M502 - “LES SIX”

TR   9:45-11:00 AM   M263
Dr. Jane Fulcher


This course traces the formation and development of the group of
French composers known as “Les Six”—Poulenc, Milhaud, Auric,
Honegger, Tailleferre, and Durey, within the cultural, political, and
musical context of interwar Paris (1914-1940) It  examines not only
those ideas, values, and tendencies that drew them together, but also
the distinctive, personalities and styles of each, which were (and
still are) masked by their shared group identity.  The latter part of
the course will compare the nature of this group and its goals with
that of the next generation of composers emerging in the 1930s—that
of Olivier Messiaen and the group “Jeune France.”