France Modern Music
Many of these composers also worked at the beginning of the 20th century and made Paris a center of European musical life (which was characterized by a pluralism of styles) not only with immigrants like Stravinsky , but also with influential teachers such as N. Boulanger , who numerous contemporary composers like A. Copland, A. Piazzolla and G. Bacewicz shaped and revived Renaissance and Baroque music as a conductor. Your sister L. Boulanger went down in music history as the first female winner of the Rome Prize (for the cantata “Faust et Hélène”) and her compositional work points well into the 20th century. Recalls the work of the two sisters, among other things. the Conservatoire Nadia et Lili Boulanger, founded in 1972. According to ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG, France is abbreviated as FR.
Against the refinement C. Debussy and M. Ravel of the outsider was opposed E. Satie and the writer J. Cocteau patronized group Les Six (D. Milhaud, A. Honegger, F. Poulenc, G. Auric, L. Durey, G. Tailleferre ), which on the basis of tonality initially linked to the light music of the Music Hall and jazz, but soon disintegrated as a group. The Swiss A. Honegger had with oratorios and symphonies, D. Milhaud Successful with piano music and operas, F. Poulenc turned to concert and church music, G. Auric to film music. Just like the composer group »Les Six«, the »École d’Arcueil« founded in 1923 by E. Satie (H. Sauguet, Henri Cliquet-Pleyel [* 1894, † 1963], Maxime Jacob [* 1906, †) 1977] and Roger Désormière [* 1898, † 1963]) striving for simplicity and clarity from the influences of R. Wagner and C. Debussy.
Messiaen, A. Jolivet, Daniel-Lesur and Y. Baudrier set their own goals in the »Jeune France« group. In their reflections on the theoretical foundations of new music as well as with the development of new rhythmic and harmonic models and the adoption of elements from oriental music systems, v. a. the sound magician O. Messiaen - as composer, organist and teacher the outstanding musical figure in the 20th century – and A. Jolivet decisively shaped the younger generation of composers. Traditional compositional means and contemporary tonal language are combined in the works of J. Ibert, G. Migot, J. Martinon, J. Françaix and H. Dutilleux.
After the Second World War, R. Leibowitz became the main representative of the French twelve-tone technique, which was linked to A. Schönberg and his school; In addition to Messiaen, he was also the teacher of P. Boulez, who developed serialism (serial music), which took into account all musical parameters, and who as conductor, composer and founder of the experimental Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique / Musique (IRCAM in Paris as the most internationally respected Representatives of contemporary French music are: G. Amy and Jean-Claude Eloy belong to the circle of O. Messiaen and P. Boulez (* 1938), Patrice Mestral (* 1945), Tristan Murail (* 1947), Alain Louvier (* 1945) and Pascal Dusapin (* 1955); on the other hand, M. Constant and the predominantly experimental Jean-Étienne Marie (* 1917, † 1989) are independent of the serial technique.
At the same time, since 1948 – starting with E. Varèse - P. Schaeffer and P. Henry opened up new sound possibilities for composing through their Musique concrète, which operates with noise collages. Since 1955, I. Xenakis preferred to use mathematical methods when composing (stochastic music); C. Ballif and J. Barraqué dealt with questions of “metatonality” and “open form”. Recently, I. Malec, F. Bayle and G. Reibel have emerged with electronic music.
In addition to the studio of P. Schaeffer in Paris (now “Groupe de Recherches Musicales”), the electronic studios of the “Groupe de Musique expérimentale de Bourges” and the “Center International de Recherche Musicale” were created. Another group of composers makes use of mathematical processes or the computer (computer music). Representatives of aleatoric or improvised realization are Philippe Capdenat (* 1934), Gérard Grisey (* 1946, † 1998), Pierre Mariétan (* 1935) from Switzerland, Jean-Yves Bosseur (* 1947) and L. Ferrari which advances to multimedia forms. Most of these composers belong to the “Groupe d’Étude et de Réalisations Musicales”. Éric Tanguy (* 1968), Marc-André Dalbavie (* 1961) and Antoine Bonnet (* 1958) also emerged with impressive compositions.
Popular music – chanson and jazz
Although Anglo-American music such as jazz, rock and pop was able to establish itself to a large extent in France and was particularly popular with young people, French music v. a. to preserve a national peculiarity in the chanson. Well known far beyond the national borders were among others. É. Piaf , M. Chevalier, G. Bécaud, C. Aznavour, Mistinguett , G. Brassens, J. Gréco , the Belgians J. Brel and P. Kaas ; contemporary French chansonniers such as Gaspard LaNuit also became known through crossovers with other musical styles.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, France has also been a port of call for American ragtime and jazz musicians, including J. Baker , who appeared in the famous Folies-Bergère revue theater, and S. Bechet, C. Parker and M. Davis in the post-war period. The jazz musicians also inspired composers such as C. Debussy , D. Milhaud and later Stravinsky as well as local artists, many of whom have played an international role since the 1950s.
The Hot Club de France was founded as early as 1932 to promote and spread jazz. Numerous French jazz musicians were members of this club, which organized the first international jazz festival in Nice in 1948, including S. Grappelli and D. Reinhardt. The pianist M. Petrucciani, the guitarist Marc Ducret (* 1958) and the group »Les Haricots Rouges« are also among the internationally important jazz greats.
On the other hand, French rock music is of little importance internationally, even if individual songs are repeatedly taken into account across national borders.
