A Most Savory Cocktail: Milhaud’s Scaramouche as an Assemblage of Compositional Techniques

Matthew JamesMUMH 6540August 8, 1997

A Most Savory Cocktail: Milhaud’s Scaramouche as an Assemblage of Compositional Techniques

As a young instrument patented by Adolphe Sax in 1846, the saxophone possesses a solo repertoire that includes only a few compositions that are considered standard works; Glazounov’s Concerto, Ibert’s Concertino da Camera and Creston’s Sonata are most commonly performed. Many studies have unearthed information that facilitates intelligent performances of these works. Liley, Seligson and Ronkin have provided performers with invaluable observations regarding a few important pieces written for saxophone.

Milhaud’s Scaramouche (1937) is another composition for alto saxophone and orchestra (with piano reduction) that is considered a staple of the repertoire. Recordings have been made by many saxophonists, including Foley, Ramsay, Jackson and Londeix. The work is an integral part of university saxophone studio repertoire around the

world, and has been taught by respected virtuosi, including Rousseau, Hemke and Teal. Even Benny Goodman is said to have preferred the clarinet arrangement of Scaramouche over Milhaud’s Concerto for Clarinet, which was written for Goodman.1

Paradoxically, a review of general and specialized references reveals that little investigation has been completed with regard to the often-performed work. As stated by Marcel Mule, the “father” of classical saxophone performance and longtime professor of saxophone at the Paris Conservatoire, “Certain facts about this piece are not known. I suppose it is true that most performers do not possess a great deal of intellectual curiosity.”2

Haydon’s dissertation offers analysis of Milhaud’s Creation du Monde(1923) and Mackenzie, Laughton and Petrella have all researched Milhaud’s solo and chamber literature for woodwinds, but no sources furnish detailed information regarding Scaramouche. Despite Perloff’s thorough investigation into Milhaud’s musical assimilation of foreign music and his association with Les Six in Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment and the Circle of Erik Satie, Scaramouche is left out of the dialogue. In his memoirs even Milhaud makes only passing reference to the work.3

In Berler’s “Basic Saxophone Skills” articles that discuss Scaramouche, the author uses the piece as as an example to young readers regarding the general interpretation of music.4 Berler does not answer the issues regarding the interpretation of Scaramouche; rather the questions are left for his readers to pursue.

In light of the popularity of Scaramouche, a summary of the musical ingredients and influences that shape the work would give greater insight into what is considered by many to be an integral part of the saxophone repertoire, and deserving of further attention. In addition, an analysis of the saxophone score as compared to the clarinet and piano duo versions might clarify Milhaud’s understanding of the then adolescent saxophone.

It is the goal of this document, then, to fill a gap in the literature with regard to Scaramouche. First, biographical information regarding Milhaud and his influences will be scrutinized to place into context the three stylistically distinct movements of Scaramouche. Second, information as to the origins of Scaramouche and Milhaud’s intention to use portions of the suite for alternative purposes will be discussed. Finally, a musical analysis and comparison with the piano and clarinet editions of the work will be provided in order to gain insight into Milhaud’s writing for saxophone. It is hoped that, armed with this insight into Milhaud’s striking composition, performers will appreciate Scaramouche as a small-scale representation of Milhaud’s broader compositional leanings.

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) was a French composer born in Aix-en-Provence and educated at the Paris Conservatoire, initially in violin

performance but later in composition. As one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, Milhaud produced more than 400 opus numbers in many genres, including opera, ballet, incidental music, film and radio scores, orchestral and vocal works, chamber music, keyboard works, instrumental works and compositions for children.

The nine-minute Scaramouche may seem trivial in light of this output, but as stated above it holds a significant place in the saxophone repertoire, and analysis will illustrate that it serves as a cross-section of Milhaud’s seemingly divergent compositional techniques. Other than Scaramouche, Milhaud’s only other composition for solo saxophone with piano is Danse, written May 2, 1954. This infrequently performed composition is included in the collection Le Saxophone, edited by F. Oubradous and published by Billaudot.5 The one-movement work exhibits a slight jazz influence in its use of dotted rhythms. Danse is a work of only moderate difficulty for saxophone. As with Scaramouche, there has been little written discussion of Danse. Further investigation into the origins of this piece could prove useful.

Fortunately, the saxophone can be heard in many of Milhaud’s orchestral works, including the highly regarded, jazz-influenced ballet La Creation du Monde and five other works: Le Carnaval de Londres, Cortege Funebre, The Globetrotter Suite, Opus Americanum No. 2 and Fourth Symphony.

Milhaud’s severe rheumatoid arthritis disabled him so severely that he required a wheelchair later in life. Despite this handicap, the cosmopolitan composer traveled extensively throughout his lifetime, including trips to England, Israel, Italy, Germany, Syria, Austria, Spain, Russia, South America and the United States, where the Milhauds lived during the years of World War II.

Milhaud’s frequent travel often exposed him to native musical styles that he wove into his compositions, and Scaramouche is no exception. “Throughout his career, Milhaud’s style has been determined by the subject matter at hand,” Bauer writes.6 For instance, Milhaud’s assimilation of American jazz and blues styles into his compositions has been the topic of much discussion. Both Haydon and Nadashny have produced investigations into the influence of jazz on Milhaud’s compositional style.

Just as Milhaud used music native to the United States in his compositions, his year in Brazil had a profound influence on his works, including Scaramouche. Milhaud spent the years 1917-1918 as a cultural attache to the French Embassy in Brazil, where he took many trips into the jungle becoming acquainted with the sounds of Brazilian folk music. As Madeleine Milhaud stated, “I think that after Provence, Brazil is the country which truly cast a spell on him.” She continues, “Darius was always terribly sensitive to the sonorities that surrounded him.”7

Back in Paris, those sonorities were becoming all the rage. From 1917 onwards each new exotic rhythm attracted public approval, and as a result Milhaud’s incorporation of Brazilian elements was well-known and respected.8

Considerable mention of Milhaud’s Brazilian influence is found in the literature, including Scheidker, Randles and Palmer, who says Milhaud was “forever haunted by memories of Latin America.”9 Milhaud’s own statements in Notes Without Music are insightful:

I was fascinated by the rhythms of this popular music. There was an imperceptible pause in the syncopation, a careless catch in the breath, a slight hiatus that I found difficult to grasp. So I bought a lot of maxixes and tangos and tried to play them with their syncopated rhythms, which run from one hand to the other.10

Equally influential to Milhaud’s incorporation of native sources into such scores as Scaramouche was his association with the group of French composers known as Les Six: Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc and Milhaud. As an artistic unit these composers had an anti-Romantic sentiment that coalesced into a reaction against the sophistication of pre-World War II music, represented by Debussy, Wagner and Ravel. The group shared these philosophies for a brief time, but differences in character and style made their cohesion temporary.

With a goal of producing works strictly divergent from the sophisticated output of earlier 20th-century composers, Les Six often turned to the exotic sounds of foreign music. Exoticism was manifested in a general trend embraced by Parisian visual artists, poets and musicians early in the 20th century towards things non-European, especially art from Africa, the Orient and Central and South America. That intricate blend of non-European idioms and Parisian culture is the subject of Perloff’s book concerning Erik Satie, the composer who served almost an advisory role for Les Six.. Perloff asserts that Milhaud’s enthusiasm for juxtaposing music from different countries was “fascinating rather than discordant” for the composer.11

Another less overt facet of Milhaud’s general compositional style as exemplified by Scaramouche is the use of polytonality, or the simultaneous performance of more than two key centers. Milhaud is identified as a composer who employed polytonality to such and extent that it became an integral component of many of his works. Be it a result of Milhaud’s time spent in Brazil, his association with the early 20th-century exoticism of Les Six or a combination of

both, Scaramouche represents a cross-section of all the aforementioned compositional techniques and influences. Hall describes Milhaud as “the concocter of charming musical picture postcards, evocative equally of his beloved France or of exotic scenery encompassing Harlem, Brazil, the Antilles or Portugal.”11 Such “postcards” are evident in the three movements of Scaramouche: the restless, French-style opening Vif that includes hints of polytonality; the reserved, melancholy Modere and the samba-style writing of the Brazileira.

Milhaud states that he had “more than usual trouble” creating Scaramouche.12 Written for pianists Ida Jankelevitch and Marcelle Meyer, the work is an aggregation of sketches the composer had written for other purposes; a “most savory cocktail,” according to French critic Jean Roy.13 The exterior movements of this three-movement suite, the opening Vif and closing Brazileira, were originally written by Milhaud in 1937 (Opus 165) as incidental music to accompany a Moliere production of Medecin Volant (the Flying Doctor) at the Scaramouche Theater, Paris. The Scaramouche Theater produced plays for young people, which helps to explain the playful character of the first movement. The theater’s name may have played a part in the title for this work, or perhaps the French translation of “Scaramouche” as a “cowardly buffoon” or “scamp” was inspiration enough. In fact, Palmer identifies the 1920s and 1930s as a period when Milhaud began to write works for children and amateurs, as exemplified by his Un petit peu de musique (1932) and Un petit peu d’exercice (1934).14

Later in 1937 Milhaud wrote a version using the incidental music in a piano duo, Opus 165b, adding the Modere to become Scaramouche as it is performed today. Yarbrough and Cowan, when referring to the piano version, call the work “famous” and “considered by critics to be one of the most successful of Milhaud’s compositions.”15

Milhaud later arranged the three-movement work for saxophone and orchestra (with piano reduction) in 1939, Opus 165c. (Mule disputes this date, claiming that both the piano and saxophone versions were created in 1937.)16 The saxophone arrangement of Scaramouche was premiered in June, 1940 by the Radio Paris Orchestra, with A. Muhle on saxophone. The work is published by Editions Salabert, Paris.

Milhaud’s last adaptation of the work was completed in 1941, when he arranged it for clarinet and orchestra (with piano reduction), Opus 165d. The clarinet version was popularized by Benny Goodman. As further testament to the popularity of the work, other arrangers’ versions of Scaramouche appear as music for flute, woodwind quintet and basset horn.

The opening Vif exhibits polytonal leanings in measure 24, where the C-major accompaniment originally heard in measure 9 returns under a G-major melody, superimposing the keys of C- and G-major (See Example 1). In addition, many portions of the movement include brief tonicizations of multiple key centers within just a few measures.

Example 1: Polytonality in Vif

The middle movement, Modere (moderate with respect to tempo), includes somber music originally meant to be used for Milhaud’s grand opera, Bolivar(1943). Ultimately, Milhaud used none of the incidental music he composed in 1936 for the final score to Supervielle’s Bolivar, but later recycled the graceful theme from the overture to be used in Modere:17

Example 2: Theme of ModereMule relates his initial contact with Scaramouche and describes

the Modere theme:

In any case, during an intermission of a recordingsession for a film, Milhaud said to me, “I have something that I wrote for you; I’ll bring it to you soon.” When I received the manuscript I was surprised to see that the themes of this piece, Scaramouche, were familiar to me. Then I recalled that these were themes from a work titled Bolivar, which we had done at the Theatre Francais!18

This movement is in ABA form, with a contrasting center section that moves to 6/8 time. Typical of Milhaud’s writing of folk song-like themes, Modere serves to balance the two outer, lively movements.

Perhaps Brazileira is the movement that makes Scaramouche such a popular work. As stated above, the inclusion by Milhaud of South-American music in this movement is in keeping with his preference for exotic influences. Milhaud chose to write this movement in the style of a samba, a Brazilian dance and popular

music form. Sambas are prominently heard during Carnaval celebrations in Rio de Janeiro; coincidentally Milhaud first arrived in Brazil during Carnaval. Brazileira, like most sambas, is written in duple meter and includes a piano accompaniment that includes syncopated rhythms also typical of the samba:

Example 3: Piano samba rhythms in BrazileiraThe saxophone part that interlocks with the piano’s samba

accompaniment is quite active and includes arpeggiated passages and passages in thirds, all in such difficult keys as F-sharp.

Brief comparison of the saxophone and duo piano versions of Scaramouche shows a striking similarity between the two. Both are exactly the same length and use identical thematic material in the same keys. Further specific analysis of the few minor differences all the arrangements could prove useful in studying Milhaud’s arranging techniques for clarinet and saxophone.

In reflecting upon the multi-faceted Scaramouche, one gains a remarkable perspective upon Milhaud’s capacity for writing music that encompasses a variety of styles and influences. As has been shown, each movement exemplifies a specific technique associated with this great composer.

Annotated Bibliography

Appleby, David P. The Music of Brazil. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.

Only tangential reference to Milhaud. More importantly, a description of the Brazilian samba is provided, and its

affiliation with Carnaval and native Brazilian composers.

Bauer, Marion. “Darius Milhaud.” The Musical Quarterly 28 (April 1942): 139-159.

A miniature biography and discussion of Milhaud’s style. Though dated, the article gives insight into his South American

influence.

Behague, Gerard. “Brazil.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 3. London:

MacMillan Publishers, Ltd., 1980.In addition to historical facts regarding Brazilian music, describes

the many types of samba, describes the dance and gives common rhythms for each type.

Berler, Paul. “Basic Saxophone Skills.” Saxophone Journal 4 (Jan-Feb 1997): 66-67.

________. “Basic Saxophone Skills.” Saxophone Journal 5 (Mar-Apr 1997):

60-61.

________. “Basic Saxophone Skills>” Saxophone Journal 6 (May-June 1997):

66-67.Series of articles raising interpretation questions and providing

brief background on Scaramouche. These are pedagogical essays, meant to get students thinking about interpretation issues. “I will not be giving you the answers in this article,” Berler states.

Collaer, Paul. Darius Milhaud. San Francisco: San Francisco Press, Inc., 1988.

Indispensable bio-bibliography and discography. The most comprehensive study written on Milhaud. Biography,

discussion of his musical “language,” individual attention given to his vocal, dramatic and instrumental works. Catalogoues compositions by category, opus and alphabetically. Cooper, Martin. French Music. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.

Chronologically more focused upon the period of Les Six than the Myers. Describes Cocteau’s and Satie’s relationship, their

influence on Les Six. Ties Milhaud into discussion with information on his bitonality and use of exotic elements.

Frank, Peter. CD Review of Yarborough and Cowan, Fanfare 2 (Nov./Dec. 1988): 88.

CD review describes Scaramouche in general, states that most piano duos use the work. A “cutesy” composition by

Milhaud.

Fridorich, Edwin. “The Saxophone; A Study of Its use in Symphonic and Operatic Literature.” DMA diss., Columbia University, 1975.

Useful listing of works by composer, including the five listed for Milhaud. Charts describe general characteristics of all the

works cited.

Hall, David. Record liner notes for Darius Milhaud: Works for One, Two and Four Pianos, Connoisseur Society, CS2101.

Gives a “picture postcard” description of Milhaud’s compositional output. Calls Scaramouche one of Milhaud’s most popular

piano works.

Hindley, Geoffrey, ed. “Honegger, Milhaud, Poulenc and the ‘Six.’” Larousse Encyclopedia of Music. New York: World Publishing Co., 1971.

General encyclopedia’s description of Les Six, with Milhaud’s association described.

Klein, Jean-Claude. “Borrowing, Syncretism, Hybridisation: The Parisian Revue of the 1920s.” Popular Music 5 (1985): 175-187.

Participation of stage shows in development and acceptance of musical genres in early 20th-century France. Traces

the reception of jazz, and touches upon Spanish music and tropical music in Paris.

Lifschitz, Max. “Darius Milhaud and Nationalism in Latin American Music.” Darius Milhaud Society Newsletter 10 (Spring-Fall 1993): 21.

This society proceedings newsletter includes Lifschitz’s brief article that discusses two of Milhaud’s compositions that include Latin- American music, L’Homme et son desir and Le Boeuf sur le toit.

Milhaud, Darius. Notes Without Music. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953.Milhaud’s memoirs. Possibly the most useful document for

Milhaud’s compositional and biographical information. Not laden with Scaramouche details, rather includes a mine of information on his world travels, associations with

composers and artists. Chart in back Lists his compositions with premiere dates, publishers.

Myers, Roolo. Modern French Music. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1971.Gives rough details on Les Six and compares the compositional

styles of the composers. Provides broad description of French composers in the circle of Darius Milhaud.

Nichols, Roger. Conversations with Madeleine Milhaud. London: Faber and Faber, 1996.

The author’s interview with Madeleine Milhaud. Discussion of their relationships with Parisian artists of all kinds. Firsthand information about their traveling, with her accounts of Milhaud’s personal and musical reaction the the countries they visited.

Palmer, Christopher. "Milhaud." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 12. London: MacMillan Publishers, Ltd., 1980.

Excellent point of departure concerning Milhaud. Passing mention of Scaramouche.

Perloff, Nancy. Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment and the Circle of Erik Satie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Invaluable source. In addition to Satie discussion, gives detailed analysis of Milhaud’s assimilation of jazz, his involvement

with Satie and Les Six, general anti-impressionistic trends of the group. The chapter concerning Paris in the 1920s helps set the stage. Quite useful, and current.

Petrella, Robert. “The Solo and Chamber Music for Clarinet by Darius Milhaud.” DMA diss., University of Maryland College

Park, 1979.Abstract only. Discusses Opus 100, 230. Summarizes Milhaud’s

overall style and treatment of the clarinet in solo music vs. chamber music.

Rousseau, Eugene. Marcel Mule: His Life and the Saxophone. Shell Lake, WI: Etoile, 1982.

A brief saxophone organography and short biography on Mule, details about his saxophone quartets, but much of

the source is the author’s interview with Mule. Mule makes remarks regarding his association with Milhaud and Scaramouche.

Roy, Jean. Record liner notes for Milhaud and Poulenc: Music for Two Pianos, Musical Heritage Society 854.

Review of Milhaud’s Scaramouche, provides “savory cocktail” description.

Slonimsky, Nicolas. “Milhaud.” Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th edition. New York: Schirmer Books,

1992.Standard biography on the composer mentions his use of exotic

rhythms of Latin America.

Walker, Robert. “Milhaud in America.” Musical Times 133 (Sept. 1992): 443-444.

Brief summary of the composer’s experience in America and use of American musical styles. Describes music he either wrote in the U.S. or wrote in memory of living there in exile.