Rogers Jazz French Music

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Jazz Influence on French MusicAuthor(s): M. Robert RogersSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jan., 1935), pp. 53-68Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/738965

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JAZZ INFLUENCE ON FRENCH MUSICBy M. ROBERTROGERSSOME REAMBULARBSERVATIONS

AMERICA, during the exciting decade of the nineteen-twenties,becamesuddenlyaware thatin herpopularmusicshe hadproducedan idiom not only in keeping with the tempo of her life, but capableofbeing looked upon as an original artistic contribution from a countryoften regarded as excessively eclectic in cultural fields.True, the babyamong musical nationsneeded the prompting of her

Europeanelders beforesherealized thatthe developmentsshe took moreor less as a matterof course could be definite contributionstowards thegrowth of an art-music. A Bohemiancomposer,come to teachin Brook-lyn, New York,was the firstto recognize in the folk-music of the south-ern Negroes a rich store of inspiration for serious composers. Thespiritualswhich proved so stimulating to Dvorik were destined to de-velop into the blues, which subsequently became one of the mainelements of jazz.

Still, American composerswere slow to avail themselves of the ele-ments of their native folk-music, even when rag-time and jazz wereharderto silence than to hear. As early as 1896,JohannesBrahms wasthinking of introducing the novel rhythmic effects of American rag-time, which he had just heard for the first time, into one of his com-positions,' and Debussy, Stravinsky,and Auric, had already used rag-time and jazz in their compositionsbefore an American, John AldenCarpenter,wrote Krazy Kat, a jazz-ballet, in 1922.

Wherein lies the explanationof the potent influence of jazz? Firstwe must determine what jazz is, if that be possible. Many have at-tempted to define rag-time,blues, and jazz, but most have fallen intothe errorof trying to make too definite distinctionsamong them. Evena superficial examination should indicate that rag-time and jazz arereally the same thing in different stages of development. Carl Engelhas rightly observedthat "jazz is rag-time, plus 'blues,'plus orchestralpolyphony."21 See Boston Evening Transcript,Music Section, March 22, 1930.2Discords Mingled, 1931, p. 147. Paul Fritz Laubenstein, in Jazz--Debit and Credit,The MUSICALQUARTERLY,October, 1929, particularlystresses he contributions o orchestra-tion made by jazz, in his discussion of the "credit"side.

53


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54 The Musical QuarterlyThe day when rag-time first reared its head3 can be placed onlygenerally in the latterhalf of the nineteenth century. The first appear-ance of the word "rag-time"n connectionwith a printed song occurredon the cover of Bert Williams' Oh, I don't know, you're not so warm,in 1896. America sang and danced to rag-timeuntil before she entered

the World War. In the five years preceding the War, the term "jazz"graduallycame to replace"rag-time"n generaluse. Changein the styleof the musiccamegraduallytoo. One cannotsaywhen rag-timestoppedand jazz began. One should not try to, for, as alreadystated, they arethe same thing in differentphases. "Jazzcompleted a processthat rag-time began."4In defining jazz, the authorities have ended in confusion and dis-agreement,and have generallyfailed in theirpurpose. Irving Schwerk6points out that the "ordinaryAmerican ... could not define jazz anybetter than the ordinary European; but where the American has theadvantage is that his ear knows when jazz is and when it is not."Henry Osgoodexpressesa kindredthought: "It is the spiritof the music,not the mechanicsof its frame or the characteristics f the superstructurebuilt upon that frame, that determines whether or not it is jazz."6In contrast to this opinion is Aaron Copland'sbelief that jazz can bedefined if its structure is analyzed. But his conclusions are not verystartling;he says:"The peculiarexcitement [jazz] producesby clashingtwo definitely and regularly marked rhythms is unprecedented inoccidental music. Its polyrhythm is the real contribution of jazz."'

Actually all these men areright, but none accomplisheshis purpose:to define jazz. The reason s simple: "jazz,"appliedto music, is indefin-able, for "no word used to describea school of music can be defined."Jazz is correctlya style, not a form, and styles can be only described,not defined. Paul Whiteman, who has had perhaps more practicalexperiencewith jazz than any otherperson,has arrivedat a similarcon-clusion: "Jazzis not as yet the thing said,it is the manner of saying it."9

3 I cannotundertakehere to give an adequatehistoricalsketch. See IsaacGoldberg'sTin PanAlley, 1930.4Ibid., p. 15o.5 Kings David and Jazz, 1927, p. 33.6So Tkis Is Jazz, 1926, p. 26.7Modern Music, Jan. 1927.8 A. V. Frankenstein,SyncopatingSaxophones, 1925, p. 39.9 Jazz, I926, p. 117.


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Jazz Influence on French Music 55Thus we are brought to Mr. Engel's descriptionof jazz as an amalgamof rag-time, "blue"harmony, and orchestralpolyphony.

The examination of the widespread nfluence of jazz in AmericaandEurope is a subjectfor sociological rather than for musical study. Re-member that the word "jazz"is not confined to music; it can be a verbor noun,and wasprobablydescriptiveof emotion beforeit wasof music.10We are living in the Jazz Age, or emerging from it, and our music isbut a phaseof it on two continents. Whiteman says:Jazz is the spirit of a new country. It catches up the underlying motif of a

continent and period, molding it into a form which expresses the fundamentalemotion of the people, the place, and time so authentically that it is immediatelyrecognizable... I think t is a mistake o calljazzcheerful.Theoptimism fjazz is the optimism of the pessimist who says, 'Let us eat, drink, and be merry,for tomorrow we die.' This cheerfulness of despair is deep in America. Ourcountry is not the childishly jubilant nation that some people like to think it.Behindthe rush of achievement s a restlessness f dissatisfaction, vaguenostalgiaand yearning of something indefinable, beyond our grasp .... That is the thingexpressed by that wail, that longing, that pain behind all the surface clamor andrhythm and energy of jazz. The critics may call it Oriental, call it Russian, callit anything they like. It is the expression of the soul of America and Americarecognizes it.

But the soul of America became in the past decadepart of the soulof Europe. In France, while Cocteau describedjazz as "une sorte decatastropheapprivoise'e," critical opinion proclaimed,"II est vie. IIest art. II est ivresse des sons et des bruits. II est joie animale desmouvements souples. II est milancolie des passions. II est nousd'aujourd'hui."2Whether urgedby its spiritor attractedby its rhythmicindividuality,the fact remainsthat practicallyevery composerin FrancesinceDebussyhas felt the insidious effect of King Jazz. As Marion Bauer expressesit, the French composersthrow themselves on jazz as hungry dogs ona bone.3 We turn now to the examination of that bone as treated inFrench music.

10For etymology cf. So This Is Jazz, and Tin Pan Alley.11"A sort of catastrophe amed."12"It is life. It is art. It is the drunkeness of sounds and noises. It is the animal joyof supple movements. It is the melancholyof the passions. It is we of today."13 See La Revue musicale,Apr., 1924, p. 36.


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56 The Musical QuarterlyFRANCE HEARS RAG-TIME

AND DEBUSSYDOES THE CAKE-WALKIn 1896,Williams ndWalker,wogentlemenf dark omplexion,came o New York romAmerica's idwest o exciteandamuse heaudiencesf Koster ndBial'sMusic-Hall, ith a dance o rag-timerhythms-thecake-walk.For a decade ndmore,Williams,Walker,and herestofAmerica,ancedhecake-walk.Meanwhile,heNegroteamcrossedheAtlantic's aters nd ntroducedheir xuberantteps

tothe ords,adies, ndcommonersf London.Thecake-walknjoyeda fad asthemostpopularociety-dancen MerrieEngland.NorwasParis eglected. he oo,atherWorld's airandelsewhere,came oknow heexciting hythmsfAmericanag-time.Francewasquick o adoptherown version f thisnew music or herdance- ndmusic-halls.Negrobandswere mportedrom heUnitedStates ndadoredwithareverencehatonly heGallicoulcancherishowardshesupposedlyightermoments f life.Anothermeans ywhichAmericanopularmusicwasrapidly is-seminatedntheOldWorldwasbythedevelopmentf a newmechan-ical nvention.n1877, homasAlvaEdison resentedgratefulworldwith the phonograph.By 900oo,dison'sylinderecords adbeenflattenedntodisks, nd hecommercialotentialitiesf thenew nstru-mentwerebeginningobeexploitednEuropeswellasat home.Theseveralecordingsfrag-time yVictor ndother ecorderseremadeeasilyavailableoanyFrenchmanr otherpersonwho was nterested.Thephonograph'sartsofprime mportancenconsideringherapidspread f therag-time-jazznfluence.Fromone source ranother, rance'seriousomposerseardandregardedhe noveltyof thiscrudeandrhythmicmusicwith naivedelight, delight ornpartlyrom hestillprevalentorshipf naturein theraw,whichhad tsrootsn thesentimentalhilosophyf Jean-Jacques ousseau.Theromanticmpressionist,laudeDebussy, as hefirstocommithimself n musicpaperwhen,n19o8, econcludedischarminguite,The Children'sCorner,with the Golliwog'sCake-Walk.


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JazzInfluence n FrenchMusic 57Ex. 1 From "Golliwog's Cake-walk" (Debussy) (PublishedyDurand&Cie.)Allegro giusto

Ex. la Un peu moins vite

p ,Like most thoroughgoing Rousseauists,Debussy managed to injectinto the essentialcrudityof thething he wastryingto imitateasophistica-tion it did not know in its native haunts. Some fifteen years later,American jazz was to reach a technical stage somewhat akin to that ofthe Golliwog's Cake-Walk. Notice, at * in the first of the foregoing

extracts,the appearanceof a "blue"note in the harmony-the loweredsubmediantused in the majormode. This type of harmonicdevicewasalreadythrice familiar in nineteenth-centurymusic, and Debussy'suseof it here should not be regardedwith unqualified wonder. It is prob-ably coincidental. (So, certainly,is the "Gershwin"sound of the maintheme in the finale of the same composer'sLa Mer. Similar Europeananticipationsof jazz idioms should make an interesting topic for study.)Even if Debussymissed the point of the rag-timemusic that exerted aninfluenceon him, he did providethe world with a gay miniaturewhich,without that influence, he might not have produced.In go90,he again allowed a cake-walk to creep into a piano piece,this time in the musicalcaricature,GeneralLavine-eccentric, from thesecond book of Preludes. Minstrels, from the first book, betrays theinfluence of Negro spiritualsas well as of rag-time. Thus, by the mostpoetic of French composerswas American popularmusic admitted intothe realm of seriouscompositionin France.The next Frenchmusician to fall under the spell of rag-timewas thatirrepressiblewit, Erik Satie. For his ballet,Parade,written in 1916to ascenario by Jean Cocteau,"4Satie dished up a Rag-time du paquebot.

14Cocteau later wrote "AmericanNegro orchestras . .fertilize an artist's imaginationasmuch as does life." Le Coq et l'Arlequin, 1918, p. 34.


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58 The Musical QuarterlyHere was a composerat leasttemperamentally uited to affect the Amer-ican style. He did manage to approximate it more accurately thanDebussy,though the resultwas somewhatself-consciouslymitative. Butthen, we must remember that Satie probably approachedthe wholeundertaking with the sense of satire that was habitual to him.

Ex. 2 From "Rag-time du Paquebot"(Satie) (Publishedy Rouart,Lerolle&Cie.)Triste

AM!-

dp, -------

In i919, DariusMilhaud,subsequently o becomeidentifiedwith the"Groupof Six,"returned to Paris after two years spent in Brazil as anattachi of the French legation in Rio de Janeiro. While in SouthAmerica, he had become attractedby the native dances. He imitatedthem in his cycle for piano,Saudadesdo Brazil. The similarityof someof the rhythms of these dances to the rhythms of North American rag-time is remarkable. This fact may indicate a fertile field for study inregardto the sources of the latter.Milhaud, too, composed a ballet for a Cocteau scenario. In i9I9,he producedLe Bceufsur le toit, a "cinema-symphonyon South Amer-ican airs." South American or not, without the subtitle the music forthis satirical pantomime could be justly mistaken for rag-time a lafranfaise. Since Cocteau was poking fun at American prohibition,Milhaud may have deliberatelychosen to be influenced by Americanrag-time. Here are the opening measuresof the work:


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Jazz Influenceon French Music 59Ex.3 From"Leceufuretoit",Milhaud)PublishedyLaSirenemusicale)~8

Anim- - -

------------------------------------ - - -----------~-c--------------------------

f o o l F - *rmmzidWhile rag-timewas gaining a foothold in Paris,an expatriateRussian

musicianhad centeredhis activitiesthere. Protge' of Rimsky-Korsakovand exponent of the Russian ballet, Igor Stravinskyhad as importantan influence on the presentgenerationof French composersas had theircompatriotancestors. In fact, the "Groupof Six"repudiated Debussy'simpressionismand turned to Stravinsky'sobjectiveideals. So we musttake cognizance of the influence Stravinskyhad on the developmentofjazz in France."Stravinsky," says Isaac Goldberg,'5 "with his epochal ballet,'Petroushka,'had made himself in 1911 the Europeanpioneer of jazz."Goldberg overstatesthe case. At best, the rhythms of Stravinskyhaveonly a nominal relationshipto those of jazz. But if there be any doubtabout the essentiallyrhythmic nature of Petroushka,there can be nonein regardto Le Sacre du printemps,which had a sensationalpremierein Paris in 1913. In this ballet, Stravinskyanticipated two importantgeneralcharacteristics f jazz: emphasison rhythm (admittedly a morecomplex rhythm than jazz has ever achieved) and emphasis on thewind instruments. With this imposing work to his credit, we maywonder what need the great Igor had for imported polyrhythms; buthe, too, tried to imitate the music from acrossthe sea. Between 1915

15Tin Pan Alley, p. 266.


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60 The Musical Quarterlyand 1920, he wrote his Rag-timefor piano (later orchestrated)and theHistoired'unsoldat,which were neither"rag-time ish norjazz flesh.""6

But the attemptsof Debussy, Satie, Milhaud, and Stravinsky,weremerely paving the way for the almost universal reign of King Jazzin France after the World War."THE SIx" FOX-TROT WHILE RAVEL HAS THE BLUES

How much influence the friendly invasion of Paris by Americanarmies in 1917-18 had in making the French crave a jazz-bandcannotbe known. At any rate, in 1918, while Allied troops were still face toface with Germans along the Western Front, Gaby Deslys and HarryPilcer, at the Casino de Paris, introduced Paris to its first jazz-band.The Gallic soul liked it, Gallic feet tapped to its rhythms, Gallic earsenjoyedits novel instrumentation.The JazzAge was launched in France.At least one native Parisian, Jean Wiener, had, according to hiscompatriots, caught the spirit of this new development of rag-time.At the Bar Gaya, he played his piano while Vance Lowry ("dont lecceur est un saxophone") alternated between saxophone and banjo,making a combinationwhich the Frenchthought as exciting and sonor-ous asany largerAmerican one. Wiener also discovered hat two pianoswere twice as good as one when it came to playing jazz, so he unitedwith Doucet to make a famous team, able not only in playing jazz butin the performanceof all two-piano literature.Wiener was enterprising,and, in 1921, he induced Billy Arnold'sNegro band,then playing in Deauville, to give a formal concert in Parisunderhis managementat the Salle des Agriculteurs. This performance,which took place on December6th, was an unqualified success,and themusic critics raved for weeks about new instrumental sonorities andtechniques and about a new spirit.The savantsof music, in accordancewith the French temperament,regardedAmerica'sbrain-childwith a gravity that to us seems mainlylugubrious. Thus, when the scholarly La Revue musicale in 1926 in-troduced criticism of phonograph records into its columns, importedjazz-recordingswere reviewed as a matter of course. Henry Pruni'resopened his comment with the observation,"Jazzregne decidiment surle monde." 8 The general tone of his writings on the subject may be

16 Ibid.17 "Whose heart is a saxophone." Darius Milhaud, Etudes, 1927, p. 71.18"Decidedly, jazz reigns on the earth." Aug., 1926, p. 181.


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Jazz Influence on French Music 6Igained from the following extractin the issueof January1932: "Le jazzde L. Armstrong est toujoursinteressant. Moins vanri,moins riche quecelui de Duke Ellington, il garde les qualite'sdu vrai jazz hot....Armstrong est un remarquable virtuose.""9 Milhaud felt moved towrite, with rare incongruity, "Un musicien comme Jean Wiener ...a assimile' le jazz] avec une rare habilete' n le combinanta un certainclassicismequi fait songer a Bach."20 A Belgian, RobertGoffin,wrotewhat has been called "themostexhaustivestoryof jazz playersextant." 1Eminent names in all fields of French music lent their approvalto thejazz influence; Lionel de la Laurencie,Albert Roussel, P.-O. Ferroud,and Maurice Brillant, are some.22While thecriticswerebeing eloquent in print,the younger composerswere trying to assimilatethe new style. Besides the sourcesalreadyin-dicated,they had accessto Salabert'spopular reprintsof American jazz.The composersknown collectively as "the Six" were especially fas-cinated. The fox-trot for two pianos, Adieu, New York, by GeorgesAuric, one of the group, appeared n 1919. He had capturedthe essenceof jazz rhythm but missed fire harmonically. A few extractsfollow:

Ex. 4 From 'Adieu,New York" Auric) Publishedby Les Editionsde. a Sirkne)Un peu plus lent et triste'--F

..-*L .0-3 --- I~75nL.VEx.4a

- II I_,- __ 1"7--[

v " " F.I, != -0 do ' -

19 "The jazz of L. Armstrong is always interesting. Less varied, less rich than that ofDuke Ellington, it retainsthe qualitiesof true hot jazz.... Armstrongis a remarkablevirtuoso."Op. cit., p. 78.20 "A musician like Jean Wiener ... has assimilated [jazz] with rare skill, combining itwith a certain classicism that makes one think of Bach." Etudes,p. 22.21 Robert Goffin, Aux Frontibres du Jazz, 1932. See the review by Carl Engel in THEMUSICAL QUARTERLY for October, 1932, p. 651.22See Cceuroyand Schaeffner,Le Jazz, pp. 115-136. Mention should be made also of thebook by Carl Vica, Du Classicisme au jazz, 1933, and of the article by Blaise Pesquinne,Le Blues, la musique ngre des villes, naissance et avenir du jazz, in the November 1934issue of La Revue musicale.


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62 The Musical QuarterlyIn 1922, Milhaud again crossed the Atlantic, this time to NorthAmerica. In the Hotel Brunswick,Boston,his alreadygrowing enthu-

siasmfor jazz was heightenedby the splendidorchestraof Leo Reisman,then slowly acquiringthe reputationwhich was to bring it internationalfame. It is curious that Milhaud should admire the Reisman manner,for its sophisticatedstyle is a far cry from the Negro orchestraswhichParisiansusuallypreferto white ones. At any rate,the composerof theSaudadesreturnedto his nativecountry,his head teeming this time withAmerican jazz, 1922 model. He lost no time in composing a new ballet,La Creationdu monde, and in scoring it for "un orchestrede jazz unpeu agrandi et ... traite dans la forme de la musique instrumentalecomme unesymphonicconcertante." The scenario,by BlaiseCendrars,provides a Negro Adam and Eve. The score opens with an almostHandelian overture. Then follows a fugue on a jazz-blues subject:

Ex. 5 From"La Cre'ation du monde" (Milhaud) (Publishedy Max Eschig&Cie.)

R'1-J -( - -~h-. ,,b . , ,"I I u Lk n=7 too F ,

F - 1 4 F

Ex. a : >-

i rr rr.I,,

I IW:0774I-

I." ?

Milhaud brought to jazz his polytonal style: polytonality and poly-harmony appeared ater in American jazz. Milhaud, I think, has beenmore successful n capturingthe spiritof Americanjazz than any otherFrench composer. He turned to it again in his dramatic work, LesMalkheurs'Orphee.

2 "A slightly enlarged jazz orchestra . . treated in the form of instrumental music like asymphonie concertante." Milhaud, Etudes, p. 21.


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Jazz Influence on French Music 63Some have found instancesof a perceptiblejazz-influence n ArthurHonegger's oratorio,Le Roi David. I can find no specific example of

such an apparent influence that cannot be otherwise accounted for,although I notice a feeling of "blue"harmony in the twentieth piece,Jefus confu dans le peche'. However, in the finale of his Concertinofor piano and orchestra,composed in 1924, Honegger frankly writesjazz. He has learned something from American orchestration, or, inthis movement, he generally uses the piano percussively. In fact, thepiano fairly replacesthe battery,while a solo trombone sings a melan-choly tune beneath. A few measuressufficeto demonstrateHonegger'sjazz-style:

Ex. 6 From "Concertino" (Honegger) (Published yEditionsMauriceenart)SOLO

&A.6 -ORCH.

Ex. 6a.. . . 6 , 0

In 1925, Honegger wrote a Prelude and Blues for, of all combina-


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64 The Musical Quarterlytions, a quartet of chromatic harps. As yet, this work remainsunpublished.

Jean Wiener, distinguished as performer and manager, has beenalso a prolific composer of pieces in the jazz idiom. Chief of these ishis Franco-AmericanConcertofor piano and string orchestra. It is aspirited and sometimes witty work, but its effect is mainly "Franco,"and the use of a string orchestra is a stylistic error that makes eventhose jazz effectspresentsound completely untypical. Wiener had alsowritten, before 1926,a Sonatine syncopee for piano, a Suite for violinand piano, and TroisBlues chantis. Of the threeblues,Milhaudwrites,"lls sont tendres et gravescommes les lieder de Schubert." 4Maurice Ravel, the Paris Conservatory'senfant terrible of anotherday, was not to be outdone by the younger generation. He, too, couldand would write jazz. To an interviewer from "MusicalAmerica" hesaid,"The most captivatingpartof jazz is its rich and divertingrhythm.... Jazz is a very rich and vital sourceof inspirationfor modern com-posersand I am astonished that so few Americansare influencedby it."Nicolas Slonimsky thinks, however, that "Ravel became interested inthat element of jazz which is characteristicof the blues-the instabilityof major and minor, the sliding effects." 5 The composer himself tothe contrary,I agree with Slonimsky. What, rhythmically,could jazzteach the composerof La Valse and Daphnis et Chloe?In his fantasy-opera or the incorrigibleCollette's libretto,L'Enfantet les sortileges,Ravelproducedhis firstjazz. "The Wedgwood tea-potand the Chinese teacupsing a duet and dance a fox-trot in which jazzand Chinese music are strangely mingled."26

A more ambitiousundertaking is the slow movement of the Sonatafor violin and piano,written between 1923 and 1927. It is labelledBlues.Ravelemployspolytonalityand several azz-rhythmeffects. But the onlyelement of the real blues he capturesis the glissando. Where are the"blue"notes? The musical essenceof the blues is in the harmony, butRavel adheres to a harmonic style that is peculiarly his own.24 "They are tender and grave like Schubert'sLieder." Ibid., p. 72.25 Boston Evening Transcript, Music Section, Apr. 21, 1929.'26E. B. Hill, Maurice Ravel, THE MUSICAL QUARTERLY, Jan., 1927, p. 145.


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Jazz Influenceon French Music 65Ex. 7 From the Slow Movement of the Sonata for Violin and Piano (Ravel)(Publishedby Durand& Cie.)

Violin (9--------.-.----.------.-.--------...................----------------

Piano

8------------------------------ --------------

I, f,-

The most recent evidence of jazz in Ravel's music appearsin thefinale of the Piano Concerto,publishedin 1930. Reviewing the premiereof this work, Prunieres wrote, "L'espritdu jazz anime en efet cettedernibrepartie ... maisavec une extremediscretion."

' By then, Ravelhad assimilated the jazz idiom completely into his highly individualstyle, without, however, writing "straight" azz.27 "The spirit of jazz indeed animatesthis last movement ... but with extremediscretion."La Revue musicale, Feb. 1932, p. 124.


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66 The Musical QuarterlyIf the tastes of the American public are any index, Ravel's mostpopular jazz-work is one that he never intended as such. Orchestrasin the United Stateswere quick to seize on his inescapableBolero, torearrange t into four-quarter ime, and to present t to a receptivedance-loving audience. The royaltiesaccruingfrom this work are said to havealreadyexceededthosethat Ravelhasreceivedfrom the sum of his otherworks. Amusing andtypicalis the verifiedreportthata largeAmericanmotion-pictureconcernpaid him a sizable sum for the "movie"rights tothe Bolero and that it turned out later that all the producerswanted touse was the title!Among the latest jazz to come from France is a portion of Piern6'sDivertissementson a PastoralTheme, completed in 1932. One of thevariationsin this work is styled a "cortege-blues"by the composer. Itis a tuneful andeffectivebit,but it addsnothing musicallyto the develop-ment of jazz here or abroad.If regardedin the light of the view expressedby Milhaud, Piern6'suse of the jazz idiom would be consideredslightly anti-climactic. Mil-haud wrote in 1927, "... De'ja 'influence du jazz est passeecomme un

orage bienfaisantaprkslequel on retrouve un ciel plus pur, un tempsplus satr." 8 And, in 1930, Rene Dumesnil echoed him: "Le jazz abienviellid"j.""Probablyseveralfactors led to the rapid disillusionment in France:(i) the discovery by French musicians that they could not catch thespirit of the music they were attempting to imitate; (2) the paralleldiscovery that it had less to offer, opened fewer horizons than theyimagined in their initial enthusiasm-in otherwords, that it was techni-cally "old stuff"; (3) the gradual abatementof the Jazz Age itself asEurope slowly returnedto pre-Warnormality; (4) the recent neo-classicrevival in the arts,subscribed o by the idol of young French musicians,Stravinsky,and earlierforeshadowedby Satie and Ravel.

THE FAILUREOF FRENCH JAZZOne of the most original theories of the source of jazz is that ofFortunatStrowski, who, accordingto the headline-writerof "The NewYork Times" (March 26, 1928), "Saysjazz originated in old French28 "The jazz influencehas passedalready,like a beneficent storm afterwhich one rediscoversa clearer sky, more settled weather." Etudes, p. 22.29 "Jazzhas already aged quite a bit." La Musique contemporaine n France,v. i., p. 98.


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Jazz Influence on French Music 67music." Ravel is partially of the same opinion: to the interviewer of"Musical America""ohe said, "Jazz music is not a twentieth-centuryproduct; its beginning dates much earlier. The old Scotch melodiespossessthe elements of the modern blues [Ravel is referringto the so-called Scotch'snap'-M.R.R.]; the French-Italianmelodies of 1840 (forexample, the ballet, Griselle,by Adam) also contain elements of presentjazz music. The music of Gottschalk,the Creole composerat the timeof the SecondEmpire,was possiblythe ancestorof Blues and Charlestonrhythms." Further support of Strowski's opinion is found in theetymological theorythat the word "jazz"derivesfrom the Frenchjaser,in use by the Louisiana Negroes.I make theseinterestingcitations,not becauseI necessarilyagreewiththem, but because, f they be true,French composershave not been ableto capturethe essence of a music for which their nation may have beena source. Irving Schwerk6 finds "no musical spectacle in the worldquite so sad as a Europeanorchestra in the throes of an effort to playjazz."31 If a Frenchman in the throes of an effort to write jazz is notsad, he is certainlynot happy,at least from an American point of view.Nicolas Slonimsky states the case thus:

European jazz, the jazz of the printed sheet, is perforce stationary. At the best,a foreigner can learn argot, but he will never be able to enrich it with new words,having no living source to draw upon. But the new material thus absorbed mayinfluence the further development of European music, eventually emerging in ashape conditioned by the peculiar European environment.We can note certain peculiarities of European jazz upon a brief survey. Euro-pean jazz is humorous, it is often an intended caricature, it is always mischievous.As it should be, we may add, for, having no roots in the soil, it must be mannered.European jazz is lavishly incrustated with counterpoint, [often] atonal [and]polytonal. And so it should be, for atonality is European for blues. Europeanjazz is mildly insinuating, but always polite. Small wonder, for insinuation ratherthan plain talk is the European way. European jazz is expertly orchestrated. It wasto be expected, for Europeans excel in musical salads and macedoines. The blendis always perfect whatever the ingredients may be. European jazz conceals aunifying rhythmical figure behind it, deviations are expressly pointed out, to becomplemented by a counter-design. Well it may be, for the sense of balance inEuropean music governs the intangible self.32

Every characteristicwith which Mr. Slonimsky endows European30 See p. 64, supra.81Kings David and Jazz, p. 33.32 Boston Evening Transcript, Music Section, April 21, 1929.


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68 The Musical Quarterlyjazz is almost directly counter to its equivalent in the American andparent variety. For example,asMr. Whiteman remarks,33 n "intendedcaricature" s just what American jazz is not. Nor is the blend, in theUnited States, always perfect; jazz is, in fact, more nearly riotousheterogeneity. And our jazz is not mild, rarely polite.If atonalityis Europeanfor blues, in that lies what I believe to be atthe root of the failure of Europeanjazz, French included, to succeedqua jazz. As CarlEngel points out,34the blues is a determiningelementof jazz, it is the characteristic azz-harmony. Now this harmony, al-though novel in popularmusic, is very elementaryfrom the theoreticalview-point. It was veritablechild's-playto the musician of twentieth-centuryFrance,whose heritagewas a complex harmonictechniquecare-fully evolved in the preceding century. So, in trying to write jazz, hecould not bring himself to employ the comparativelynaive harmoniceffects that belong to it. Instead,he treated it with his own harmonicidiom and thereby robbed it of one of its determining characteristics:"jazz without its 'blue'notes is a sort of denaturedarticle.""There is anotherelement of Americanjazz that must perforceescapethe foreigner--the tradition. There is something in jazz that cannot befrozen into the existing notation: a rhythmic carelessnessand waveringin pitch, a spontaneityof dynamic accents. Naturally, the only way togain these things is to be nourishedin the tradition. The averageEuro-pean composeris automaticallydefeated in his chosen battle.However, there is no reasonto assume,just becausethe French havefailed to compose true jazz, that an influenceso widely felt over morethan two decades will soon be forgotten. In trying to write jazz, theFrench composers have added elements to their technique that theymight never have otherwise gained. Their profit has been in thesecondaryresults attendanton their attempt. Perhapsstill furtherprofitwill be realizedatsomefuturedate,when jazz will be no longer typicallyAmerican, but the universal property of the musical world; when itwill no longer be primarily popular music, but will be methodicallyincorporatedinto art-music,as have been the minuet, the waltz, andmany other dance expressions. That this will occur is, of course,hypo-thetical-but it is possible. Meanwhile, can we in America, profitingfrom Europe'sabortive attempts, show the way?

33 See p. 54, supra.34 See p. 53, supra.35IsaacGoldberg,Tin Pan Alley, p. 277.

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