La Monde de Darius Milhaud

Film Score Alternative

by Andy Goldsbrough

This is the second installment of a column began earlier this month (4th January), aiming to explore dramatic works that, while not film scores, might interest the soundtrack enthusiast.

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) was one of those composers who wrote music faster than it could be listened to - his catalogue of works ends at Opus 443. This huge output, written in many parts of the world as the composer traveled, includes examples of almost every conceivable musical form, utilizing the full variety of orchestra sizes and ensembles available. He wrote music for 25 motion pictures (mostly French productions), numerous scores for radio and much incidental music for the theater. One of Milhaud's operas, "Christophe Colomb," requires the use of a cinema screen which is included to allow the audience to experience actions and events (like the flight of a dove) that could not be staged.

In 1940 the war forced the composer from his French homeland to America - a scenario similar to what many FSM readers have no doubt heard before. (Milhaud had visited the States several times previously, once meeting Cecil B DeMille at his studio and taking tea with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.) Whilst living in the US a friend introduced him to the writer/director Albert Levin and Milhaud was soon hired to score his first and only Hollywood picture, THE PRIVATE AFFAIRS OF BEL-AMI (1947).

This film, from the novel by Guy de Maupassant, finds George Sanders on top form as the man who sacrifices his friends and his true love (Angela Lansbury) for the sake of fame and social position. It is depressing but in the best possible way. Despite the danger of sounding like one of the uninitiated, I will admit to not recalling the music too well but Milhaud, in his autobiography, spoke fondly of the project, particularly expressing his pleasure at being able to orchestrate his own music - not the Hollywood norm then or now. He voiced concern that the use of professional orchestrators might compromise the personal touch of the work and perhaps result in a sound "a la Wagner or Tchaikovsky". The composer stayed in Hollywood for five weeks, also conducting his score and attending the mixing sessions. In later years Milhaud would work repeatedly for CBS and provided scores for two documentaries: "Peron et Evita" (1958) and "Burma Road" (1959).

It is regrettable that only a small amount of the composer's sizable body of work, dramatic or otherwise, is regularly performed today or available on CD. His music is always fresh sounding, inventive and imaginative. It never sounds rigorous or calculated and there is often an adventurous use of instrumental combinations and tonality. No description of it's nature should neglect to mention the influence of Provence, where the composer grew up (native to Aix), a region which, of course, also inspired the paintings of Cezanne. Milhaud's works are a celebration of human sensitivity to and appreciation of the world around him - it's people, atmosphere, landscapes and architecture. They are not deeply introspective, anguished outpourings.

One of Milhaud's better known pieces, which is reasonably well represented on record is "La boeuf sur le toit" (1919, op. 58, literally "The Ox on the Roof" but also retitled "The Nothing-Doing Bar"). The composer himself described it as a fantasia in which various melodies and dances, mostly of Brazilian origin (tangoes, maxixes, sambas, a Portuguese fado) are presented in turn with a faster and catchy (!) tune recurring between each successive pair. The orchestral forces required for performance are quite standard and light, with only one percussion instrument.

Milhaud initially thought that this music might make for good accompaniment to a Charlie Chaplin silent movie but his friend Jean Cocteau, the French poet, playwright, novelist and librettist, persuaded him to allow the choreographing of a production for the stage (i.e. the music was written before the text). The scene Cocteau came up with takes place in an American bar during Prohibition. The action involves a variety of players - a well dressed man and women, a boxer, a Negro dwarf, a women dressed as a man, a bookmaker, a barman and, later, a policeman. Performers are required to act in slow motion (much slower than the tempo of the music might suggest) and wear masks three times facial size.

The pantomime opens with the bartender offering drinks to the players of a crap game. The fashionable lady picks up the dwarf and carries him, over her shoulder, into the adjoining billiard room. The other women is propositioned by the boxer but the bookie intervenes and knocks him unconscious. The bookie dances a tango before a policeman approaches, whistle in mouth. There is a brief commotion but the barman remains calm, transforming the bar, replacing the alcohol with milk. Whilst the clients and the policeman dance, the barman arranges for a large overhead fan to decapitate the man of the law, an event which causes little distress to the patrons as they continue about their business. The bar thens begins to empty and, as he leaves, the dwarf refuses to pay his bill. The barman resurrects the policeman, replacing his head, and proceeds to present him with the costs of the evening.

Another work of a similar length (15 - 20 mins) which is often found coupled with the above on disc is the ballet "La creation du monde" (op. 81, written in Paris in 1923). In this case a text (by Blaise Cendrars) was prepared in advance of the composition and the themes of creation chosen from which to create the scenario were of African origin. In this folklore the genesis of the world is not the violent cataclysm that western culture sometimes considers it but a more confident and congruous development. The primitivism is simple not barbaric.

The spirit of the subject enabled Milhaud to incorporate elements of jazz in his score, a form of music he had noted with interest during a concert and lecture tour of the US, particularly during the evenings he spent in New York. The choice of instrumentation reflects this - in fact he originally chose the same seventeen solo instruments he had seen used in Harlem, including a piano, saxophone, bassoon and various light percussion. Other influences detectable in the music come from blues and ragtime, particularly in the melodies, and African rhythms.

"La creation du monde" is most often encountered in a suite in six sections. The first is an overture which begins with repeating phrases for piano, violins and cello, establishing a soft yet dark atmosphere. An echoing theme for trumpet and, later, clarinet is placed above this and quick figures for percussion start to add extra life to the music. Saxophone, bassoon, flutes and horn add to the sense of melody. The next movement starts with a dramatic rhythm as the gods of creation gather to make something out of the chaos. Trumpet, saxophone and trombone are soon arguing over the melodic line above a double bass. The frenzy increases with a main melody still keeping it's head above the clutter. This stops suddenly, allowing brief, descending lines for flute then clarinet to lead into the slower, sombre colors of the third section. The echoing mood of the overture returns this time with a broken theme for violins with flute accompaniment. As a tree appears a blues melody is spotlighted on the oboe, then various animals come forth and with them trilling phrases for flute. These creatures then perform a highly energetic dance to a short, confident tune for two violins with trumpet and piano interjections. The music becomes tender as a man and women appear. A clarinet melody with much syncopated, percussive accompaniment invites this pair into a dance. More trilling figures, this time for bassoon, horn then saxophone, introduce softer sounds for flutes and oboe including the echoing melody of the overture. The music quickly becomes frenziedly melodic and percussive again as more humans appear. The crowd having dissipated, the last section paints a picture of the first spring. The saxophone returns us to the serenity of the opening movement before the winds and brass create a gently swaying mood. The blues melody from before is passed around and the saxophone ends the score.

These two works on CD:

The composer's own versions (from the late fifties) were reissued by EMI on a CD (CDC7 54604-2) that includes other examples of Milhaud's music.

The catalogue of Erato Warner currently lists a 2CD Ultima, highlighting the recordings of Kent Nagano with the Lyon Opera Orchestra made in 1992. This set also includes various concertos and other works in it's running time (3984 21347-2).

The most recent recording is by the Ulster Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier made for Chandos Records (CHAN 9023). Works by Ibert and Poulenc are the couplings.

Thanks to everyone who wrote me after the previous column. Feedback appreciated: andrew.goldsbrough@magd.ox.ac.uk.

Major References:

"Darius Milhaud" Paul Collaer, trans. & ed. Jane Hohfeld Galante (1988, San Francisco Press).

"Darius Milhaud: My Happy Life - An Autobiography" trans. Donald Evans, George Hall & Christopher Palmer - includes an introductory essay by the latter - he was a friend of the composer (1995, Marion Boyars Publishing).