V
It is not within the province of this chapter to be all-inclusive, but merely to recognize the achievement of the more notable figures. In consequence a brief mention of some composers of lesser stature, and a slight enlargement upon two of the more distinguished, will suffice to account for present-day activity. There are, however, two precursors of modern French music, who from the circumstances of their lives and talent have not reached the fruition which they might have deserved. The first of these, Ernest Fanelli, for thirty years lived the life of an obscure and impoverished musician, playing the triangle in a small orchestra, accompanying at cafés, laboring as a copyist. By mere chance, Gabriel Pierné discovered in 1912 an orchestral work, the first part Thebes, a symphonic poem founded on Théophile Gautier's Roman de la Mome, composed 1883-87. The music was found to have anticipated many harmonic effects of a later idiom including a fairly developed whole-tone system. Other works like the Impressions Pastorales (1890), some Humoresques and a quintet for strings entitled L'Ane show their composer to have poetic and descriptive gifts, whose late revelation is not without pathos. Fanelli can exert no historical influence, but he remains an isolated and belated phenomenon whose temporary vogue is doubtless likely soon to suffer eclipse.
Erik Satie, whose name has been mentioned in connection with Maurice Ravel, and who doubtless was not unsympathetic to Debussy since he orchestrated two of his Gymnopédies, was born in 1866 and studied for a time at the Paris Conservatory. But an examination of his music would prognosticate his distaste for that academic institution. He was influenced by the pre-Raphaelites, and by the Salon de la Rose Croix and by the mystical movement in literature generally. His music, chiefly for piano, wavers between an elevated and symbolic mysticism and an ironic and over-strained impressionism. Regarded for years as an eccentric poseur with some admixture of the charlatan, it must now be recognized that he had glimmerings of a modern harmonic idiom and subjective expression in some of its aspects before the generality of modern Parisian musicians. But these qualities were hampered in their development by the ultra-fantastic character of his ideas, and an incapacity for a coherent development of them. He abhors the tyranny of the barline, and many of his pieces have no rhythmical indication from one end to the other, beyond the relative value of the notes. He is also loath to employ cadences, a prophetic glimpse of the future.
Among his earlier works, the Sarabandes (1887), Gymnopédies (1888), incidental music for a drama by Sar Peladan, Le Fils des Étoiles (1891), Sonneries de la Rose Croix (1892), Uspud, a 'Christian ballet' with one character (1892), Pièces froides (1897) and Morceaux en forme de poire (1903), by their titles alone indicate the character of their musical substance. The Gymnopédies and the Sonneries de la Rose Croix are interesting for their absence of the commonplace and for suggestions of a poetic vein. The later works dating from 1912 and 1913 have fantastic titles which awake the curiosity only to disappoint it by the contents of the music. Aperçus désagréable, Descriptions automatiques, Chapitres tournés en tous sens seem deliberately contrived to affront the unwary, and cannot lay claim to any influence beyond their perverse humor, and occassional ironic caricature as in Celle qui parle trop, Danse maigre and Españana.
Among the many contributors toward the upbuilding of modern French music one must recall the names of Gabriel Pierné for his piano concerto, a symphonic poem for chorus and orchestra, L'An mil, the operas Vendée, La Fille de Tabarin (1900), the choral works La Croisade des Enfants (1903) and Les Enfants de Bethlehem (1907); Deodat de Sévérac for his piano suites Le Chant de la Terre (1900) and En Languedoc (1904), the operas Cœur du Moulin (1909) and Heliogabale (1910); Gustave Samazeuilh for his string quartet, a sonata for violin and piano, the orchestral pieces Étude Symphonique d'après 'la Nef' and Le Sommeil de Canope; Isaac Albéniz, although of Spanish birth associated with French composers;[70] Roger-Ducasse for orchestral works, a 'mimodrame' Orphée, Louis Aubert for a Fantasie for piano and orchestra, songs, a Suite brêve for orchestra and the opera La Forêt bleue. In addition the names of Chevillard, Busser, Ladmirault, Henri Rabaud, André Messager,[71] Labey, Casella, and others might be added. A figure of some solitary distinction is Alberic Magnard (died 1914), whose operas Yolande, Guercœur and Bérénice, three symphonies and other orchestral works, chamber music, piano pieces and songs, show him to be a serious musician who disdained popularity. Associated with the Schola he partook of d'Indy's artistic stimulus without losing his own individuality.
Two composers whose achievements are the strongest of the younger generation are Albert Roussel and Florent Schmitt. The former, born in 1869, entered the navy, and even visited Cochin-China. In 1898 he entered the Schola, where he studied with d'Indy for nine years. Since 1902 he has taught counterpoint at the Schola. His principal works are the piano pieces Rustiques (1904-6), a Suite (1909), a Trio (1902), a Divertissement for wind instruments (1906), a Sonata for piano and violin (1907-08), the orchestral works 'A Prelude,' after Tolstoy's novel 'Resurrection' (1903), Le poëme de la Forêt, a symphony (1904-6) and three symphonic sketches, 'Evolutions' (1910-11), the last with chorus, a ballet-pantomine, Le Festin de l'Araignée (1913). Of these the best known are the orchestral works and the ballet. If the symphony suggests many traits of d'Indy, there is in it no lack of individual ideas and treatment. The 'Evolutions' seem far more personal, and in both style and contents convince that Roussel is a genuine creative force. The ballet, 'The Festival of the Spider,' is an ingenious dramatic conception in which the characters are the spider, flies, beetles and worms. The music in its delicate subtlety is ingeniously adapted to the action, and in addition is picturesquely orchestrated with a minimum of resource. Roussel has undergone a long and severe apprenticeship and his later achievements have proved its efficacy.
Florent Schmitt, born 1870, is of Lorraine origin. After some preliminary study, he entered the Paris Conservatory in 1889. Dubois and Lavignac were his first teachers; subsequently he joined the classes of Massenet and Gabriel Fauré. Leaving the Conservatory to undergo his military service, he obtained a second prix de Rome in 1897. In 1900 he was awarded the first prize with the cantata Semiramis. After his prescribed stay at the Villa Medicis in Rome, Schmitt travelled to Germany, Austria and Hungary and even Turkey.
Schmitt has been a prolific composer and space will not permit a consideration of all his works. Those upon which his rising reputation rests are a Quintette for piano and strings (1905-08), the 47th Psalm for solo, chorus, orchestra and organ (1904) and two symphonic poems, Le Palais hanté after Poe, and La Tragédie de Salomé (1907), in its original form danced as a drame muet by Loie Fuller. In addition are many piano pieces for two and four hands, and for two pianos, songs and choruses.
In Florent Schmitt's music is to be found alike the solid contrapuntal workmanship of the Conservatory and the atmospheric procedures of Debussy. These are combined with a striking homogeneity and a dominating force that make Schmitt perhaps the most promising figure among French younger musicians of to-day. If this praise must be qualified, it must be acknowledged that he is overfluent, and that the triviality of many of his ideas is only saved by his extraordinary skill in treating them. In this respect his resourcefulness is surprising and well-nigh infallible. The massive architectural quality of the quintet, the barbaric splendor of the 47th Psalm,[72] and the passionate and sinister mood of La Tragédie de Salomé make these works significant of the future even in the face of previous achievements by his older contemporaries.
If this survey of modern French composers seem oversanguine in its assertions, even the most conservative critic must admit that their work within the last thirty years has possessed a singularly unified continuity. Striving deliberately to attain racial independence, the various composers have attained their end with a unity of achievement which is not surpassed in modern times. Whether following the counsel of the naturalized Franck, or heeding the iconoclastic tendencies of Chabrier, Fauré and Debussy, and the realistic aspirations of Bruneau and Charpentier, the impressions of Ravel with its added graphic touches of realism, French music has had a distinctive style, a personal explanation of mood and a racial individuality such as it has not shown since the days of Rameau. The question as to its durability may be raised, as has been done in many epochs and countries, but its position in the immediate past, and in certain aspects of the present, leaves no doubt as to its conviction and its import.
E. B. H.
FOOTNOTES:
[61] Louis Laloy Monograph on Debussy, Paris, Dorbon ainé, 1909, p. 12.
[62] Laloy: op. cit. p. 52.
[63] Ibid., pp. 20-21, 24-26.
[64] Quarter-note.
[65] Boston Symphony Orchestra Program-book Dec. 21st, 1904.
[66] Roland Manuel: Maurice Ravel et son œuvre (1904), pp. 8 et seq.
[67] Quoted by Octave Séré from La Revue Blanche, May 15, 1901.
[68] Octave Séré: Musiciens français d'aujourd'hui, p. 101.
[69] Cours de Composition, Deuxième Livre, Première Partie, p. 331.
[70] See pp. 405f.
[71] Messager, b. 1853, is most widely known for a number of charming operettas, continuing the traditions of Offenbach and Lecoq, of which Véronique (1898), also produced in America, is probably the best. His most worthy contemporary in this department is Robert Planquette (1850-1903), whose Les Cloches de Corneville ('Chimes of Normandy') is perennially popular.
[72] The 46th in the French Bible.
CHAPTER XI
THE OPERATIC SEQUEL TO VERDI
The Musical traditions of Modern Italy—Verdi's heirs: Boïto, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Wolf-Ferrari, Franchetti, Giordano, Orefice, Mancinelli—New paths; Montemezzi, Zandonai, and de Sabbata.