Music in Society and Culture Music and Ultra-Modernism in France: A Fragile Consensus, 1913-1939, Book 2, (Hardcover)

Music and Ultra-Modernism in France examines the priorities of three generational groupings: the pre-war Société Musicale Indépendente of Ravel and his circle, Les Six in the 1920s and Jeune France in 1936, and questions some of the stereotypes that characterise that period. It shows how Stravinsky worked closely with Ravel, Satie and Poulenc, inviting audiences and critics to rethink what it meant to be modern, and how Emile Vuillermoz, Léon Vallas and Henry Prunières competed to shape Debussy's legacy. The book argues for the vitality of French music in the period 1913-39 and challenges the received view that the period and its musical culture lacked dynamism, innovation or serious musical debate.