Darius Milhaud and the Debate on Polytonality in the French Press of the 1920s

Author(s): Franois de Mdicis

Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 86, No. 4 (Nov., 2005), pp. 573-591
Published by: Oxford University Press
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Music& Letters,
Vol. 86 No. 4, ? The Author(2005).Publishedby OxfordUniversityPress.All rightsreserved.
doi:10.1093/ml/gci106,availableonlineat www.ml.oxfordjournals.org

DARIUS MITTHAUDAND THE DEBATE ON

POLYTONALITY IN THE FRENCH PRESS OF THE 1920S
BY FRANQOIS DE MEDICIS

IN THE EARLY1920s, Darius Milhaud participated actively in the development and

disseminationof the innovativemusicalidiom of polytonality,and to a lesserextentin the
promotion of atonality.This emerges not only in his compositionsbut also through his
performingand journalisticactivities.In 1923 he publishedtwo seminal articleson the
subjectof polytonality:'Polytonaliteet atonalite'and 'The Evolutionof Modern Music
in Parisand Vienna'.' Much attentionhas been devoted to Milhaud'stheory of polytonality in so far as it appliesto his music:a dissertationby Virginia Cox, articlesbyJens
Rosteck, and a book by Deborah Mawer have alreadydealt with this questionin some
depth.2But except for the recent book by BarbaraKelly,3the wider culturalcontext of
Milhaud'stheorieshas escaped seriousscholarlyattention.Despite its significantcontribution, however,her book deals mainlywith Milhaud'sties to Frenchmusicaltradition.
She eloquentlyoutlines the developmentof polytonalwritingin the composer'soutput
as well as its relationshipto the style of his predecessorsand contemporaries.She also
interpretshis writingswith respect to the formationof early twentieth-centuryFrench
musical identity, the position he assigns to himself in his own self-fashionedhistorical
narrative,and his deep attachment to his Jewish heritage. In this article, I shed new
light on the performanceand receptionof Milhaud'smusic and provide a closer look at
his journalism of the early 1920s, by examining them in parallel with an important
and voluminous press debate surroundingpolytonality that took place concurrently.
Preliminaryversions of this article were presented at the annual meetings of the Canadian University Music Society
(Halifax 2003) and the American Musicological Society (Houston 2003) as well as the symposium 'Musique francaise
1900-1945: Perspectivesmultidisciplinairessur la modernite'held jointly by the ObservatoireInternationalde la Creation Musicale and the Universite de Montreal (Montreal2004). I am profoundlyindebted to Steven Huebner, Catrina
Flint de Medicis, and Louise Hirbour for reading earlierversions of this article and for offeringtheir invaluableadvice
and assistance.
'The first of these was originallypublished as 'Polytonaliteet atonalite',in Revuemusicale,
4/4 (1923), 29-44; it was
Essaiset chroniques,
reprintedin Darius Milhaud,Notessurla musique:
comp. and ed. Jeremy Drake (Paris,1982), 173-88.
The genesisand disseminationof 'The Evolutionof Moder Music in Parisand Vienna' is fairlycomplex. In Tradition
and
Stylein theWorks
ofDariusMilhaud1912-1939 (Aldershot,2003), BarbaraL. Kelly suggeststhat the text may be a reworking
of a lecturethat Milhaudgave at HarvardUniversityduringhis firstNorth Americantour in 1922. It was originallypublishedin Englishin two Americanjournals:the NorthAmerican
Musical
Review,35 (Apr. 1923),544-5 and the Franco-American
SocieyBulletin,1 (Sept. 1923),9 (See Ronald V. Wiecki,'A Chronicleof Pro Musicain the United States(1920-1944);with
a BiographicalSketch of its Founder,E. Robert Schmitz' (Ph.D. diss., Universityof Wisconsinat Madison, 1992), 14748). Milhaud later publishedthese ideas in French in an article entitled 'La Musique francaisedepuis la guerre',in his
book Etudes(Paris,1927).JeremyDrake has translatedthe originalversionof the articleinto French,but his text is based in
193-205.
part on the Frenchversionthat appearsin Etudes.See Milhaud,Notessurla musique,
2
Virginia Cox, 'SimultaneousDiatonic Harmonic Contexts in Early Twentieth-CenturyMusic' (Ph.D. diss., West
Virginia University, 1993);Jens Rosteck, 'Auf der Suche nach dem besonderen Glanz: Darius Milhauds lebenslange
Reise zur Polytonalitat',in Milhaud'Musicien
vonDariusMilhaud-Zum80. Geburtstag
vonJean
Franfaix':
Zum100. Geburtstag
Franfaix(Berlin, 1992), 22-27; id., 'Umrisse einer Theorie der Polytonalitatbei Darius Milhaud', International
Journalof
3 (1994), 235-90; Deborah Mawer,DariusMilhaud:ModaliyandStructure
inMusicofthe1920s (Aldershot,1997).
Musicology,
3
andStyle.
Kelly, Tradition

573

I demonstrate how his professional activities (as an individual and as part of the Groupe
des Six) influenced the evolution of the debate, and how he reacted in turn to this controversy in two significant 1923 articles.
THE DEBATE ON POLYTONALITY

AND ITS MAIN ISSUES

The earliest writings on polytonality to frame the concept in theoretical terms date from
1923 and 1925 and originate with composers who had some stake in developing it as a
compositional technique: Charles Koechlin (1867-1950), Alfredo Casella (1883-1947),
and Darius Milhaud (1892-1974).4 Koechlin's investigations into polytonality date from
the early 1900s, while those of the younger Casella and Milhaud emerge in the 1910s.
Milhaud later suggested that the daring harmonies of Stravinsky's Le Sacreduprintemps,
which partly motivated the scandal of the work's premiere in 1913, significantly stimulated compositional reflection and research on polytonality.5 But the word 'polytonalite'
and its variant 'polytonie' actually appear in the press some time before these more theoretical discussions. The idea that different keys might be simultaneously combined in a
work turns up in conservative critical discourse denouncing new developments in
extended tonality as aberrations that would ultimately lead to anarchy and chaos. As
early as 1870, a critic for the New York Sun invoked the idea of polytonality when he
wondered aloud why Liszt's spiritual affinity for the demonic in the Dante Symphony
'did not inspire him to compose for each class of instruments in a separate key. The
effect of demoniac confusion and horror at which he aimed would then certainly have
been attained, and his audience sent howling with anguish out of the house.'6
Yet when French critics writing in the early twentieth century refer to the superimposition of keys, or actually use the term 'polytonality', such comments are not always
intended as pejorative and should not necessarily be taken as a sign of anxiety about
innovative works. They are sometimes offered in a positive vein or arise as attempts to
make objective stylistic descriptions. With this in mind, Debussy's reaction in 1903 to a
concert devoted to the works of Richard Strauss should be viewed as highly perceptive,
though not entirely devoid of irony. He notes that Strauss 'superimposes the most distantly related keys in the most cold-blooded manner, for he is not concerned with what
he has "abused" but only with what "new life" he has gained'.7 As I have already suggested, the critical reception of the premiere of Le Sacreincluded numerous descriptions
of'polytonal' writing and, to a lesser extent, atonal composition. Amid copious references
to the scrambling of multiple keys, an article in Le Matin declared the work 'resolutely
polyrhythmic and polytonal'.8 Less than a year after Le Sacre,Alfredo Casella's JNottedi
4 Darius
Milhaud,'Polytonalit6et atonalit6'.AlfredoCasella,'Problemisonoriodiemi', Laprora(Feb. 1924),5-18. This
articlesubsequentlyappearedin Englishtranslationas 'Tone-Problemsof Today',MusicalQuarterly,
10 (1924), 159-71; then
the Italianoriginalwas reproducedin a collectionof Casella'sarticles,21 + 26 (Rome and Milan, 1931),61-83. Charles
Koechlin, 'Evolutionde l'harmonie:Periodecontemporaine,depuisBizet et CesarFranckjusqu'anosjours',in Encyclopedie
dela musique
etdictionnaire
duConservatoire,
ii/ 1, ed. AlbertLavignacand Lionelde La Laurencie(Paris,1925),591-760.
5 Darius
avecClaudeRostand(2nd edn., Paris, 1992), 48-9.
Milhaud,Entretiens
6 Cited in Nicolas
CriticalAssaultson Composers
sinceBeethoven's
Time(2nd edn.,
Slonimsky,Lexiconof MusicalInvective:
Seattle and London, 1965), 112.
7 '
superposeles tonalitesles plus 6perdumenteloignees avec un sang-froidabsolu qui ne se soucie nullementde ce
qu'elles peuvent avoir de "d6chirant",mais seulement de ce qu'il leur demande de "vivant".'Published in Gil Blas,
30 Mar. 1903, and repr. in Claude Debussy,Monsieur
Croche
etautresicrits(2nd edn., Paris, 1987), 138.
8 'R6solumentpolyrythmiqueet polytonale'. A. D., 'Theatre des Champs-Elys6es:I"r Repr6sentationdu Sacredu
LeMatin,30/10685 (30 May 1913), 3. An abundantselectionof reviewsthat followed the premiereof LeSacre
Printemps',
has been reprintedin FrancoisLesure (ed.), IgorStravinsky,
Le SacreduPrintemps,
dossierdepresse(Geneva, 1980). The most
complete collection of these reviewsis found in Truman C. Bullard,'The FirstPerformanceof Igor Stravinsky'sSacre du
Printempswith Reviews of Sacre, 1913 in EnglishTranslationand Original FrenchTexts of Reviews' (Ph.D. diss., Universityof Rochester, 1970).

574

maggio,
premieredat the prominentConcertsColonne,was receivedby EmileVuillermoz
as a reformulationof Stravinsky'sinnovations,which channelledall the elements of the
Russian composer'sharmonic revolutioninto a more accessibleform. For Vuillermoz,
Casella's work seemed 'an example of poly-harmonicmusic-for this is how far we
have come-and an absolutelyexquisiteone'.9By the early 1920s, the use of the term
had become widespreadand gave rise to an active criticaldebate. But because polytonality was not discussed in theoretical terms prior to 1923, the debate reveals little
musical consistency about pitch organizationand harmonic idiom. Nonetheless, it is
very revealingof its time, inasmuch as polytonalitywas used to project aesthetic,political, and nationalistagendas.'?
The extended debate on polytonalitywas triggeredby two articlesof 1920 by Henri
Collet, the composer-critic famous for baptizing 'Le Groupe des Six'." The first of
them was formulatedas a review of Ma Viemusicale
by Rimsky-Korsakov,as well as of
in
et
the
wake
of his fruitfulcollaborationwith
Le
Written
Cocteau's
Jean
Coq l'arlequin.
an aestheticprogrammefor
book
out
for
the
Parade
Cocteau's
sets
Satie
ballet
(1917),
A
group of young composers had already gathered
contemporary French music.
around Cocteau and Satie at about the time of its publication,and lent credence to its
artistic dicta, though with a degree of commitment or understandingthat has sometimes been called into question.'2In this article, Collet designatedhis young proteges
'Le Groupe des Six' by analogywith the RussianFive, underscoringthe nationalistaspirations of the two groups. In his second article, Collet devoted more attention to the
individualachievementsof each member of Les Six. In an effortto establishthe stylistic
commonalitieswithin the group, he seized on the notion of polytonalityor 'polytonie'
(to use his precise term), and linked the emergence of this compositionalmeans to two
larger issues:the rift between the new musical avant-gardeand establishedcomposers,
and French nationalism.
Collet's articles positioned Les Six as a group of composers driven by nationalist
ambitions, as the instigatorsof a stylisticrevolutionthat resolutelybroke with 'impressionism'and the teachingsof the Schola Cantorum.Polytonalityfiguresas a characteristic feature of all members of Les Six-an importantpoint to bear in mind-and is
explicitly tied to the expression of nationalistideologies through the assumptionthat
polytonalwritingmarksa returnto the simplicityand claritydeemed essentiallyFrench.
When Collet asks'Whatis afterall the musicalaestheticof Les Six?'he quicklyanswers:
9 'Un specimen de musiquepoly-harmonique-car nous en sommes la!-absolument exquis'. Emile Vuillermoz,'La
30 Mar. 1914,p. 2. This articlewas reprintedunderthe title'LaMusique"poly-harmonique"
Musiqueau Concert',Comoedia,
et LaNuitdemai,d'AlfredCasella',PoemeetDrame:
desartsmodemes,
Atlasinternational
2/7 (Jan.-Mar. 1914), 11-15.
andStyle,142-68. She cites many
'0 BarbaraKelly touches on the 1920s debate on polytonalityin ch. 6 of Tradition
articleswrittenwithinthe context of the controversy,but she is primarilyinterestedin the theoreticalstakesof polytonality
(fundamentalsof polytonalwriting,perceptivelimits)and treatsthem within a synchronicperspective,showing how the
issuesof these debates have been perpetuatedin recent argumentson polytonalwriting.
" 'Un livrede Rimskiet un livrede Cocteau.Les cinq Russes,les six Francaiset ErikSatie', Comoedia,
16Jan. 1920, p. 2;
and 'Les Six francais:Darius Milhaud, Louis Durey, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc et Germaine
desSix (Paris, 1994), 192-8
23 Jan. 1920, p. 2. Both articlesare reprintedinJean Roy, Le Groupe
Tailleferre',Comoedia,
and 198-203. Already in the 1920s, Collet boasted that he had coined the name 'Les Six'. See Henri Collet, Comoedia,
12 Aug. 1921, p. 2.
12 Much ink has flowed over the
founding of the group to establishthe extent to which their associationwas arbitrary
or justified,and to demonstratethe extent to which Collet was either manipulatedor workedon his own initiativeto perpetuate the idea of Les Six. Undoubtedlythe most daringthesishas been advancedby Michel Faure,who maintainsthat
the whole idea was cleverlyorchestratedby Cocteau and Les Six, who used Collet as a puppet:Faurealso arguesthat the
was delayed in order to coincide with the naming of the group. See Michel Faure, Du
publicationof Le Coqet l'arlequin
musicaldans la Francedu premierXX siecle(Paris, 1997), 113-40. For the most sophisticated and bestNioclassicisme
documented interpretationof this issue see Eveline Hurard-Viltard,Le Groupe
desSix. Ou le matind'unjourdejfte (Paris,
1987), 11-15.

575

'They take the complexities of polytonality as a point of departure eventually to arrive

at simplicity."3 Later he adds that
polytonality, bereft of the enchanting vagueness of early experimentsin the style, may, in its
charms must
present, denuded state sound somewhat crude... Ears hypnotized by Debussyste
become accustomedto it. At last, melody may escape its psalmodicpast without sacrificingpure
Frenchprosody.Les Six know their language.'4
In the ensuing debate in the music periodicals, the majority of commentators used
the term 'polytonality' as if it were self-explanatory. Exceptions to this were writings by
critics such asJean Deroux and Maurice Touze, who pointed to its semantic flux.'5 For
example, Deroux reports in 1921 that 'for the past several months much has been written about polytonal music (which appears variously as "polytonie" and "polytonalite").
But at the same time, a precise definition of the term has yet to be offered."6 A critical
shift in the reception of Schoenberg's music in France during the early 1920s and the
increased use of the term 'atonality' in the same period brought even greater terminological confusion to polytonality. For although a limited number of Schoenberg's works
had been performed in Paris since 1910, including the Klavierstiicke
Opp. 11 and 19 and
Das Buch derhingendenGdrten,his music attracted almost no attention in the press. But as
Marie-Claire Mussat has shown, attitudes in the French press towards Schoenberg
changed radically in the 1920s: for progressives, he became an important composer
whose 'atonal' works constituted a legitimate form of artistic expression."7Milhaud was
closely and actively involved with this change in attitude: he was the pianist in Das Buch
derhdngenden
Girtenin 1921, and conducted the first French performances of Pierrotlunaire
in 1921 and 1922.18 In the winter of 1922, Milhaud travelled with Francis Poulenc to
Vienna, where he gave a private performance of Pierrotfor Schoenberg, who presented
him with scores of several of his works. At home in Paris, Milhaud dedicated his Fifth
String Quartet to Schoenberg, a piece that is arguably his most rigorous and daring effort
in polytonal writing.
Confusion over atonality and polytonality became so pronounced within the debate
that these terms were at times used interchangeably, as catch-alls to describe all manner
of adventurous works. This is clear in Jean Bernier's review of Pierrotlunaire,where readers learnt that 'tonality, it is understood, no longer exists, since this music is constantly
13 'Quele est en somme 1'esthetiquemusicaledes Six ? Is partentde la complexit6polytonique
pour trouverla simplicdesSix, 201.
ite.' See Roy, Le Groupe
14 'La
polytonie, destituee de ce flou ensorceleurde sa periode de recherche,peut, dans sa nudite actuelle, sembler
parfoisun peu fruste.... I1faudra [que les oreillesqu'hypnotisele debussysme]s'habituent.Enfin la melodie s'evade des
psalmodies anterieuressans que la declamationcesse d'etre conforme a la pure prosodie francaise.Les Six savent leur
langue.' Ibid.
15 Jean Deroux, 'La Musiquepolytonale',Revue
musicale,11 (Oct. 1921), 251-7; MauriceTouz6, 'La Tonalite chroma9 (1July 1922), 57-65. Even afterthe publicationof Milhaud'stheoreticalarticleon polytonalityin
tique', Revuemusicale,
a 1923 issue of the Revuemusicale,
Albert Febvre-Longeraycontinued to complain that the term was ill-defined.See his
'Du "Systeme"polytonal',Le Courrier
musical,25/8 (15 Apr. 1923), 141-4.
16
ou
'Depuis quelquesmois, on a beaucoup 6crit sur la musiquepoytonale(que l'on d6signe sous les noms de polytonie
Et cependant, il ne semble pas qu'on en ait encore donn6 de d6finitionprecise.'D6roux, 'La Musique polypolytonalite).
tonale', 251.
17 Marie-ClaireMussat, 'La
Reception de Schonbergen Franceavant la Seconde Guerremondiale',Revuedemusicologie, 87/1 (2001), 145-86; works by Schoenberg performed in Paris during the 1910s are listed on pp. 146-7, and his
reputationduringthe 1920s is discussedon pp. 168-71.
18 Milhaud
accompaniedMarya Freundin a performanceof Das Buchon 29 Nov. 1921 at the inauguralconcert of the
Concerts de la Revue musicale (organizedby Henri Prunieres).He also conducted a premiere of excerpts from Pierrot
lunaireon 15 Dec. 1921, and the first French performanceof the complete work on 16Jan. 1922, both at the Concerts
Wiener. See Mussat, 'La Reception de Schonbergen France', 153-5.

576

polytonal and polyphonic'.'9Enlightenedcomposer-criticssuch as Paul Le Flem were

no less guilty of this kind of terminologicalconflation,and even commentsby Koechlin,
In his 1917
who had some experience of polytonality,are not without contradictions.20
article for the Courrier
musical,Koechlin situates Schoenberg categoricallywithin the
atonal clan, whom he views as directlyopposed to polytonality.Nonetheless,in various
publicationsfrom the early 1920s, including the article 'Polytonie' inserted in a programmefor the ConcertsColonneand in his seriesentitled'Etudesurles notesde passage',
Koechlin actuallylinks Schoenbergwith polytonality.In his 1925 articlefor the Lavignac Encyclopedie
he plays both sides:when he describesatonalityhe illustrateshis points
with a number of excerptsfrom Schoenberg (pp. 738-46), and in the passage on polytonal counterpoint he writes: '[this style] has proved itself worthy, notably with
Lunaire'
(p. 706). It is likelythat the ambiguitybetween polytonality
Schoenberg'sPierrot
and atonalitythat we find in Koechlin derivesin part from his broad theoreticalunderstandingof polytonalwriting.For him, polytonalityresultsfrom chromaticadditionsto
a diatonic collection, which leads him to identifyembryonicforms of it in purely tonal
in which a chromaticpassworksas surprisingas the overtureto Mozart'sDon Giovanni,
ing note is placed againsta triad(a D#over a D majortriad).21
By extension,a chromatic
passagecompletelydevoid of polarityor recognizabletonalitybut repletewith commonpracticechords could qualifyas polytonal.
Between 1920 and 1923, the use of the termpolytonalityin the musicalpressincreased
exponentially.As may be expected, it occursprominentlyin articlesdevoted to Les Six
such as Andre Coeuroy's'Le Grand Soir de la musique',or in studiesdealingwith individual memberssuch as Henry Prunieres'sexaminationof Milhaud for the Nouvelle
revue
in
term
also
with
But
the
connection
outside
the
franfaise(NRF).22
appears
composers
in
For
four
articles
the
Revue
musicale
between
and
1921
instance,
group.
July
April
devotedto composersas varyingin compositionalstyleas Ravel, Szymanowski,Stravinsky,
and Prokofievall featurediscussionsof polytonality.23
Even Saint-Saens,who died in the
midst of this debate, was posthumouslypositioned as a practitionerof this language
thanksto the zeal of one hagiographeranxious to establishthe pervasiveavant-gardism
of the composer'slate works.24
THE RIFT BETWEEN THE AVANT-GARDE AND THE MUSICAL ESTABLISHMENT

In an artisticcommunity dominated by an establishedgeneration of composerswhose

musicwas franklyrepudiatedby Les Six and theirsupporters,the debateaboutpolytonality was also one about the legitimacyof the young avant-garde.As part of his campaign
'9 'La tonalit6, bien entendu, n'existe plus, la musique est constammentpolytonale et polyphonique.'Jean Bernier,
'Les Concerts',Le Theitreet Comoedia
illustre,2 (Feb. 1922), 39.
20 Paul Le Flem, 'La
19 (Dec. 1921),4; CharlesKoechlin, 'Esth6tique',Courrier
musical,
Musique au concert', Comoedia,
19 (15 Feb. 1917), 79-80; id., 'Polytonie',Programme
desConcerts
30-1 Oct. 1920, p. 7; see also Koechlin'sseriesof
Colonne,
articles'Etude sur les notes de passage',publishedin LeMondemusicalbetween Nov. 1920 and Mar. 1921 and reprinted
as a book under the same title in 1922.
21 In the
Lavignac article, the Mozart passage is transposedinto the key of C (p. 699). To complicate matterseven
more, duringthe 1920s Schoenbergdistancedhimselffrom the term 'atonality'.In a notice insertedin the 1921 edition
of Harmonielehre,
he clearly dissociates himself from partisans of 'atonality'.For Schoenberg, the term is nonsensical,
because in German 'Ton' means 'sound'or 'notes';'atonal'thus refersto the negation of notes or sound, and not merely
the eliminationof tonality.See his Theory
ofHarmony
(Londonand Boston, 1986),432.
22 Andre Coeuroy, 'Le Grand Soir de la musique',Revue
dumois,10 Nov. 1920, pp. 354-66; Henry Prunieres,'Darius
14/80 (May 1920), 762-7.
Milhaud',Nouvelle
Revuefranfaise,
23 AlexisRoland-Manuel,'MauriceRavel',Revue
6 (Apr.1921), 1-21; AlexandreTansman,'KarolSzymanowski',
musicale,
ibid. 7 (May 1922), 97-110; ErnestAnsermet,'L'(Euvred'Igor Strawinsky',ibid. 9 July 1921), 1-27; Borisde Schloezer,
ProkofiefF,ibid. 50-60.
'Serge
24
Maurice Reuschel, 'Saint-Saens,la polytonie et la polymodie', Comoedia,
16Jan. 1922, p. 4.

577

in favourof these young composers,Cocteau definedtheir revolutionboth as a reaction

againstimpressionisttendenciesand as part of a returnto the traditionalFrenchvaluesof
clarity and simplicityexemplifiedin Satie's Parade.Such attacks, aimed at nationally
acclaimedcomposersincludingthe recentlydeceasedDebussyand a middle-agedRavel,
Still,it is importantto bearin mind thatopinionsexpressed
promptedcriticalindignation.25
of
Six
members
Les
and theirsupportersdid not alwaysrepresentthe groupas
publiclyby
a whole, and that printed disclaimersand the distancingof individualmembers often
inducedcriticalconfusionas to the officialstanceof the group.For instance,while individual membersoften appearedto condemnDebussysme
as a whole, they maintaineda fervent
level of admirationfor Debussyhimself.6Moreover,if Ravel was sometimesthe targetof
criticismin the periodicalLe Coqand elsewhere,and Milhaudwas never able to bestow
unreservedadmirationupon him, we know that LouisDureypaid his respectsto him in a
and that GermaineTailleferreeven studiedwith him.27
1921 articlefor TheChesterian
Cocteau played an important role in promoting Les Six, and the attention they
received as a resultof his press campaignowes much to his genius for formulaand flair
for publicity.He contributedrelentlesslyto periodicalssuch as LeMot,Paris-Midi,and Le
Coq,and sent open lettersto a variety of journals rangingin focus and readershipfrom
Comoedia
to Le Temps.He often crossed swords with esteemed intellectualsand music
criticsincludingJean Marnoldfrom the Mercure
deFrance,Andre Gide at the JNRF,Jean
Bernierin Le Crapouillot,
Paul Souday at Le Temps,
Dominique Bragain LeMondenouveau,
and the oftenvirulentEmileVuillermoz,who contributedregularlyto Le Tempsand other
periodicals.Yet nowhere in this massiveonslaughtdoes Cocteau write of polytonality.It
is Collet who proposesthat there is a relationshipbetween this style of writing,inherent
in the music of Les Six, and Cocteau'saim, the returnto simplicity.
Collet's amalgamof polytonality,Les Six, and simplicitywas furtherdisseminatedby
critics favourableto the group. In a lengthy 1921 article on the decline of impressionism, Paul Landormydrawson Collet'sidea and deploysit in a broad historicalnarrative
that includesnot only Les Six, but also Scholiste
composersand impressionists,extending
music
to
include
literature
and
visual
art.28
beyond
Landormyassertsthat the rejection
of the vague and the imprecise,and the increasedvaluationof melody over harmony,is
not exclusiveto Les Six but rootedin worksby Ravel,AlbertRoussel,Deodat de Severac,
and Florent Schmitt. Severac'smusic 'has no groundingin the pastel effectsof impressionism.Here the horizontaltriumphsover the vertical,the melodic over the harmonic,
in preparationfor the reversalof method that would soon be the work of our young
musicians.'29
And if the simple,unadornedstyleof Les Six had ties to the past, its youthful
25

On the attitudeof Les Six towardsDebussy, Ravel, and other establishedFrench composers,see Kelly, Tradition
and
desSix, 101-37.
Style,5-7 and Hurard-Viltard,Le Groupe
26
Confusionreigned in Vuillermoz'sreview of the 1923 premiereofMilhaud's opera La Brebisegaree,
a youthfulwork
writtenmuch earlier.It is possiblethat his confusionwas entirelydeliberate.He makesironic commentson the Debussyste
qualitiesof a work composedby such a hardenedadversaryof Debussy:'In fact, we know that M. Darius Milhaudis one
of the most enthusiasticdetractorsof Debussy and impressionisticideals... However, La Brebisegaree
constitutesthe most
naive, the most avid, and let us not hesitate to say, the most servile homage yet to be offered, not to Debussy, but to
Debussysme
[On sait en effet que M. Darius Milhaud est un des detracteursles plus acharns de Debussy et de l'ideal d'art
constituel'hommagele plus naif, le plus empresseet, disons le mot,
impressionniste... Or, la partitionde la Brebisegaree
le plus servilequi ait jamais ete offert,non pas a Debussy, mais au debussysme].'Emile Vuillermoz, 'La Brebis6garte',
Revuemusicale,
5/3 (1924), 57-8.
27 Louis Durey, 'Maurice Ravel', TheChesterian,
14 (Apr. 1921), 422-6. Hurard-Viltardmentions Ravel's teaching of
Tailleferrein Le Groupe
desSix, 109.
28 Paul Landormy,'Le Declin de l'Impressionnisme',Revue
2/4 (1921), 97-113.
musicale,
29
'Ce ne sont plus du tout les effets de demi-teintede l'impressionnisme,et voila en meme temps "l'horizontalisme"
qui reprendle dessus sur le "vertical",la melodie sur l'harmonie.Nouvelle preparationa ce renversementde methode
qui sera l'ceuvrede nos toutjeunes musiciens.'Ibid. 103-4.

578

composers stood apart because their revolution in musical language would usher in
polytonality:
Les Six are harmonic revolutionaries,for after the Debussyste
revolution,which alreadyhad such
a pronounced effect on harmony, they are anxious to complete their own.... From now on, all
the pitches in a chord will not necessarilybe taken from the same key. Not only will single
pitches be superimposed,but variouskeys as well.30
Adversaries of Les Six, or those who held polytonal writing in contempt, adopt various
strategies in their discussions of polytonality, but generally tend to minimize the revolutionary character of the body of works championed by Cocteau. In defence of the music
of Ravel, for instance, Alexis Roland-Manuel calls into question the very existence of
polytonality. He observes that even if one were to concede its existence, it would still be
possible to find examples of it in Ravel's music.3'
The most rabid detractor of Les Six was without a doubt the influential critic Emile
Vuillermoz. A fixture in the musical press, he had previously deployed all the resources
of his sumptuous style to defend innovative music produced prior to the First World
War with a sure-handed ability to discern quality. Musically trained in direct opposition
to the conservative tendencies and aesthetics of the Schola Cantorum and other Franckistes
at the Societe nationale de musique, he helped found the Societe musicale independante
(S.M.I.), and took up the cause of Debussy and Ravel as well as Stravinsky's Le Sacre.
After the war, he remained attached to the aesthetic grounding of his friends at the
S.M.I. (Ravel, Koechlin, and Casella) and frequently displayed a condescending, often
churlish attitude towards works produced by the emerging generation of post-war composers.32Vuillermoz's hostility towards Les Six was quite transparent and was perceived
as excessive partisanship by Georges Jean-Aubry, among others. In his review of
Vuillermoz's Musiques d'aujourd'hui(a collection of articles published in 1923), JeanAubry's initial praise of Vuillermoz's elegant style of writing as well as his defence of
new music gives way to censure. He deplores the 'slightly harsh attitude assumed by
M. Vuillermoz towards an active and sometimes obtrusive party of young French composers, an attitude which occasionally induces him to exaggerate the merits of those
among the young people who keep aloof from it'.33
Vuillermoz's campaign tactics against Les Six did not include an explicit calling into
question of polytonality, as Roland-Manuel's did. Instead, Vuillermoz worked to darken
the group's reputation and discredit it in the public eye by using a number of critical
strategies, usually with some reference to polytonality. For instance, he praises Koechlin's
30 'Les "Six" sont des r6volutionnairesen harmonie et, apris la revolutiondebussystesi grave deja au point de vue
harmonique, ils veulent accomplir la leur.... D6sormais toutes les notes d'un accord ne seront plus necessairement
emprunteesa une meme gamme. On superposeranon plus seulementdes sons mais des tonalitesdiverses.'Ibid. 111-12.
31 Roland-Manuel,'MauriceRavel'.
32 FrancisPoulenc, who
obviouslyhad little reasonto like Vuillermoz,explainsthe critic'sattitudeas stemmingfrom a
generation gap as well as aesthetic incomprehension:'Mavrahas confirmedwhat Paradeallowed us to see, that is, that
there exists a "pre-warcritic"who appearsnot to have developedthe abilityto judge contemporarymusic... At the time
of the SacreVuillermoz'sopinion was law-but this is no longer the case, MonsieurVuillermozhaving himselfprovided,
on severaloccasionsover the past two years,proof [thatperceptivecommentatorsbelong] to the past [Mavraa confirme
ce que 'Parade'nous laissaitentrevoir,c'est-direqu'il existe une 'critiqued'avant-guerre'mais qu'il ne semblepas encore
s'en formerune, apte ajuger la musique actuelle.... A l'epoque du Sacrel'opinion d'un Vuillermozfaisaitloi-I n'en est
plus de meme aujourd'hui,M. Vuillermozayant donn6, a maintesreprises,depuis deux ans, la preuve [que les commentateurscomprehensifsappartiennent]au passe.' In 'La Musique.A propos de "Mavra"de Igor Strawinsky',Feuilleslibres,
27 June-July 1922), 222-4.
33 GeorgesJean-Aubry,'Musiquesd'aujourd'hui',TheChesterian,
31 (May 1923), 197. According toJean-Aubry, the
talentsof certainyoung individualswere exaggeratedby Vuillermoz.These very likelyincludedDesire-EmileInghelbrecht
andStyle,7-9.
and GeorgesMigot. BarbaraKelly discussesthe relationshipbetween Vuillermozand Milhaudin Tradition

579

applicationof polytonalityas rooted in a poetic intention,and 'natural'in appearance,in

order to denounce the group'suse of this same technique as arbitrary,with a concomitant forced and artificialcharacter.As a point of proof, VuillermozexaminesKoechlin's
et marines
for piano), where bitonalityprojectstwo
'Le Chant du chevrier'(fromPaysages
distinct tonal planes, to suggest a melody heard from afar.34Distancing the work of
Koechlin from Les Six is more maliciousthan it may appear,for it is an indirectattack
on the strongpersonalties that bound Milhaud to Koechlin, and their common interest
in polytonality.Koechlin, who had worked alongsideVuillermoz to found the S.M.I.,
was a mentor to Milhaud,who in turn had great sympathyand admirationfor his older
colleague. In the summerthat followedthe premiereof Le Sacre,Koechlin and Milhaud
analysedthe work togetherat the latter'sfamilyestate in Provence.35Milhaud also took
etmarines
part in the premieresofKoechlin's Viola Sonata and some pieces from Paysages
was premiered by the
for piano.36 In turn, when Milhaud's DeuxiemeSuite symphonique
Concerts Colonne in 1920, Koechlin wrote the aforementioned short manifesto on polytonality that was inserted in the programme. Moreoever, it was Milhaud who sent the
young Francis Poulenc to study with Koechlin between 1921 and 1923, and later in 1925.37
In another article, Vuillermoz attempted to divert public attention from the group by
championing Georges Migot (1891-1976), a contemporary of Les Six. Migot's injury in
combat during the First World War gave him war-hero status in the eyes of the French
public. Moreover, as a multi-talented artist, Migot produced poetry and paintings, in
addition to musical compositions that had been recognized with prestigious awards
between 1918 and 1921. These included the Lili Boulanger, Lepaulle, Halphen, and
Florence Blumenthal prizes, the last of which was given in recognition of the composer's
lifetime achievement, even though he was only 30 years old at the time. Vuillermoz
took up Migot's cause from the moment his earliest works were published, among them
the piano quintet LesAgrestidesand the Piano Trio, which both won awards.38The critic
compares the young composer's struggle for notice, or notoriety, to the savage battle
waged around Ankela on the rock of counsel in Kipling's Jungle Book. He pits Migot's
seriousness and tangible achievements against the frivolity of Les Six, whom he finds
long on words but short on substantial works.
Vuillermoz's critical attacks challenged the press supporters of Les Six and mobilized
other parties within the musical community who were already ill disposed to works of
the group. Leon Vallas, for one, adopted Vuillermoz's tactic of elevating Migot to the
detriment of Les Six. In a short monograph on the composer, Vallas set him up as a serious, superior, and single-minded artist in direct opposition to the group, whom he cast
as superficial:

As for the celebratedGroupe des Six, Migot has completelyresistedtheir-often quite diverseinfluences.Might he not, with some humour, set himselfup as an analogousGroupe du Un, and
become his very own Cocteau?He has in fact accomplishedthis through calm unity of thought,
perfect logic, and a consistentlyseriousattitude.With Migot we find neither salon dilettantism,
nor fashion, nor caprice, but rather an individual with a solid backgroundin the history of
34 mile Vuillermoz,Le Temps(14Jan. 1921).
Darius Milhaud,Ma Ve heureuse
(Paris,1973), 54.
36 Robert
Orledge mentionsMilhaud'srole in the premiereof the Viola Sonata Op. 53 (on 27 May 1915),and briefly
discusses the relationship between the two composers in his book CharlesKoechlin(1867-1950): His Life and Works
(London, 1989), 17 and 348. Milhaud performedexcerpts from Koechlin's Paysagesetmarinesat a concert of the S.M.I.
held on 23 May 1919. See Michel Duchesneau, L'Avant-garde
musicale
a Parisde 1871 a 1939 (Liege, 1997), 312.
37 See Orledge, Charles
19 n. 16.
Koechlin,
38 Emile
Vuillermoz, Le Temps(25 Feb. 1921), 4. For biographicalinformationon Migot, see Claire Latham (ed.),
Migot:TheManandhis Work(Strasburg,1982).
Georges
35

580

music, arts, and literature, possessed of precision matched by a penetrating sensibility and
implacablereason.39
Migot became increasingly hostile and critical towards Les Six and polytonality
between 1920 and 1923, very likely under the influence of the attention that he and his
colleagues received in the press. Although his early theoretical writings make no direct
mention of the group, Migot initially appeared to regard polytonality favourably, writing in 1920 that his generation had reacted to the previous one by conceiving of 'a
"tonal" music that is, however, polytonal or polymelodic'.40 Once cast as a counterweight to the frivolous activities of Les Six, Migot developed the idea of the polyplanaire
or 'polyplanal', in which polytonality is subsumed as a simple technique within a
broader compositional style, and argued the impossibility of combining more than two
distinct keys.4' He also advocated intellectual diligence and emotional compositional
depth in his concert reviews, in direct opposition to the aesthetic of musical humour he
associated with Les Six.42 But such activities appear to have had little intimidating
effect on the group. In a review from 1923, Milhaud takes Migot's protector Vuillermoz
to task for his failure to appreciate Roussel's Second Symphony: 'It is true that for
M. Vuillermoz, M. Migot, who isn't fooling anyone, is a great musician. But who cares?
M. Roussel's symphony was an absolute triumph the other evening.'43
In an article dating from December 1921, Vuillermoz redoubled his efforts to disparage Les Six. He accomplished this in part by refusing to acknowledge the historical
grounding of the group's stylistic trademark of polytonality, and sharply censured what
he perceived as their pretentious claims to exclusivity with respect to this compositional
technique. We learn from Vuillermoz that polytonality was not developed by Les Six
but that it originated in the works of composers such as Strauss, Stravinsky, Koechlin,
and Casella.44More devastating for Les Six was Vuillermoz's attempt to detach Honegger
from the group and expose the artificiality of their association. He did this by underlining
stylisticdifferences that forcefully dissociate Honegger's very successful oratorio LeRoiDavid
(premiered on 11June 1921) from the official style espoused by the group, as defined by
their promoter, Jean Cocteau. Vuillermoz claimed that, even though Le Roi David is
highly personal, it was part of a tradition proceeding through Bach, Debussy, Ravel,
and the primitivist Stravinsky. Honegger may use polytonality, 'but never in an arbitrary manner, or in such a way as to attach him to a particular school. He produces
wonderful effects in the descriptions of the crowds, in the processional entries where
themes maintain their tonal independence amidst surrounding movement.' Honegger
39 'Au fameux Groupe des Six, dont il ne suit
point du tout les tendances,d'ailleursdivergentes,Georges Migot, non
sans humour, ne pouvait-il etre tent6 d'opposerle Groupe du Un, et de devenir son propre Cocteau ? I1le fit et le fut
avec une tranquilleunite de pensee, une sire logique, un serieuxconstant.Chez lui, ni improvisationsalonniere,ni snobisme, ni boutade; une etude approfondiede l'histoirede la musique, des arts, de la litterature,une observationexacte
poursuivieavec un sens penetrant,et puis des deductionsimplacables.'Leon Vallas, Georges
Migot(Paris,1923), 8.
40 '[Une] musique "tonale"mais polytonalementou polym6lodiquement'.Georges Migot, 'Appogiatures:Sur la possibilit6de rapportsentre deux polytonalites',L'Espritnouveau,
3 (Dec. 1920), 308-9.
4 Georges Migot, Appogiatures
resolues
et nonresolues
(Premier
cahier)(Paris, 1922), 24-7, and esp. the first note on p. 25.
This 'polyplanal'conception resurfacesin the prefatorymanifesto to the vocal score of his stage work Hagoromo
(Paris,
1922).
42 See
18 and 25 Dec. 1922. In the first,Migot analysesthe so-calledhumourof Mile.g. articleswrittenfor Comoedia,
haud's Fifth String Quartet (which is actually one of the composer'smost daring attemptsat polytonal writing and, as
mentioned above, was dedicatedto Schoenberg!).
43 'I est vrai
que pour M. Vuillermoz, M. Migot, qui ne trompe plus personne, est un grand musicien. Qu'importe?
La Symphonie
de M. Roussel a triomphe l'autre soir.' Courrier
musical,17 (1923), 340-1, cited in Milhaud, Notessur la
77.
musique,
44 Emile
Vuillermoz,Le Temps,30 Dec. 1921.

581

thus 'betrays the "cause" of his associates. If the latter are sincere, the excommunication
of brother Honegger from the congregation of the "six" is only a matter of days away.'45
Beyond Migot, Vuillermoz's attempt to exclude Honegger from the group continued
to generate the most significant repercussions. His opinions spawned sympathetic writings from Andre Marot and Henri Gauthier-Villars (Willy), and blunt replies from
Cocteau, Georges Auric, and Satie.46Cocteau turned temporarily on Honegger in a public
unveiling of Vuillermoz's tactic. He denounced the latter's attempts to divide the group
through the 'positioning' of support for its most conservative member, warning that 'He
among you who is being "positioned" against the others still engages at times in practices that are on the way out.'47Cocteau subsequently published 'Deux Post-scriptum' in
which he softened his tone with respect to Honegger, reminding readers that despite
their differences there was still enough common ground between them to support fruitful collaborations, proof of this being the songs and the projected opera Antigone.48
Thus
Milhaud and Honegger attempted to calm the debate and reaffirm the ties that bound
Honegger to the rest of the group, emphasizing the essentially amicable nature of these
common ties.49
Amid Vuillermoz's campaign to dismantle the group, Collet vacillated under fire in
January 1922 with an article entitled 'The Twilight of Les Six'. Here Collet writes
that
The foremost musical critic of our time, whose studies are a testimony to his impeccable
taste, precise understanding of technique, and the innate gift of writing, recently published
an article on the occasion of the premiere of Honegger's RoiDavid,which constitutes a definitive condemnation, without appeal, of what has become collectively known as the 'Groupe
des Six'.50

He distances himself somewhat from Les Six, in what may have appeared to them as a
capitulation, by asking:
where does the irritationprovoked by Les Six, with the exception of Honegger, come from?
From their incrediblesuccess,but also from their lack of tact. They could have contented themselveswith success.They chose notoriety.Milhaud might simplyhave had his worksperformed,
but he preferredto write, to engage in aggressivemusic criticism,of a brand even more disagreeable than that of Debussy, who had some advantageover him in the form of an officialposition,
as a Prix de Rome winnerwhich, whateverone might wish to say, provesmasteryof his art... at
least for those who have studied at the Conservatoire.Milhaud's unwise criticismshave only
45 'Bien entendu, le compositeurn'hesite pas davantage a se servir de l'ecriturepolytonale lorsqu'ilen voit l'utilit.
Mais l'emploi qu'il en fait n'estjamais arbitraireet ne revele aucun sectarismed'ecole. II en tire des effets extremement
heureuxdans des descriptionsde foules, dans des entrees de cortegesou les themes gardentleur independancetonale au
milieu du mouvement general... 1 trahit"la cause"de ses coassoscies.Si ces dernierssont sinceres,l'expulsiondu frere
Honegger hors de la congregationdes "six"n'est plus qu'une questionde jours.' Ibid.
46Andre Marot, 'Le Mouvement musical contemporain:Le Groupe des Six (1918 a 1922)', Le Camet-Critique,
23
26June 1922, p. 4;Jean Cocteau, 'Lettreouverte a mes amis
(1 June 1922), 70-5; Willy, 'A batons rompus', Comoedia,
Musiciens', Comoedia,
lOJan. 1922, p. 1; Erik Satie, 'Les "Six"', Feuilleslibres,4/1 (Feb. 1922), 42-5; GeorgesAuric, 'La
Mar. 1922, pp. 70-9.
Musique:Quelques maitrescontemporains',LesEcritsnouveaux,
47 'Celui de vous qu'on "organise"contre les autres
participe encore quelquefoisd'un ordre de choses a l'agonie.'
Cocteau, 'Lettreouverte', 1.
48Jean Cocteau, 'Deux
Post-scriptum',Feuilleslibres,4/1 (Feb. 1922), 46-8.
49 Darius Milhaud, 'Petit
musical,24/2 (1922), 30; Arthur Honegger, 'Petit Historique
Historiquenecessaire',Coumier
necessaire(suiteet fin)',ibid. 24/3 (1922), 58.
50 'Le premier critique musical de ce
temps, dont les etudes revelent a la fois un gout perspicace,une connaissance
precise de la technique et les dons innes de l'ecrivain,vient de publier, a l'occasion du RoiDavid,d'Honegger, un article
qui constitue un "ereintement"definitif, sans appel, de ce qu'on entend communement par le "Groupe des Six".'
9Jan. 1922, 4.
Comoedia,

582

earned him public hostilityand the dislikeof a number of reputablemusicians.And this is very
dangerousfor him, who composes too much, and can't seem to watch his pen.5'
After Cocteau's reply to Vuillermoz, and with the publication of 'Etude en Sixte',
Collet soon placed himself in the middle ground between the poet and the critic of Le
Temps,preserving his role as the one who discovered the group. Here, he acknowledges
Honegger's genius (in the traditionalist vein), and vaunts 'the truly new perfection' of
Les Six's collaborative works with Cocteau (LeBoeufsurle toit,LesMariesde la TourEiffe).
But Collet also says that further evaluation of the group's importance requires distance:
If it is possible at this stage to say that Honegger'swork is that of a 'livingman and posthumous
artist',and if I have no hesitationin saying the same of Georges Auric who has provided such
faithfulmusical renditionsof the innovativepoetry ofJean Cocteau, then I must also admit that
a certain distance is necessaryto give a definitivejudgement of Darius Milhaud'shighly varied
output, or other attemptsby membersof his group.52
The end of the article alludes to Vuillermoz's attempt to negate Les Six as pioneers of
polytonality (although Collet does not use the word itself) and to claim that they merely
followed the lead of Strauss, Koechlin, Stravinsky, and Casella. Collet concludes that
even if polytonal writing did not originate with Les Six, their work is part of a renewal
that he was the first to identify: 'In spite of the purely innovative techniques of Richard
Strauss, Koechlin, Stravinsky, and A. Casella, the appearance of the "Groupe des Six"
marks a period in our modern music that I had the honour of first observing.'53
NATIONALISM

The adoption of a nationalist position through the affirmation of an essentially French

identity is another important aspect of the debate on polytonality. Thus to appreciate
the controversy to the full, it is also necessary to understand the nationalist current in
French music criticism of the period. During the First World War, nationalist sentiments intensified to the point where, in 1916, the Ligue pour la defense de la musique
francaise put forward a motion to ban the performance of German works that were not
yet in the public domain.54Nationalist zeal continued throughout the 1920s, though not
without the censure of enlightened intellectuals such as Romain Rolland, who preached
the value of internationalism and cosmopolitanism, and spawned a moderate, 'tolerant'
form of nationalism, which appears to have prevailed throughout the decade.55In music
5' 'D'of [vient] cette irritationque provoquent les "Six", h l'exception d'Honegger? De leur r6ussitefoudroyante,
mais aussi de leur maladresse.Ils pouvaientse contenterdu succes, ils ont voulu la publicite.Un Milhaudn'avaitqu'a se
fairejouer, il a prefere ecrire, faire de la critiquemusicaleplus agressive,plus d6sagreableque celle meme de Debussy
qui avait sur lui l'avantage d'une position officielle, de ce Grand Prix de Rome qui, quoi qu'on en dise, prouve la
maitrise... du moins pour ceux qui ont frequent6le Conservatoire.Les critiquesimprudentesde Milhaud lui ont valu
l'hostilitedu public et la haine de nombre de musiciensreput6s.Et cela est fort dangereuxpour lui, qui produit trop, et
ne surveillepas assez sa plume ...'. Comoedia,
16Jan. 1922, p. 4.
52 'Si l'on
peut deja r6pondreque l'ceuvred'Honegger est d'un "homme vivant et d'un artisteposthume",si je ne
crains pas d'en dire autant de celles d'un Georges Auric qui traduit si fidelement la poesie neuve de Jean Cocteau,
j'admets, par contre, qu'un certain recul soit demande pourjuger en definitivede la productionmultiformede Darius
Milhaud, ou des essaisdes autresco-associes.'
53 'En d6pit des nouveautespurementtechniquesde Richard Strauss,Koechlin, Strawinskyou A. Casella,
l'apparition
du "Groupedes Six" marque dans notre musiquemodere une date que je m'honore d'avoirete le premiera signaler.'
54 On differenttypes of nationalistsentiment
affectingFrench musical culturebetween 1870 and 1914, see Annegret
Fauser, 'Gendering the Nations: The Ideologies of French Discourse on Music (1870-1914)', in Harry White and
Michael Murphy (eds.),MusicalConstructions
MusicalCulture
1800ofNationalism:
ofEuropean
EssaysontheHistoryandIdeology
1945 (Cork,2001), 72-103.
55 An
interpretationof a more inclusivetype of Frenchnationalism,or patriotism,prevalentamong composersduring
the First World War is found in Carlo Caballero, 'Patriotismor Nationalism:Faur6 and the Great War',Journalof the
American
Sociey,52 (1999), 593-625.
Musicological

583

we see this in Georges Jean-Aubry's La Musiqueet les nations,which urges composers to

remain faithful to their national roots in order to create 'lasting' works.56Yet JeanAubry also reasons that composers from nations other than France should strive to
express their own sensibility, and that French composers would do well to study works
by non-French composers, as long as they adapt any foreign models to French national
traditions. During the late 1910s and early 1920s, nationalism also occupied a significant place in Cocteau's aesthetic discourse, though it is a sentiment that changed and
evolved over the years. The kind of tempered, non-exclusive form of nationalism found
in his 1920 Le Coqarticles bears a striking resemblance to the form of nationalism that
Milhaud would later adopt in his writings of 1923.
In Le Coq et l'arlequin,discussions of major figures of the musical avant-garde are
frequently cool, and framed in nationalist terms. The eponymous cockerel refers to a
traditional symbol of France and incarnates Cocteau's ideal of the purely Gallic. By
opposition, the harlequin with his billowing costume represents the amorphous nature
of hybrid works, the result of foreign influences gone awry. In Cocteau's eyes, even the
work of Debussy, with its debt to Musorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, fails to escape such
influence-what Cocteau stigmatizes, with his usual wit, as 'Debussy played in the
French manner, but with a Russian pedal'.57 Only the work of Satie is singled out for
unreserved praise. Contemporaries such as Jean Bernier, Jean Marnold, and Paul
Landormy read Le Coqas the expression of an ultra-protectionist attitude.58Passing references to positive foreign influences in Le Coqet l'arlequinare too transitory to mitigate
the forceful tone of an exclusive nationalism. American music, for instance, is glossed over
thus: 'what sweeps away impressionism, for example, is an American dance I once saw at
the Casino de Paris'.59And although Cocteau mentions the salutaryinfluence of Schoenberg
further on, he immediately afterwards writes him off as a 'blackboard musician'.60
In opposition to the exclusive nationalist tone that permeates Le Coqet l'arlequin,the
articles that Cocteau wrote in 1920 for the periodical Le Coqbetray a much more tempered nationalism. The group's declaration, 'Arnold Schoenberg, Les Six salute you', in
the inaugural issue was recognized by a number of journalists as a contradiction of
Cocteau's earlier position. This led him to explain himself in the following issue with an
article entitled 'Point sur l'I', which defined nationalism as respectful of other cultures,
an opinion very close toJean-Aubry's described above. Cocteau tells his readers: 'This
assertion of admiration for Schoenberg demonstrates the quality of our nationalism.
EACH TO HIS OWN, TO THE BEST OF HIS ABILITY, for the international artist
lacks an Esperanto. For my part, I am fully prepared to shake the hand of the young
German who is fed up with Wagner.'61This shows the extent to which, despite the overblown language of Le Coq et l'arlequin,Cocteau and Les Six are far from provincial in
their attitudes. Ample proof lies in their fascination with and/or adoption of a variety of
foreign stylistic innovations from American jazz and music hall, Brazilian popular
56

GeorgesJean-Aubry,LaMusiqueet lesnations(Parisand London, 1922).

57 'Debussy a jou6 en francais,mais il a mis la

in id., Romans,
pedale russe.'Jean Cocteau, Le Coqet I'arlequin,
poesies,

diverses
eruvres
(Paris,1995),446.
58
15 Feb. 1920, p. 12;Jean Marnold, LeMercure
deFrance,139/524 (15
Jean Bernier, 'Mise au point', Le Crapouillot,
deFrance,139/525 (1 May 1920), 782-91; Paul Landormy,'Le Coq et
Apr. 1920), 495-502;Jean Marnold, LeMercure
24 Aug. 1920, p. 2.
1'Arlequin',La Victoire,
59 'Ce qui balaye la
musiqueimpressionnistec'est, par exemple, une certainedanse americaineque j'ai vue au Casino
de Paris.'Cocteau, Le Coqet l'arlequin,
433.
60 Ibid. 434.
61
'Ce temoignaged'admiration[A Schoenberg]montre la qualitede notre nationalisme.CHACUN CHEZ SOI, LE
MIEUX POSSIBLE. A l'artisteinternational,il manque un esperanto.Pour ma part,je ne refusepas la main au jeune
allemandexcede de Wagner.'Jean Cocteau, Le Coq,2 (1920).

584

music, and Schoenbergianatonality.Moreover,this attitudetowardsSchoenbergwould

later be revealedas strikinglysimilarto Milhaud's,as expressedin his articlesof 1923.
Other segments of French society held much more extreme nationalist positions,
includingorganized groupswho sought to propagatexenophobia. AsJane Fulcherhas
shown, organizationssuch as Action frangaiseused artisticproductionsas forums for
the disseminationof their own xenophonic ideals, giving voice to their opinions in peridesideeset deslivresand attractingsympathyfrom highly
odicals such as the Revuecritique
visible musicians such as Vincent d'Indy.62Inspiredby Wagner's anti-Semitictirades,
d'Indy published similar ideas in various periodicals, from the extreme right-wing
One of the more celebratedexamplesdates
to the more moderateRevuemusicale.
L'Occident
from 1923, when d'Indy declaresWagner a hero for liberatingFrance from the 'ItaloJudaic-eclecticyoke'.63
Occasionally,polytonal music was singled out as the target of racist, and sometimes
more specificallyanti-Semitic, attacks.The involvement of polytonalityin nationalist
discourseis illustratedby two examplesthat also enable a better assessmentof the singularity of Collet's and Milhaud's opinions, as well as a more nuanced evaluation of
Collet's influence in the debate. The firstexample is a brief altercationbetween d'Indy
and Koechlinin 1917.64Followingan abortiveattemptto mergethe Societenationaleand
the Societe musicaleindependante,d'Indygave free voice to his ire, denouncinga variety of avant-gardecompositionalstyles associatedwith members of the S.M.I., including Debussysme,
polytonal writing, and atonality. He begins in a conciliatorymanner,
affirmingthat musiciansof all schools are universallydevoted to the cult of beauty. He
compares the variety of modern stylistictrends to differencesin clothing styles, clearly
signifyingwith his choice of metaphorthat they are not all cut from the same cloth and
thus not all endowed with the same quality.For d'Indy, the polytonalpractitioner'has
not the least hesitation in exhibiting himself in the pyjamas of two superimposedkeys
The atonal composer 'proudlydons a brilliantjacket when he relinquishes
(styleboche)'.
all form and all tonality'.5 Among other issues, Koechlin took offence at 'the epithet
"styleBoche"appliedto "clothingmade from superimposedkeys"'. He cites a numberof
non-Germanswho had used polytonality,such as the HungariansBartokand Kodaly,
as well as the FrenchcomposerAlfredBruneau,and goes on to say that 'the superimposition of two keys is not in and of itselfBoche.It is possibleto create effectsthat are compatible with our national qualities.And it would be a shame to discreditthese means a
In short,as early as 1917, the argumentabout polprioriby dismissingthem as Boche.'66
was
alreadyunderpinnedby a pronouncednationalisttone and had become a
ytonality
sticking point in the conflict between progressiveand conservativecomposers. Thus
Collet's articlesof 1920 stand in high relief because they were based on a new premiss:
62

Jane F. Fulcher, 'The Preparationfor Vichy: Anti-Semitismin French Musical Culture between the Two World
79 (1995), 458-75. See also Eugen Weber, ActionFranfaise:RoyalismandReactionin TwentiethWars', MusicalQuarterly,
France(Stanford,1962)and FrancoisHuguenin,A l'Ecoledel'Action
Unsiecledevieintellectuelle
Century
(Paris,1998).
Franfaise:
63 'du
joug italo-judaico-eclectique'.Genevieve Perreau,'Wagnerjug6 par les musiciensfrancaisd'aujourd'hui',Revue
musicale
(1 Oct. 1923), 175-8; cited in Fulcher,'The Preparationfor Vichy', 468.
64
See Vincent d'Indy, 'Esthetique',Courrer
musical,19 (15Jan. 1917), 25-6; and CharlesKoechlin, 'Esth6tique',ibid.
(15 Feb. 1917), 79-80.
65
'[L'adepte de l'6criturepolytonale] ne craindra pas de s'exhiber en pijama a deux tonalites superposees (style
boche),... ['atonaliste] arborerafierementun veston brillantpar l'absencede toute forme et de toute tonalite.'D'Indy,
'Esth6tique',25-6.
66 'contre
l'6pithete: "style Boche" appliquee au "vetement fait de tonalites superposees".. . La superpositionde
deux tonalites n'a en soi rien de Boche. On peut en tirer des effets musicaux compatibles avec nos qualit6snationales.
Et il serait regrettable de jeter a priori le discredit sur ces moyens, en les traitant de Boches.' Koechlin, 'EsthEtique',
79-80.

585

polytonality, now associated with the avant-garde of Les Six, became a positive
attribute of French culture. That is, it is neither a negative derivative of German art, as
d'Indy would have had it, nor an ethnically neutral device, as the intemationlist Koechlin
proposes.
My second example of the interaction between discussions of polytonality and
nationalism is the resurfacing in 1923 of the idea that polytonal writing stemmed from a
nefarious German influence, now reinforced by the confusion between this technique
and Schoenbergian atonality, and compounded by anti-Semitic sentiment. On New
Year's Day, Louis Vuillemin published an article in the Courrermusicalusing the French
premiere of Pierrotlunaireas a launching pad for a virulent anti-Semitic and racist attack
on the Concerts Wiener. This article is hardly a review since it identifies neither the performers nor the works given at the concert, but the references were clear and explicit
enough for Ravel and other composers to respond with an indignant letter of protest in
support of Jean Wiener, who also wrote a letter to the editor.67The concert involved
highly visible Jewish musicians: Milhaud, Schoenberg, and the pianist and concert
organizer Wiener. In previous events, Wiener had showcased jazz and pieces by foreign
avant-garde composers such as Stravinsky and Alois Haba. Vuillemin's article, bearing
the insulting title 'Concerts meteques', is replete with commonplace anti-Semitic trappings, including an international plot to corrupt French taste, financing from the occult
(referring implicitly to Jewish banks), and negative physical stereotypes ofJewish nearsightedness.68Vuillemin's response to the objections of Ravel and other French composers was equally hostile, and included the following passage equating polytonality with a
foreign weapon used in prisoner-of-war camps:
As for the astonishingattitudeof [Ravel and his co-signataries],I see only one explanation:they
have been intoxicated by gas!... And I hope that these pioneers will not ultimatelyfind themselves prisoners!... That would serve them right!They would be packed off to a 'bitonal'penitentiarywhere they would be forgottenuntil the end of the war.69
67 Louis
Vuillemin, 'Concertsmeteques...', Courrier
musical,50 Jan. 1923).Vuillemin'sarticleand the responsesto it
are reproducedin Jean Wiener, Allegroappassionato
(Paris, 1978), 66-8. The title of Vuillemin's regular column in the
Courrier
musical,'Notes sans mesures',indicateshis frank,directstyle, but the racisttone of his writingswas surprisingand
not at all representativeof the other columns. He was also a composer, and the author of monographson Louis Aubert
and Gabriel Faur6,as well as a memoir on his war experiences(L'Hroique
pastorale
(Paris, 1922)),for which he won over
four of the juristsfor the Femina-Vie Heureuse competition.At the time of the scandalsurroundingthe performanceof
Milhaud's Second Symphonic Suite at the Concerts Colonne in 1920, he appearedreceptiveto polytonalityand quite
favourableto the composer,saying 'thathe is gifted, that he has talent, a surepower of expression,an innate sense of colour and movement',though he displaysa 'tendencyto exaggerate',and a lack of stabilityand taste (qu'ilest dou6, qu'il a
du talent, une puissanced'evocationcertaine,un sens inn6 de la couleuret du mouvement... tendance a l'exageration).
Louis Vuillemin,La Lanteme,
26 Oct. 1920, p. 2.
68 This theory of aJewish plot to foment anarchywas put forwardby Max d'Ollone in LeMondemusical,and was later
refutedin Koechlin'sreview of the Pierrot
lunaireconcert. Koechlin maintainsthat while great innovatorsin philosophical
thought and cultural undertakingsmay indeed be Jewish (Schoenberg and Milhaud in music, Einstein in science,
Bergsonin philosophy),there are also an equal number of non-Jewsengaged in this pursuit(Stravinskyand Poulenc in
music, Poincar6 in science), and that not all notableJews were necessarilyrevolutionary(Mendelssohn,Halevy, and
Meyerbeer).He poses the question 'Surely,chaos, anarchy,and the rejectionof all existingmusic may be in danger,but
frankly,are we really there yet? [Assurement,le chaos, l'anarchie,l'oubli de toute musique existante pourraitetre un
danger; mais, franchement,en sommes-nousla?]'. He goes on to demonstratethe futility of this idea, and celebrates
contemporarymastery of compositionaltechnique evident in the major works of the innovative composers of his day.
See Koechlin'sarticlepublishedin LeMondemusical,13 Feb. 1922, reproducedin FrancoisLesure(ed.),DossierdePressede
Pierrot
lunaire(Geneva, 1985), 111-15; the quotationis from p. 114.
69 Je ne vois a l'etonnante attitude [de Ravel et de ses co-signataires]
qu'une explication:[ils] sont intoxiqu6spar les
gaz!... Et je ne souhaite pas [a ces] pionniers de se laisserfaire fmalementprisonniers!... Du coup, leur compte serait
bon! Envoyes dans un camp de "bitonalitepar represailles"ils y demeureraientoubli6sjusqu'a l'issue des hostilits ...'.
Cited in Wiener,Allegroappassionato,
68.

586

MILHAUD'S 1923 PRESS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEBATE ON POLYTONALITY

The picture I have drawn of musical life in France during the 1920s is vital to any
understandingof the particularposition occupied by Darius Milhaud.As aJewish comBut as the
poser, Milhaudwas vulnerableto racistattacksfrom right-wingnationalists.70
of
he
seems
to
have
himself
also
wilprincipalexponent 'polytonal'writing,
positioned
in
line
fire.
was
a
the
of
For
it
battle
that
he
of
his
own
to
instihad,
volition,
fully
helped
gate. Milhaud served as an active agent in the debate, not only by composingpolytonal
works but also by contributingarticlesto the press-he was the most prolificwriter of
the Groupe des Six.71His patently sincere devotion to the exploration of polytonal
resources,and the rigour of his compositionsin this manner notwithstanding,Milhaud
exercised a keen sense of self-promotionand publicity in shaping the reception of his
works, and in bringing polytonalityto the fore in his press articles. He was, after all,
working at a time when a robust succesde scandalecould boost a career (famousprecedents include Pellas etMilisande,LeSacreduprintemps,
and Parade),
and he did not hesitate
to provokehis readers,audiences,and critics.
Two daringpolytonalworksby Milhaud resultedin notable scandals,and fuelledthe
no.2 (afterProtee)
in 1920, and the CinqEtudes
quarrelover polytonality:the Suitesymphonique
for piano and orchestrain 1921.72At the premiereof the suite, the audiencewas so disruptivethat the conductor,GabrielPierne,stoppedthe performancein orderto instruct
them to contain their opinions until the end of the work. Two days after this concert
performance,the programmewas revised to include the subtitle 'Polytonality'and a
short manifestosigned by Koechlin, anotherwell-knownpartisanof polytonalcomposition.73As a whole, the two performancesresultedin a scandal on the scale of the ones
While it may be difficultfrom our perspecthat had followedLeSacreand Pierrot
lunaire.74
tive to imagine a reaction of this magnitude, the vast press coverage of this concert is
extremely unusual in the history of premieres. Milhaud's work received far more attention than an interlude from Honegger's La Mort de SainteAlmeenne,which was in the programme. Koechlin's manifesto had its effect, and a number of critics who had not
mentioned polytonality in their initial reviews scrambled to cover their tracks in subsequent commentaries, where they duly introduced the term.75The octogenarian Saint-Saens
published a letter to Pierne in Le Minestrel, criticizing polytonality and arguing that
'several instruments playing in different keys never made music, only cacophony'.76 The

70 Milhaudwas profoundlyattachedto theJewish religion,though he maintainedan open attitudetowardsother confessions of faith. A number of his mature works are rooted in Jewish themes, including the Poemesjuzfs,
Chants
populaires
and the operas Estherde Carpentras
and David.It has been argued that his vision ofJudaism
comtadine,
hebraiques,
Liturgie
arose from the particularlyfavourable conditionsJews enjoyed in his native region of Comtat-Venaissin.For more
informationon this topic, seeJeremy Drake, TheOperasofDariusMilhaud(New York, 1989), 18-19; Kelly, Tradition
and
Style,27-34; and Armand Lunel, MonamiDariusMilhaud(La Calade, 1992).
71 For a surveyof hisjournalisticoutput, seeJeremy Drake'sintroductionto Milhaud,Notessurla
9-15, as well
musique,
as the list of articlessuppliedin the Appendix, 214-31.
72 The journalistMarcel Rieu recountsthat Milhaud 'had been preparedfor anythingsince the day when, at the Salle
a policeman was sent to protect him from vehement
Gaveau, during a performanceof the [Etudes
pour]Pianoet Orchestre
detractorsof his music [s'attenda tout depuis le jour of, salle Gaveau, pendant l'execution [des Etudes pour] Pianoet
on lui d6pecha un agent de police pour prot6gersa personnecontre les vehementsd6tracteursde sa musique]'.
Orchestre,
Marcel Rieu, 'Les Avants-premieres:"L'Hommeet son d6sir"au Theatre des Champs-Elys6es',Comoedia,
6 June 1921,
pp. 1-2.
73 CharlesKoechlin, 'Polytonie',Programme
desConcerts
30-1 Oct. 1920, p. 7.
Colonne,
74 This was in the opinion of Wi6ner;see Allegro
48.
appassionato,
75
Compare for example the two reviewsof Nadia Boulanger:Mondemusical,31/19-20 (15 and 30 Oct. 1920), 304-5
and 31/23-4 (15 and 31 Dec. 1920), 358-62, or those of Robert Dezamaux: La Liberti,26 Oct. 1920, p. 2, and 3 Nov.
1920, p. 2.
76 'Plusieursinstrumentsjouant dans des tons diff6rentsn'ont jamais fait de la musique, mais du charivari.'Cited in
92.
Milhaud,Ma Vieheureuse,

587

scandalwreackedsuch havoc that, accordingto Koechlin, it delayedPierne'selection to

the Institut.77
Bearingin mind thatMilhaudhad a vestedinterestin polytonalityand an acutesenseof
publicity,it seemsplausiblethathe was the anonymoussourcefor a crucialpointin Collet's
second article,when the lattermakesa connectionbetween the new simplicityof Les Six
and their polytonalstyle. If this is indeed the case, Milhaud actuallyinstigatedthe press
controversysurroundingpolytonality.Althoughthis hypothesishas no basisin hard evidence, if we look closely at Collet'stext and the work of Les Six duringthis period, for a
numberof reasonsMilhaudemergesas Collet'smostprobableinformant.Througha process of elimination,we may excludeCocteau,since,as noted earlier,he neverinvokedthe
notion of polytonalityin hisjournalisticcrusadefor Les Six. Auricand Poulenc,thoughwe
know that they were fairlyahead of their time, were both only 21 at the outset of the
debate.And if Milhaudwas not the only individualfirmlycommittedto polytonalcompositionin the group,he was the most advanceduser of it, and the only one to have undertakenan active,intensive,and systematicexplorationof it. In sum,no othermemberof Les
Six had such an intimateknowledgeof polytonalitywhen the groupmet Colletin 1920.
Still, the most compellingevidenceis Collet'sdescriptionof the evolutionof polytonal
writingamong Les Six, a mannerthat accordingto Colletbeganwith 'polytoniccomplexity' but eventuallyresultedin 'simplicity',or in a style that disengageditself from 'the
enchantingvaguenessof its initialstages'to arriveat its 'presentdenudedstate'.To what
music does Collet referhere?It is quitepossibleto conceiveof an evolutionarypath from
the rich and shimmeringpolytonalityof LeSacreendingin the simple,unadornedworksof
Les Six. The composerwho would have been best able to speakof this transformation
was
of
the
member
the
whose
be
to
said
have
traced
Milhaud,
surely
only
group
outputmay
the samepath.In the mid-191Os,Milhaud'searlyexperimentswith 'harmonic'polytonality
reachedtheirmost extremein the dense texturesof LesChoephores,
which is full of superimin
triads
and
chords.78
Endeavours
what
could be called 'contraposed
common-practice
in
in
which
voices
are
diatonic
puntal' polytonality,
specific
keys
layered, began with
de l'enfant
transitionalworkssuch as LeRetour
Les
and
Eumenides
and culminatedin
prodgue
the thin, transparenttexturesof the firsttwo chambersymphoniesOpp. 43 and 49, the
Sonataforpiano and threewoodwindinstrumentsOp. 47, and the song cycleMachines
agricoles.Worksin this new stylebegan to appearat the end of Milhaud'sstayin Braziland on
his returnto Paris,just beforethe celebratedencounterbetweenLes Six and Collet.79
In 1923 Milhaud published the two major articles mentioned at the outset of this
essay in which polytonalityoccupies an importantplace: 'Polytonaliteet atonalite',and
'The Evolutionof Modern Music in Parisand Vienna'. By this time, severalmembersof
Les Six had lost interest in polytonal writing. Tailleferre is particularlyblunt in this
respect,writingto Poulencin Augustof 1923, 'I have followedyour excellentadvice and
no longer compose polytonie'.80
Milhaud'sarticlesdeftly synthesizethe main arguments
Koechlin, 'volution de l'harmonie',697.
andSyle, 67-8.
Kelly, Tradition
79 On the developmentof polytonalwritingin Milhaud,see Drake, TheOperas
ofDariusMilhaud,31, 63-4, and 78-114;
and Kelly, Tradition
andStyle,64-72 and 147-68.
80 'Je suis tes bons conseils etje ne fais plus de polytonie.' In FrancisPoulenc, Correspondance,
1910-1963, ed. Myriam
Chimenes (Paris,1994), 138. InJuly 1922, Poulenc wrote to Paul Collaer that 'Mavra[by Stravinsky]proved to me that
there is some good in the triad. Once again, Satie was right. Believe me, poytonieis a dead end that will go out of fashion
within five years, unlessit is the means of expressionfor some type of genius, like Darius. I will not speakof atonality.It's
shit [Mavra [de Stravinsky]m'a prouve que l'accordparfaita du bon. Une fois de plus, Satie a eu raison.Croyez-moi,la
polytonie est une impassedont on sentirala caducite d'ici 5 ans, a moins que ce ne soit le moyen d'expressiond'un type
de genie, comme Darius.Je ne parle pas de l'atonalite:c'est de la merde].' Paul Collaer, Correspondance
avecdes amis
ed. Robert Wangermee(Liege, 1996), 103.
musiciens,
77
78

588

of the debate and establisha forceful,originalposition in the clash between the older,
establishedgeneration of composersand the post-waravant-garde.Amid the confused
formulationsof his colleaguesand contemporaries,Milhaudprovidesreaderswith clear
descriptionsof polytonalityand atonalitythat clarifythe relationshipof these compositional devices to tonality.Moreover, these concepts are also siftedthrough the rhetoric
of a tolerant, non-exclusiveform of nationalismthat would have rallied supportfrom
the majorityof his readership.
Milhaud's writings betray a clear awarenessof tensions between the young avantgarde and the establishedgenerationof composers,and he presentsatonalityand polytonality as new resourcesdeveloped as part of contemporarymusical trends. He insists
that these idioms in no way violate fundamentalmusicalprinciples.Insteadthey represent the culminationof varioustraditions,for 'each time we speakof newness, of revolution for a musician, we may be sure that any rich new element that is introduced is
underpinned by a solid tradition'.81For Milhaud, this tradition is grounded in the
national roots of the composer. 'we do not invent tradition,we experience it, we work
within it. It resultsnot only from the individualtastes of the musician,his personalpredilections, and life experiencesthat may have an influence on his work, but above all
from his race'.82
Milhaud's conception of traditionstems from a vision of history as teleological and
evolutionary,which allows him to view the relationshipbetween atonalityand polytonality as deriving from different tonal traditions, and which, in turn, allows him to
maintaina non-exclusivenationaliststance. Polytonalityand atonalityare treatedas the
natural extensions of Latinate and Teutonic national traditionsrespectively.On one
hand, polytonalitycontinuesthe modal diatonicismof Debussy (sinceit is based on diatonic melodies and triadic harmonies).On the other, Schoenbergianatonalityfurthers
Wagnerian chromaticism.By underscoringthe importance of Schoenberg even as he
places him in a parallel, but independent, line of development of Latinate culture,
Milhaud recallsCocteau'seffacementwith respectto nationalismdiscussedabove, 'each
to his own, as much as possible'.Milhaud'sview departsradicallyfrom Koechlin's,for
whom polytonalitywas a proceduredevoid of any nationalistsensibilityor association.
But Milhaud may well have influencedCasella'sthinkingon the issue. The lattermaintained a strong interestin Viennese atonalityand Stravinskianpolytonalityduring the
191Os,and ostensiblyflirtedwith both stylesfrom 1914 until he abandonedatonal composition entirely in 1918.83If Casella's first non-theoretical articles on polytonality
predate Milhaud's,84it is only after the publicationof 'Polytonaliteet atonalite'that he
expresseshis disavowalof atonalityin culturalterms,dismissingit as poorly suitedto the
A strikingdetail highlightsthe similaritiesbetween the discoursesof
Latin sensibility.85
Milhaud and Casella: their invoking of the idea of the Latin, not the French or the
Italian, sensibility.For when Milhaud refersto the use of polytonalityoutside France,
81
'Chaque fois qu'on parle pour un musicien de nouveaut6,de r6volution,nous pouvons etre sirs que tout 6elment
riche et neufintroduit s'appuiesur une traditionsolide.' 'The Evolution',in Milhaud,Notessurla musique,
194.
82
'On ne s'inventepas une tradition,on la subit, et on la travaille.Elle depend non seulementdes gofts du musicien,
de ses tendances intimes, des influencesque peuvent avoir sur son oeuvreles consequencesde sa vie, de ses preferences
musicales,mais surtoutde sa race.' Ibid.
83 Alfredo Casella, Musicin
my Tume(Norman, Okla., 1955), 106. His memoirs were originallypublished in Italian
under the title Isegretidellagiara(Florence,1941).
84 Alfredo Casella, 'Ce
qu'est la musique polyharmonique',Mon#joie!,
June 1914; reproducedin Roberto Calabretto
(ed.), AlfredoCasella:Gli annidi Parigi(Florence, 1997), 213-15. Alfredo Casella, 'L'evoluzionearmonica moderna', La
musicale
84/9 (Mar. 1922), 34-5.
riforma
(7 Feb. 1915), 1; and id., 'Why I write as I do', MusicalCourier,
85 Casella,Musicin myTime,106.

589

he must have been thinking of Italy, where Casella and his young entourage vaunted its
virtues.86
According to Milhaud, however, polytonality and atonality are not valid modes of
expression simply by their nature or essence. They gain legitimacy only when they arise
from an authentic melodic inspiration. In fact, the value of a work in Milhaud's estimation
rests entirely with its melody:
What determinesthe polytonalor atonalnatureof a workis much less the method used in writing
than the essential melody on which it is based, and which originatesonly in the heart of the
musician. It is an absolute, organic necessityfor the initial melody that will check these proceduresfrom becoming embroiledin a systemthat would otherwisebe still-born.87
But ultimately this reasoning is circular because this melodic sense is in turn intimately
linked to a national tradition. In Milhaud's words, 'only melody allows us to work with
our imagination while bringing us closer to our tradition'.88
In sum, even before the notion of polytonality was established in theoretical terms, the
term had been used in the French press for nearly two decades with various intended
meanings until two seminal articles by Henri Collet ignited the debate surrounding this
compositional technique. Two important aspects fuelled the debate: the conflict
between the established and the younger generation of composers, and the expression
of a French national identity in music. The brief survey provided here demonstrates
how quickly and how widely arguments and disputes could develop within a period of
less than three years in the context of great cultural and musical experimentation and
productivity. Returned to their original context, the ideological stakes at play in Milhaud's
influential texts on polytonality become much more readily apparent. His argument has
its faults, a major one being his treatment of polytonality as an idiom on the same scale
as tonality and atonality. To date there is no consensus in the musicological and music
theoretical communities as to the exact nature of polytonality.89 Yet on the whole, we
appear to have reduced it to a short-lived compositional style, the platform of a few
composers, mainly Milhaud and Koechlin, in France. According to Serge Gut, 'in retrospect, we see that fascination with polytonality was short-lived, between 1910 and 1930.
In our own time it has been reduced to an occasional compositional technique.'90 Even
86
Milhaud and Casella firstbecame acquaintedin Parisprior to Casella'sreturn to Italy in 1915. They later met in
Rome in March of 1921 shortlybefore the publicationof their respectivetheoreticalarticleson polytonality.In one of his
chronicles,Milhaud recallsthat he and Georges Auric gave the premiereof Casella'sPaginediguerrafor piano duet, and
was given the manuscriptas an expressionof the composer'sgratitude.See Milhaud,Notessurla musique,
76.
87 'Ce qui determinera
le caracterepolytonalou atonald'uneceuvre,ce serabien moinsle proceded'ecritureque la melodie
essentiellequi en serala source,et qui vientdu "cceur"seuldu musicien.C'estune necessit6absolue,organique,de la melodie
initialequi empecheraces proc6ds de se figeren un systemeautrementmort-n.' 'Polytonalit6et atonalite',in Milhaud,Notes
surla musique,
44. MelodyforMilhaudis linkedto a numberof importantissues:the aestheticof LesSix, nationalistagendas,the
composer'spreferencefor counterpoint,and the influenceofAndre Gtdalge'steaching.Formore informationon thissubject,
see Kelly, Tradition
andStle, 115-19 and 154-5 and Hurard-Viltard,
LeGroupe
desSix,47 and 141-5.
88 '[Seule la melodie] nous permet de travailer avec notre imaginationtout en nous rapprochantde la traditionqui
est la n6tre.' 'L'Evolutionde la musique',205.
89 A number of theoristshave called the viabilityof polytonalityinto question:Allen Forte, Contemporary
Tone-Structures
(New York, 1955);ArthurBerger,'Problemsof Pitch Organizationin Stravinsky',Perspectives
ofNewMusic,2 (1963), 11-43,
on Schoenberg
andStravinsky
repr. in Benjamin Boretz and EdwardT. Cone (eds.),Perspectives
(New York, 1972), 123-54;
Benjamin Boretz, 'Metavariations:Part IV, Analytic Fallout', Perspectives
of New Music, 11 (1972), 149; Pieter van den
Toorn, 'Some Characteristicsof Stravinsky'sDiatonic Music', Perspectives
ofNewMusic,14 (1975), 104-38. BarbaraKelly
has given an account of these theoreticalquestioningsin Tradition
andStyle,142-68.
90 'Avec le recul du temps, on constateque le grand engouementpour la polytonalitea ete de courte duree, en gros de
1910 a 1930. De nosjours, elle n'est plus qu'un moyen occasionneld'ecriture.'Cited in the article'Polytonalite',in Marc
dela musique.
Science
dela musique
Honegger (ed.),Dictionnaire
(Paris,1976), 821.

590

within Milhaud'soeuvre,polytonalityis often an intermittentprocedure,and worksthat

are continuouslypolytonal, such as the Fifth StringQuartet, are very rare. Nonetheless,
this fault forces us to come to grips with the extent to which ideological debates may
hold swayover aestheticarguments.Milhaud'scriticalingenuityis certainlyto be admired,
because he managed to find a place for himselfbetween nationalextremistsand moderates while handily exploiting an evolutionaryview of historyto erect his compositional
interestsas nothing less than the foundationfor the post-wargenerationof the French
musicalavant-garde.

ABSTRACT
The concept of polytonalityoccupies a prominentplace in two 1923 articlesby Darius
Milhaud. Considerableattentionhas been devoted to his theory of polytonalityin so far
as it applies to his music (Rosteck 1992 and 1994, Cox 1993, Mawer 1997), but except
for the workof BarbaraKelly (2003)the widerculturalcontextof its meaninghas escaped
close scrutiny.To graspthe significanceof these two essaysmore clearly,we must determine how they relateto an importantpressdebate on polytonalityand atonalitybetween
1920 and 1923.
Fuelledby Henri Collet'staggingof the Groupe des Six in 1920, as well as the recognitionof Schoenberg'smusicand legitimizationof his atonalwritingin France,the controversy raisesthe subjectsof polytonality,atonality,nationalism(sometimesdegenerating
into racism),and the aestheticclash of the impressionists,or establishedcomposers,with
the young avant-garde,or Les Six. As a term, polytonalitysufferedfrom grossdistortion.
Bestviewed as a technique,usuallyemployedonly locallyand by a minorityof composers,
in the debate it became an idiom, such as tonalityor atonality,rich enough to inspirea
'school',in this case Les Six, or even the entire French style.
As aJewish composervulnerableto racistattacks,and as the main exponent of polytonality,Milhaud skilfullyturned the issuesof the debate to his advantage.He portrays
Viennese atonalityas the naturaloutcome of Wagnerianchromaticism,and polytonality
as the extension of French diatonic modality. His constructappeals to both nationalist
pride and ethnic tolerance,and his evolutionaryprinciplepositionspolytonalityas inevitable for nothing less than the whole Frenchmusicalavant-garde.

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