Challenges the longstanding perception that modernist composers made
art, not money, and that those who made money somehow failed to make
art.
Patrons have long appeared as colorful, exceptional figures in music
history, but this book recasts patrons and patronage as creative forces
that shaped the sounds and meanings of new French music between the
world wars. Far from mere sources of funding, early twentieth-century
patrons collaborated closely with composers, treating commissions for
new music as opportunities to express their own artistry. Patrons
developed new pathways to participate in music-making, going beyond
commissions to establish ballet companies, manage performance venues,
and establish state programs. The impressive variety of patronage
activities led to an explosion of new music as well as new styles and
-isms, indelibly marking the repertoire that this book examines,
including a number of pieces frequently heard in concert halls today. In
addition to offering new perspectives on well-known French repertoire,
this book challenges conceptions of patronage as a bygone phenomenon.
Complementing a dwindling cast of aristocratic patrons were new ranks of
music publishers, impresarios, state bureaucrats, opera directors, and
others capitalizing on their savings, social connections, and artistic
vision to bring new music into the world. In chapters on French
discourse around patronage, aristocratic commissions, the stimulus
provided by the interwar dance craze, music publishing, the Paris Opéra,
state intervention in French musical life, and transatlantic musical
exchanges, the book blends cultural history with primary source study
and music analysis. It not only improves our understanding of French
musical life and culture during the early twentieth century but also
supplies us with essential insights into the ways modern music emerged
at the intersection of music composition, aesthetic and national
politics, and the creative labor of patrons.
