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Les Six is a name, inspired by '' The Five '', given in 1923 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled ‘Les cinq russes, les six français et M. Satie’ (''Comoedia'', 16 January 1920) to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against Wagnerism and Impressionism . MEMBERS Formally, the ''Groupe des Six'' members were:
PRELUDE: ''LES NOUVEAUX JEUNES'' In 1917 , when many theatres and concert halls were closed because of the war, Blaise Cendrars and the painter Moise Kisling decided to put on a concert at 6 Rue Huyghens, the studio of the painter Emile Lejeune . For this event, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by Picasso , Matisse , Léger , Modigliani and others. Music by Satie , Honegger, Auric and Durey was played. It was this concert that gave Erik Satie the idea of assembling a group of composers around himself to be known as ''Les Nouveaux Jeunes'', forerunners of Les Six. LES SIX According to Milhaud: ''" {Link without Title} chose six names absolutely arbitrarily, those of Auric, Durey, Honegger, Poulenc, Tailleferre and me simply because we knew each other and we were pals and appeared on the same musical programmes, no matter if our temperaments and personalities weren't at all the same! Auric and Poulenc followed ideas of Cocteau, Honegger followed German Romanticism, and myself, Mediterranean lyricism! (Ivry 1996)"'' But that is only one reading of how the Groupe des Six originated: other authors, like '' is said to have ticked it off. After World War I , Jean Cocteau and Les Six began to frequent a bar known as "La Gaya" which became '' Le Boeuf Sur Le Toit '' (The Ox on the Roof) when the establishment moved to larger quarters and as the famous ballet by Milhaud had been conceived at the old premises, the new bar took on the name of Milhaud's balletRoger Stéphane, "Portrait Souvenir de Jean Cocteau" (transcript of a French television interview in 1963 by the author and the subject), pp 63-67 Tallandier 1964 ISBN 2-235-01889-0. On the renamed bar's opening night, pianist Jean Wiéner played tunes by George Gershwin and Vincent Youmans while Cocteau and Milhaud played percussion. Among those in attendance were Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev , Pablo Picasso , filmmaker René Clair , singer Jane Bathori , and Maurice Chevalier . The Group was officially launched in January 1920 by a series of two articles by the French music critic and composer Henri Collet in the French journal ''Commedia''. While it seems apparent that Cocteau was behind these articles, the actual name of the Group was selected by Collet who decided to compare the Six with The Five Russians. The group published an album of piano pieces together (the famous "Album des Six"). Five of the members also collaborated together on the music for Cocteau's work ''Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel'' which was produced by the Ballets Suédois, the rival to the Ballets Russes. Cocteau had originally proposed the project to Auric, but as Auric did not finish rapidly enough to fit into the rehearsal schedule, he then divided the work up among the other members of Les Six. Durey, who was not in Paris at the time, did not participate. The première was the occasion of a public scandal which rivaled that of '' Le Sacre Du Printemps '' only years before. In spite of this, ''Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel'' was in the repertoire of the Ballets Suédois throughout the 1920s. ''Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel'' did not mark "the end of the Group des Six", as Durey was present for every concert and other manifestation that marked the annversaries of the founding of the Group. Les Six did not ever cease to exist, they simply took their own individual paths that they had announced from the beginning. The legacy of Les Six is present even today in their surviving children, spouses and associates. MUSIC BY LES SIX
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