the six composers and included a short biography of each one, as he was starting to delineate the outline of the future group.³

During September 1919 he was already in contact with Collet about the article that he will write about the group. Cocteau advised him to meet the composers in order to give credence to the article:

'The best thing would be for you to get in contact with the musician, in order to give to the article a bigger vivacity.'⁴

Actually, thanks to a note in the Honegge's agenda, we know about a meeting with Collet at Milhaud's home on the 8 of January 1920, at 4:30 pm. On the 19^th December Cocteau was able, thanks to the help and support from the Belgian musical critic Paul Caller, to present and sponsor the six composers in Belgium, who gave a concert in Bruxelles. We can safely say that, already in 1919, the six were unified and the group was already established.

On January 6^th, 1920, Collet published his article about the Six, 'Un livre de Rimski at un livre de Cocteau. Le cinq Russes, le sic Français at Erik Satie'. This article was the baptism of the Goup of the Six.

The six composers permitted Cocteau to put his ideas in practice, however, each of the six's strong personalities made it impossible for Cocteau to remain as the spokesman for very long.

Aside from the initial enthusiasm shown during the Satie's Parade, these composers lacked a shared aesthetic. Durey, Honegger and Tailleferre were not nurturing a love for popular entertainment that began in their childhood, as did Milhaud, Auric and Poulenc. They also disagreed about the basic ideas Cocteau and Satie brought up. Honegger for example never rejected the German-inspired romantic style that was so thwarted by the other artists. From some angles, it appears that friendship was the glue that held the Group of the Six together as opposed to a unanimous musical vision.

Since 1911, Milhaud and Honegger studied together in the class of André Gédagle, who was the teacher of counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire de Paris.⁵ Even if they had different artistic views and musical taste (Milhaud appreciated Satie, Honneger criticized him), a strong friendship was founded which would last for the rest of their lives. In 1912, Tailleferre entered in the Conservatoire and become friends with the two composers. One year later, was the time of Auric. He was a young, talented man who came from Montpellier. He was educated in music, sociology, theology, literature (Apollinare asked his advice with regard to his works when Auric was only 17years old). His character elicited curiosity in Milhaud and vice versa, and they became friends.

It was not until 1916 that Poulence joined The Six. He was a piano student of Ricardo Vinès, a Spanish pianist who had lived in Paris since 1887 and premiered music by and worked with Debussy, Ravel, Satie, de Falla. Vinès was also the teacher of Auric, and he decided to introduce the two composers. Through Jane Bathori, Poulenc met Honegger, Tailleferre and Durey. In 1918, Poulenc finally met and became friends with Milhaud via Auric. Already as early as 1914, Poulenc had tried to get to know Milhaud better, but

this was prevented largely due to Milhaud's excursion to Brasil, in 1917.

In the following years, Milhaud organized weekly Saturday night meetings at his place. The six composers (together with performers, painters and writers) would meet at Milhaud's home, have drinks, go out for dinner and spend some time enjoying the entertainment that Paris had to offer. Then they would come back to Milhaud's place to read some poetry and play new compositions.

We can see how the friendship between the composers played a fundamental role of unification among the Group of the Six. This friendship was the gateway that allowed the composers to share the same experiences and influences which created a consistency in the group.

Despite the obvious social relationship between the members, further evidence for a lack of a common musical mindset is the fact that there are few examples of collaborative composition.

The only exceptions are the 'Album des Six', a collection of piano pieces from the six composers made by Cocteau in 1920 and the ballet 'Les mariés de la tur Eiffel' of 1921, which excludes the collaboration of Durey.

Even their journal “Le Coq” (lately “Le Coq Parisien”) didn't develop as they planned. Of the 10 planned editions, only 4 actually were published, and not all the composers participated actively.⁶ Milhaud, Auric and Poulenc, together with Satie and Cocteau, wrote articles and contributed to the journal, wile Honegger, Tailleferre and Durey stood aside.

In 1921, Durey left the group and moved to the south of France. According to the singer Jane Bathori, he decided to retire "Because of a shyness and a fear of displaying his works alongside those of his colleagues..".⁷ In the same year, in an article written about the disintegration of the group, Paul Rosenfeld identified Milhaud, Auric, and Pulenc, as the most representative members of the Group of the Six, and as the ones who would be able to carry on the style and legacy of it.

'With Poulenc, Auric and Milhaud, we penetrate more closely into the heart of the artichoke. There are the men who carry the group. Without them there would be no Six … They have the bite, the courage, the brutality'.⁸

It is for this reason that in the following chapters I will take in consideration mostly the compositions and characteristics of these three composers.

Finally, in 1922, Cocteau himself admitted the end of the group with a short, aphoristic message to the composers.

Auric, Milhaud, Poulenc, Tailleferre, Honegger,
J’ai mis votre bouquet dans l’eau du même vase
Et vous ai chèrement tortillés par la base,
Tous libres de choisir votre chemin en l’air.⁹