French Cabaret Music: Songs of Aristide Bruant, Erik Satie, and

Transcription

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations
The Graduate School
2013
French Cabaret Music: Songs of Aristide
Bruant, Erik Satie, and Marguerite Monnot
(1881-1958)
Sara Chiesa
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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF MUSIC
FRENCH CABARET MUSIC:
SONGS OF ARISTIDE BRUANT, ERIK SATIE, AND MARGUERITE MONNOT
(1881 – 1958)
By
SARA CHIESA
A Treatise submitted to the
College of Music
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Music
Degree Awarded:
Fall Semester, 2013
Sara Chiesa defended this treatise on October 4, 2013.
The members of the supervisory committee were:
Timothy Hoekman
Professor Directing Treatise
Matthew Shaftel
University Representative
David Okerlund
Committee Member
Valerie Trujillo
Committee Member
The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and
certifies that the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my supervisory committee for their guidance during this degree.
Thank you to Matthew Shaftel for his humor, encouragement, and unyielding
dedication to his students. He gives so generously of his time, and his thoughtful edits
enriched this document tremendously. Thank you to David Okerlund for his directness
and vision throughout this process. Thank you to Valerie Trujillo for helping me to
become more resilient and a more in-depth scholar. And finally, thank you to Timothy
Hoekman for his time, talent, and knowledge. His edits of this document were all
astute and thorough. In the three years I have spent in his studio, I have grown
immensely as a pianist, coach, scholar, and overall musician.
My completion of this document was only made possible through the
encouragement, love, and support from friends and family. It is fitting that I mention
Kayleigh Butcher first and foremost. This document only became a final product
because of her tireless effort and assistance with the formatting and editing. For a
linguist and vocal coach, it is ironic that I have no words to describe accurately the
depth of her contributions both to this paper and to my life.
In addition, I never would have finished this document without the
unconditional love and support from Brian Meldrum. I am grateful that he invited me
to sit by him almost 20 years ago and that he has remained by my side since then. An
especially heartfelt thank you to Liz Karuich. Even while overseas, she is still the most
devoted, generous, and hilarious best friend. To Mary Siciliano, thank you for being
one of the first to believe in me and to see my potential when it was so well hidden.
You have instilled in me the essential confidence and perseverance required to make it
through all three college degree programs. Thank you for your constant
encouragement, guidance, and advice.
It is important to mention my Tallahassee family. Thank you to Nickolas
Sanches for his time spent on the translations. Also, thank you to my dear friend,
Adeline Heck, for her expertise in translating song texts from obscure French into
iii
understandable English. A big thank you to Mary Hangley for her assistance on the
PowerPoint presentation at the cabaret lecture recital. Also, I owe immense gratitude to
Raphaella Medina for her willingness and enthusiasm to collaborate with me at the
recital—her unmatched dedication to her craft is inspiring to all. Thank you to David
Graham for his tremendous friendship, scholarly advice, and unmatched sense of
humor and fun. Without the help, support, and 50 emails exchanged with Melissa
Loehnig, I never would have gotten through this doctoral degree or this paper—thank
you! And to Kathleen Shelton, thank you for not only contributing monumental
laughter during my time spent in Tallahassee, but also for your extraordinary love and
support.
A very heartfelt thank you to my family is in order. Thank you to my Aunt
Karen Young who tenaciously and generously supports my musical and scholarly
endeavors. Thank you to my sister, Stephanie Young, for reminding me when to take a
break and making me laugh. And thank you to my parents, Mike and Bobbi Young.
Their love, generosity, and support have helped make me who I am today. Thank you
for loving and encouraging me down this sometimes seemingly impossible journey that
is graduate school.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... vii
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................................viii
1.
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Significance of the Project ...................................................................................................................... 2
2.
BACKGROUND OF CABARET ................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 Rudolphe Salis (1851-1897) ................................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Club des Hydropathes ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Le Chat Noir as a Venue .......................................................................................................................... 9
2.4 Le Chat Noir as a Journal ...................................................................................................................... 11
3.
ARISTIDE BRUANT (1851-1925) .............................................................................................................. 15
3.1 Biography and Background ................................................................................................................ 15
3.2 Compositions ........................................................................................................................................ 17
3.2.1 “Rôdeuse de berges” .......................................................................................................... 19
3.2.2 “Les canuts” ........................................................................................................................ 24
4.
ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) ........................................................................................................................... 29
4.2 Compositions ........................................................................................................................................ 31
4.2.1 “Je te veux” .......................................................................................................................... 32
4.2.2 “La diva de l’Empire” ........................................................................................................ 38
5.
MARGUERITE MONNOT (1903-1961) ................................................................................................. 43
5.2 Compositions ........................................................................................................................................ 43
5.2.1 “Mon légionnaire” .............................................................................................................. 46
5.2.2 “Comme moi” ...................................................................................................................... 51
6.
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 56
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................. 58
Biographical Sketch ................................................................................................................................................ 60
v
LIST OF FIGURES
3.1 Aristide Bruant dans son Cabaret. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893 ............................................ 15
3.2 Plagal cadence. “Rôdeuse de berges,” introduction mm. 1-4 ...................................................... 21
3.3 Specific harmony in m. 17. “Rôdeuse de berges,” mm. 15-19 ..................................................... 22
3.4 One measure of 4/4 time and the movement of the D♭.
“Rôdeuse de berges,” mm. 20-40 ............................................................................................. 23
3.5 Fermata in m. 24 and the refrain. “Les canuts,” mm. 22-28 ........................................................ 26
3.6 Rolled chords that evoke a harpsichord. “Les canuts,” mm. 5-12 ............................................. 27
4.1 Hemiolas found in “Je te veux” ....................................................................................................... 34
4.2 Crescendo and diminuendo markings as indicators of tempo.
“Je te veux,” mm. 30-35 .............................................................................................................. 36
4.3 Decrescendo marking indicating time in m. 44. “Je te veux,” mm. 38-45 .................................. 37
4.4 Melodic doubling. “La diva de l’Empire” ...................................................................................... 40
4.5 Introduction acting as a vamp. “La diva de l’Empire,” mm. 1-8 ................................................ 42
5.1 Embellishments occur to set up the refrain. “Mon légionnaire,” mm. 15-18 ............................ 49
5.2 Triplet rhythm and trumpet call. “Mon légionnaire,” mm. 1-8................................................... 50
5.3 Three octaves doubling the vocal line and the third four-measure refrain.
“Comme moi,” mm. 30-38 ......................................................................................................... 53
5.4 Habanera rhythm found in the introduction (m. 1) and the first verse (m. 3).
Straight eighth notes in the refrain (m. 14). “Comme moi,” mm. 1-17 ................................ 55
vi
LIST OF TABLES
2.1 Excerpted text from “L’expulsion” by Maurice Mac-Nab ............................................................. 5
2.2 Text of “La ballade du Chat Noir” by Aristide Bruant ................................................................. 13
3.1 Excerpted text from “A Montpernesse” by Aristide Bruant ....................................................... 18
3.2 Text of “Rôdeuse de berges,” with music and text by Aristide Bruant...................................... 19
3.3 Text of “Les canuts” with music and text by Aristide Bruant ..................................................... 24
4.1 Text of “Je te veux” with music by Erik Satie and text by Henry Pacory .................................. 32
4.2 Excerpted text from “Je te veux,” mm. 45-69 ................................................................................. 36
4.3 Text of “La diva de l’Empire” with music by Erik Satie and text by Dominique
Bonnaud and Numa Blès ........................................................................................................... 38
5.1 Text of “Mon légionnaire” with music by Marguerite Monnot
and text by Richard Asso ........................................................................................................... 46
5.2 Text of “Comme moi” with music by Marguerite Monnot
and text by C. Delecluse and M. Senlis .................................................................................... 51
5.3 Excerpted text from “Comme moi” ................................................................................................ 54
vii
ABSTRACT
Because very little research has been done on the cabaret music composed in
Paris at the turn of the 20th century and continuing into the mid-century, this document
discusses some of the important composers of the time and their music. This document
will serve as an introduction for further study on a history of French cabaret music as
well as discuss crucial names and places associated with the genre.
After a brief introduction, the document highlights the history of French cabaret
music. The author delivers information on Rudolphe Salis and specifically his cabaret,
Le Chat Noir, which was one of the main venues in which cabaret music thrived. Some
background is given on the Club des Hydropathes, and then the author gives further
information on Le Chat Noir both as a venue and as a journal. Chapters Three, Four, and
Five each discuss the background and compositions of one specific, prolific, and
influential French cabaret composer. Chapter Three is dedicated to Aristide Bruant and
two of his compositions, “Rôdeuse de berges” and “Les canuts.” Chapter Four is about
Erik Satie and his two compositions, “Je te veux” and “La diva de l’Empire.” The last
composer discussed is Marguerite Monnot, and the author delves into two of her
compositions, “Mon légionnaire” and “Comme moi.” The author concludes with a
brief summation of the innovation, characteristics, and importance of French cabaret
music.
viii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Many vocal genres at the turn of and continuing well into the twentieth century
have been well-researched, explored, written about, and reviewed. These musical
discussions span many countries and continents, yet what is talked about with less
frequency is the mainstream, popular music that was so prevalent between the 1880s
and the 1950s. Without access to magazines like The Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and The
Believer, the popular music throughout the world at that time was and still is vastly
neglected, and this is especially true of French cabaret music. In fact, music in cabarets
has only been thoroughly investigated by a few scholars. The research on cabaret music
is almost exclusively in reference to its influence on and reflection of the Bohemian
culture that existed in Paris beginning around the 1880s. Very little is said about the
music itself from that period of time.
In the rare occurrence that the popular music of the early 1900s is discussed, only
well-known composers such as Erik Satie are represented, although there were dozens
of other composers who contributed prolifically to the birth of cabaret music, including
Jules Jouy, Louis Maurel, Paul Delmet, Vincent Hyspa, Maurice Mac-Nab, Emile
Goudeau, Armand Masson, Victor Meusy, Maurice Rollinat, René Ponsard, Léon
Xanrof, and Aristide Bruant. In the latter half of the twentieth century, a new group of
composers overlapped the aforementioned and began to emerge on their own,
including Jean Lenoir, Michel Emer, Leo Ferre, Eddy Marnay, Hubert Giraud, M.
Philippe-Gerard, Jean Villard, Norbert Glanzbert, Georges Moustaki, Charles Dumont,
Henri Crolla, Francis Lai, and Marguerite Monnot.
This document begins with background information on how cabaret came to
exist as both a musical venue and a musical genre, with further information on Le Chat
Noir, the first cabaret venue. The following chapters discuss the biography and
compositional style of each of the following three composers: Aristide Bruant (18511925), Erik Satie (1866-1925), and Marguerite Monnot (1903-1961). Each composer was
1
chosen for her or his pioneering contributions to the genre. Aristide Bruant helped to
originate French cabaret music, and he opened his own cabaret that showcased only his
songs. Erik Satie is included because his work in the genre so greatly influenced his
contemporaries in cabaret and those who came after him, while contributing to the
overall popularity of the genre; musically, he paved a path that was innovative and
advanced for his time. Marguerite Monnot had a successful career as a pianist and
composer. She was well-known in a time (and in a profession) that greatly favored men
over women.
1.1 Significance of the Project
The focus of this document is French cabaret music from 1881 to 1958 discussed
through the songs of Aristide Bruant, Erik Satie, and Marguerite Monnot. The purpose
is to delve into this consequential and often overlooked music and to discuss specific
stylistic characteristics of the cabaret composers. The author gives an explanation of
which musical elements define the music of French cabaret as a genre and highlights
compositional choices that exemplify a composer’s individual style as well as
characteristics that are consistent among the composers.
2
CHAPTER TWO
BACKGROUND OF CABARET
Closely following the end of the Romantic era of music, which was so vibrant in
France and most of Europe during the nineteenth century, French cabaret music began
around 1881 in the Montmartre district of Paris, France. Cabaret music was born out of
a social revolution that impacted all art forms; the art and music of the time reflected
the social and political happenings. Cabaret began with, and was encouraged by, the
general public’s emotional and political outlet, which was found in satire and sarcasm,
in honesty and humor. During World War I, the cabaret venues became a means to
vent about social and political injustices and grievances. The lines between social
classes were blurred through the exchange of opinions regarding current events.
Without modern-day social media, the cabarets acted as a medium of public
communication and served as a reporting vehicle for current events.
Beginning in the nineteenth century, three types of venues for theatrical
performances emerged: the café-concert, the music hall, and the cabaret artistique. It was
in the 1830s that the café-concert materialized, and at the turn of the century there were
an estimated 264 café-concerts in Paris.1 The café-concert, affectionately known as
“caf’conc’,” hosted entertainment acts consisting of several individual performers, each
taking his turn in some kind of theatrical presentation—mainly reading a poem or
singing a song. The caf’conc’ began as an outdoor venue where singers would lay
planks across tables to form makeshift stages. These venues were known as the
“theaters of the poor,”2 and at first, the singers’ only compensation was an attentive
audience; however, beginning in the 1840s, there was a minimum fee charged to the
audience members for the entertainment. Also, audience members were encouraged to
refill their drinks often or they were asked to leave. These venues were immensely
1. Rearick, Charles. Pleasures of the Belle Époque: Entertainment and Festivity in Turn-of-the-Century
France. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985), 83.
2. Ibid.
3
popular among the general public, primarily because of the easy attainability of
cigarettes and alcohol for all patrons.
The Folies-Bergère, the first well-known music hall venue, opened in 1869. It far
surpassed all other venues of its kind in both revenue and number of clients. General
admission seating was available for the cost of two francs, which was similar to the fee
for the caf’conc’, but the Folies-Bergère also offered more comfortable seating “ranging
from the fifteen-franc front-stage boxes to the fifty-centime perches at the back of the
fourth balcony.”3 The music hall venues provided a grander form of entertainment
with several performers on stage, simultaneously engaging in a variety of art forms,
from circus attractions to ballet numbers. Because of the additional stage space, there
were often animals and swimming pools involved, the former for circus tricks and the
latter for aquatic ballets. “With specific regard to the chanson, there was little difference
between the café-concert and the music hall. The music hall employed the same artists
who sang the same repertoire they had sung at the café concert.”4
“For centuries, the word cabaret had designated a simple tavern or corner
bistro.”5 The name was qualified as cabaret artistique in the early 1880s and began to
evolve into something much more elaborate. The cabaret artistique attracted intelligent
members from young, aspiring artists to self-proclaimed bohemians. They provided a
more intimate, up-close performance setting than the music hall venues. It was also a
chance for artists to try out their new ideas and projects, particularly with poetry. The
poets were able to experiment, trying out their words on a live audience. Not only did
artists become acquainted with other artists, but they also used cabarets as an
opportunity to inform the public about political issues of the day in a relaxed, informal
setting with no possibility of repercussions from authorities. The songs that were
performed here provided a medium through which people could record their daily
history and publicly voice their opinions and reactions to current events.
3. Ibid., 84.
4. Whiting, Steven Moore. Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999), 28.
5. Ibid., 34.
4
Politics were interwoven into the cabaret music. In 1882 Rudolphe Salis tried to
use his popular cabaret as the base of his political platform to separate Montmartre
from the state. He declared to the patrons, “What is Montmartre? Nothing. What
should it be? Everything.”6 His attempt to secede did not succeed. Another example of
using the cabaret as a political platform comes from Aristide Bruant, who ran as a
radical candidate for the Belleville Saint-Fargeau district. He lost by a small margin of
502 votes despite his enormous popularity as a chansonnier, or a composer and
performer of French song.7 An example of a song with a political text is found below in
“L’expulsion,” a song with music and text by cabaret composer and performer Maurice
Mac-Nab (1856-1899) in which “the singer ironically takes on the voice of an anarchist
in order to express a protest against the possible return of royalty to take over the hardwon Republic.”8
Table 2.1: Excerpted text from “L’expulsion” by Maurice Mac-Nab
(Translation by Lisa Appignanesi)
L’expulsion
The Expulsion
Moi j’vas vous dir’ la vérité:
Les princ’ il est capitalisse,
Et l’traivailleur est exploité,
C’est ça la mort du socialisse.
Ah! si l’on écoutait Basly,
On confisquerait leur galette,
Avec quoi qu’ l’anarchisse aussi
Il pourrait s’flanquer des noc’ chouettes!
As for me, I’m going to tell you the truth.
The princes are capitalists,
and the workers are exploited.
It’s the death of socialism.
Ah, if you had just listened to Basly,
we’d have confiscated their dough,
and with it the anarchist, too,
would be able to live it up with the swells!
6. Appignanesi, Lisa. The Cabaret. (New York: Universe Books, 1976), 16.
7. Segel, Harold B. Turn-of-the-Century Cabaret: Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Cracow,
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zurich. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987), 53.
8. Appignanesi, 2.
5
Table 2.1: Continued
Les princ’ c’est pas tout: Plus d’curés,
Plus d’gendarmes, plus d’mélétaires,
Plus d’richards à lambris dorés
Qui boit la sueur du prolétaire.
Qu’on expulse aussi Léon Say,
Pour que l’mineur il s’affranchisse.
Enfin, qu’ tout l’mond’ soye expulsé:
Il rest’ra plus qu’ les anarchisses!
It’s all over with the princes. No more priests,
no more gendarmes, no more soldiers,
no more moneybags with their palatial homes,
No more drinking the blood of the proletariat.
Let’s also get rid of Leon Say,
so that the miners can be emancipated.
And finally, let everybody be expelled:
That way, just anarchists will remain!
2.1 Rudolphe Salis (1851-1897)
Despite his parents’ insistence that he pursue the family distillery business,
Rudolphe Salis firmly resolved to pursue art as a career. In 1872 he came to Paris,
where the art scene was thriving much more than in his small town of Châtellerault. In
the late 1880s, the Montmartre district began to evolve into the cultural center of Paris.
The struggling painter Salis founded the first cabaret venue, Le Chat Noir, on November
18, 1881. In order to crown himself “officially” the king of Montmartre, he orchestrated
a mock coronation where he boasted, “God made the world, Napoleon instituted the
Legion of Honor, and I created Montmartre.”9
Salis was extremely parsimonious, and he became known for this. It made him
extremely difficult to work for, and many musicians sought employment elsewhere
because of it. At first, Salis tried to pay the artists with alcohol, but when they
eventually complained and threatened to leave or did leave, he was forced to revamp
his business tactics and compensate them with actual money. At the cabaret, Salis
always acted as impresario and conférencier, or emcee, greeting his customers with
sarcastic salutations such as “Your Excellency” or “Your Esteemed Electoral Highness.”
He might say to a man, “You’re finally out of prison I see!” Or if a man was obviously
with his wife, Salis might ask, “What did you do with your ‘chick’ from yesterday?”10
9. Gillmor, Alan M. Erik Satie. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1988), 53.
10. Segel, 15.
6
At the cabaret, Salis sought to combine art with alcoholic beverages for the
patrons. Luckily for him and the longevity of his club, he had the innovative notion to
have a piano moved into the tavern before it was a popular thing to do. After neighbors
realized how much noise a piano caused, they complained, and pianos were banned in
many newer establishments, but Salis was already grandfathered in under the law.
This gave Salis a significant advantage over his competitors in the beginning days of Le
Chat Noir.
2.2 Club des Hydropathes
Salis originally intended Le Chat Noir to be used as a place for the Club des
Hydropathes to host weekly meetings. The Club des Hydropathes, formed in 1878,
consisted of a private group of French citizens. They met to discuss and exchange
artistic ideas and to support local artists. The group was formed by Émile Goudeau
(1872-1943), and shortly after the inception of the group, he nominated himself as its
first president. The impetus for the collective was “to bring together poets declaiming
their verse, around musicians performing their songs, a numerous group of free
auditors.”11 When a group of school boys demolished the harpsichord found in the café
where the group congregated, the Club des Hydropathes demanded to rent out the place
for themselves alone. Because there were only five members, the owner refused—he
would have lost out on many sales from other customers. As explained by Goudeau in
a retrospective article in the paper Le Matin on December 13, 1899, the news quickly
spread through word-of-mouth, and “the next day, there were sixty young people and
the day after, one hundred and fifty!”12 The group then set up an office, and Goudeau
became president. When it came time to choose a name, the group voted and almost
unanimously chose “Club des Hydropathes.” Goudeau went on to explain in the article,
11. Ibid., 6.
12. Ibid.
7
And now, if you would like to know what “hydropathe” means, here is the
answer. In the ministry where I was attached—badly attached at that—I had
acquired the nickname “hydropathe,” because of the fact that for several days, as
loudly as possible, I had asked the meaning of the German word Hydropathen
which was the title of a waltz by maestro Joseph Gung’l, Hydropathen Waltz,
which was played often in those days.
When I succeeded in giving this name to our association, I pretended to
believe that it was the name of some legendary animal that is supposed to have
had crystal paws: pathen = paws; hydro = of crystallized water. It was just
whimsy, and I had fun with it.13
Other friends in the club claimed that the name actually came from an ironic reading of
Goudeau’s name: gôut d'eau, meaning “taste for water.”
The club included poets, painters, musicians, monologists, and déclamateurs. The
majority of them have long since been forgotten, despite being among the most highly
regarded and popular writers and chansonniers of their time. There was a varied output
from the Club des Hydropathes, but the characteristics that united the members included
being “young men [with the exception of only one woman], libertarian or egalitarian,
antibourgeois, unconventional, contemptuous of the Establishment (but willing to
accept employment in its institutions and offices for the sake of income), and very much
a part of the spirit and style of the late nineteenth-century Latin Quarter.”14
The Latin Quarter was the central subject of many of their literary works and
chansons, just as they (and others) would go on to write of Montmartre when they
switched to Le Chat Noir as a permanent meeting place. Other common subject matters
included the disparagement of religions and the banality of daily life. For example, Jean
Richepin (1849-1926), one of the poets in Club des Hydropathes, indignantly wrote a poem
entitled “Diagnostic,” which speaks of the lack of social justice in Paris, stating:
There is no God, there is no life after death, organized religion and
especially Christianity are a mockery, the world itself is but chaos, life a dreary
monotony meaning nothing, leading nowhere, governed only by chance. Man’s
only response to the world around him should be laughter.15
13. Ibid., 8
14. Ibid., 8.
15. Quoted in Segel, 17.
8
This outlook, and a rather unflinching approach to difficult subjects, directly and
strongly influenced the cabaret music that was to come.
2.3 Le Chat Noir as a Venue
Part One. The name of the venue originates with the story of Salis pondering
what to call his new establishment. He happened to see a black cat perched atop a
street lamp, et voilà, Le Chat Noir was born.
Salis sought to pay homage to the Wagnerian concept of Gesamtkunstwerk—the
total work of art—“which sought a breakdown of traditional barriers between the arts
for the sake of their mutual enrichment and the creation of the ‘new’ art that would
combine the verbal, visual, musical, and choreographical.”16 Le Chat Noir provided a
means of breaking free from the norm of each type of art existing as a separate unit and
began to combine them into one collective art. Although it provided a supportive
environment for painters, sculptors, poets, musicians, and composers to debut new
ideas, as Segel mentions, “There is no doubt that performances at the cabaret were
dominated, above all, by its chansonniers.” This comes as no surprise since the
emergence of cabaret in the early 1880s coincided with the revival of the chanson,
whose history dates back to the Middle Ages.17
At its place of inception, Le Chat Noir consisted of two rooms—the main room for
the general public and the back or “inner room” for the cabaret’s regulars or habitués.
“Salis decorated the room in medieval style, with stained-glass windows, wall-panels
made of armoire doors, pewter mugs, massive chestnut furniture, and wrought-iron
lamps hanging from the ceiling. Above the wall-panels Salis displayed paintings and
prints by the artists in his clientele.”18
16. Segel, 20.
17. Ibid., 35.
18. Whiting, 39.
9
Due to a surge in attendance, Salis hunted for more spacious venues to relocate
his cabaret in June 1885. In addition to the overflowing venue, several assaults had
been made on Le Chat Noir because it attracted a well-clad clientele, and the rougher
Montmartre residents rebelled against the upper class. When an assault would occur,
Salis tenaciously tried to incorporate the interruption as a “surprise” into whatever act
was on stage at the time, and for awhile, this added to Le Chat Noir’s attraction. But
after one of Salis’s waiters was stabbed and he himself was badly mauled, it was crucial
for him to change locations.19
Part Two. The first cabaret was located at 84 boulevard de Rochechouart, and
Salis set up his new cabaret near the first location at 12 rue de Laval (today, it is rue
Victor Massé).20 When the shift of location occurred, Salis held a funeral procession, “a
theatrical spectacle in which all of Paris participated.”21 Each person carried a piece of
memorabilia from the old Le Chat Noir while singing, dancing, and marching the length
of the boulevard de Rochechouart. “Drums, fifes, and violins accompanied the
procession, headed by two Swiss guards in full regalia.”22 Salis followed the guards in
his signature costume. To him, it was only when “all of Montmartre had joined in the
joyous Marseillaise, or Marseille, of Le Chat Noir that the move was considered
complete.”23
At the new venue, there were two rooms separated only by a counter and a
heavy curtain. “The second floor contained a series of meeting rooms with pompous
names—the State Room, the Lord’s Room, the Guard Room, the Oratory—while the
third floor, called the Salle des Fêtes, was the site of the enormously successful shadow
plays.”24 Alan M. Gillmor gives a detailed account of the ambience:
The main room of the tavern was decorated with elaborate walnut panels in
the style of Louis XIII, complete with a gigantic ornamented fireplace, massive
19. Ibid., 16.
20. Oberthür, Mariel. Cafes and Cabarets of Montmartre. (Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books,
1984), 58.
21. Appignanesi, 16.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Gillmore, 58.
10
oak chairs and tables, and…stained-glass windows by Willette, hanging lanterns
by Eugène Grasset decorated with cat motifs in the form of snarling gargoyles,
murals, masks of poets, woodcuts, imitation tapestries, copper and pewter
utensils, a motley collection of arms and armor, and swarms of cat imagery
completed the strange décor.25
There was one corner of the cabaret that was so dark and narrow that no one wished to
sit there, and so Salis decided to turn this into an advantage by making it seem elite; he
called this corner “The Institute,” and he had waiters there who were dressed in
academicians’ robes suggesting “that only those who lived by the intellect could
penetrate this elite sanctuary.”26 “The Institute” became one of the trademarks for Le
Chat Noir.
Le Chat Noir held not only the distinction of being the first cabaret, but it enjoyed
the greatest longevity of any cabaret venue up until that point, remaining in business
for sixteen years before it closed in 1897, the year of Salis’s death.
2.4 Le Chat Noir as a Journal
Inspired by a journal within the Club des Hydropathes, the artists of Le Chat Noir
decided to publish a journal of the same name that generally appeared on a weekly
basis between 1882 and 1894. Aristide Bruant founded the journal, and he contributed
many articles as well. The journal made it possible to record and relay the debauchery
and scandal that was occurring every night in the cabaret to a larger audience, thereby
enticing and generating new business. Similarly to the venue, the journal of Le Chat
Noir held the greatest longevity of any cabaret journal or magazine, publishing for
almost fourteen years.27 As stated by Harold B. Segel, “For a turn-of-the-century cabaret
to remain in continuous operation for sixteen years was unusual; for a cabaret journal to
continue publication over a thirteen-year period, extraordinary.”28 The journal’s
25. Ibid., 57.
26. Appignanesi, 13.
27. Segel, 27
28. Ibid.
11
popularity can be measured by the surge of copies printed; in 1882, 12,000 copies of Le
Chat Noir were printed compared to the 20,000 copies by 1889. Undoubtedly, the
journal’s success was facilitated by the success of the cabaret.
The format largely remained the same throughout the journal’s publication.
Each issue contained six drawings and six poems. Writers associated with the cabaret
were thrilled to have a new literary outlet. Their front page included regular features
such as:








an editorial column
a chronicle of Montmartre happenings (“Echoes Montmartrais”)
news items about the cabaret itself (“Echoes du Chat Noir”)
a bibliography featuring short reviews of poetry and prose fiction
theatrical announcements (“Théâtres”)
news about the railroads (“Chemin de fer d’Orléans,” “Chemin de fer du Nord,” etc.)
financial information (“Fantaisies financières”)
sports pieces, primarily for bicycling enthusiasts (“Chronique Vélocipédique,”
“Bulletins Cyclists”)29
The second page was solely the domain of poets and other literary figures
associated with Le Chat Noir, whereas the third and fourth pages were handled by all
the remaining artists. They included a more in-depth account of the music and
performances occurring in the cabaret. The testaments were often accompanied by
drawings as well, one of the most famous examples appearing in the October 30, 1886,
issue; this included the text from Aristide Bruant’s song “La ballade du Chat Noir”
accompanied by Henri Rivière’s well-known drawing of Salis in action as the master of
ceremonies in 1886.30
Less than a year before Le Chat Noir changed venues and the relationship
between Bruant and Salis became tumultuous, Bruant wrote and dedicated the anthem
of Le Chat Noir to Rudolphe Salis in 1884. “Le ballade du Chat Noir” or “The Ballad of
Le Chat Noir” was frequently performed as the closing number of the evening. The song
29. Ibid., 28.
30. Ibid., 30 [Note: The text of “La Ballade du Chat Noir” first appeared in the journal of Le Chat
Noir separate from the drawing on August 9, 1884.]
12
contains three verses, and it was expected that the crowd would join in and sing the
chorus together between each verse and again at the end. The text is as follows:
Table 2.2: Text of “La ballade du Chat Noir” by Aristide Bruant
(Translation by Nickolas Sanches and Sara Chiesa)
La ballade du Chat Noir
The Ballad of Le Chat Noir
La lune était sereine
Quand sur le boulevard,
Je vis poindre Sosthène
Qui me dit: Cher Oscar!
D’ou viens-tu, vieille branche?
Moi, je lui répondis:
C’est aujourd’hui dimanche,
Et c’est demain lundi...
The moon was clear
when on the boulevard
I saw Sosthene appear
who says to me, dear Oscar!
Where are you coming from, old bean?
And I answer him:
Today it’s Sunday,
and tomorrow it’s Monday...
Chorus:
Je cherche fortune,
Autour du Chat Noir,
Au clair de la lune,
A Montmartre!
Je cherche fortune,
Autour du Chat Noir,
Au clair de la lune,
A Montmartre, le soir.
Chorus:
I search for fortune,
around Le Chat Noir,
in the light of the moon,
at Montmartre!
I search for fortune,
around Le Chat Noir,
in the light of the moon,
At Montmartre, at night.
La lune était moins claire,
Lorsque je rencontrai
Mademoiselle Claire
A qui je murmurai:
Comment vas-tu, la belle?
- Et Vous? - Très bien, merci.
- A propos, me dit-elle,
Que cherchez-vous, ici?
The moon was less bright,
when I encountered
Mademoiselle Claire
to whom I whispered:
How are you doing, beautiful?
- And you? – Very well, thank you.
-By the way, she said to me,
What are you looking for here?
La lune était plus sombre,
En haut les chats braillaient,
Quand j’aperçus, dans l’ombre,
Deux grands yeux qui brillaient.
Une voix de rogomme
Me cria: Nom d’un chien!
Je vous y prends, jeune homme,
Que faites-vous? – Moi… Rien.
The moon was darker,
high above, the cats howled,
when I noticed, in the shade,
two big eyes that were sparkling.
A raspy voice
cried out to me: A glass of brandy!
I’ll take you there, young man,
What are you doing? - Me…Nothing.
13
La lune était obscure,
Quand on me transborda
Dans une préfecture,
Où l’on me demanda:
Etes-vous journaliste,
Peintre, sculpteur, rentier,
Poète ou pianiste? …
Quel est votre métier?
The moon was dark,
when someone crossed me
in a prefecture,
where someone asked me:
Are you a journalist?
Painter? Sculptor? Annuitant?
Poet or pianist? …
What is your profession?
14
CHAPTER THREE
ARISTIDE BRUANT (1851-1925)
3.1 Biography and Background
Figure 3.1: Aristide Bruant dans son Cabaret.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892
Born to landowning parents, Bruant grew up 200 kilometers southeast of Paris in
the village of Courtenay, Loiret. Later, when he was a teenager, his parents moved to
the slum district boulevard Mazas, which today is known as the boulevard Diderot.31
Bruant frequently visited the nearby Mazas prison, which later became the subject
matter of his song entitled “A Mazas.” He had a lifelong fascination with criminals; he
wanted to know a great deal about their mindset, attitude, and way of life. He
31. Segel, 48.
15
familiarized himself with the criminals close to home by visiting them and keenly
observing their behaviors. Later in life, he frequented the prison of La Roquette,
notorious for its guillotine located front and center at the prison. These prison images
became the subjects of many of the songs written in his adult life.
Before settling into the career of a chansonnier, he worked unsuccessfully for a
variety of employers, including a lawyer’s office, a jewelry shop, the railway company,
and the army. In 1880 his singing career began to take off after his second brief stint in
the army, which lasted only 28 days. He performed his own compositions as a singer
and pianist in popular venues across Paris, and a growing number of fans began to
appreciate his music, his onstage persona, and his overall presentation. When he
premiered at the Scala Café in Paris, he wore a costume consisting of a black corduroy
jacket with matching black pants, a red flannel shirt, black leather boots, a black
sombrero-like hat, a scarlet scarf around his neck, and a flowing black cape draped
around his shoulders; this was to become his trademark and was later immortalized in
the famous poster Toulouse-Lautrec painted of him in 189332 (see Figure 3.1).
Aristide Bruant walked into Le Chat Noir for the first time in January 1884 with
his pal and famed composer of the time, Jules Jouy, who then introduced him to Salis.
The two men hit it off, and subsequently, Bruant performed there often. When
Rudolphe Salis moved the business in 1885, Bruant raised enough money to open his
own cabaret in its place. He called it Le Mirliton, and it became Le Chat Noir’s biggest
competitor. He elicited the help of a third-party member when purchasing the cabaret
in order to avoid a direct confrontation with Salis. Bruant decorated the place sparsely
with a few pictures, posters, carvings, and swords. The furniture in the cabaret
consisted only of a piano, counter, and benches. Occasionally Bruant played and sang,
but mostly he sang while being accompanied by friends at the piano.
Bruant insisted on approving of each customer upon arrival before he or she was
granted entry, as did Salis. Customers were berated with insults when they walked in,
32. Ibid., 49.
16
and Bruant mocked everyone’s appearance. After recovering from the initial shock of
the brash welcome, customers relaxed and participated in the fun; they would greet
newcomers in the same way Bruant had greeted them.
While Le Chat Noir offered a variety of talents, Le Mirliton showcased only the
songs of Aristide Bruant. Also, beer was the only alcoholic beverage served there,
whereas Le Chat Noir served a vast array of alcohol. Nevertheless, it became a must-see
for travelers visiting Paris.33 Bruant left Le Mirliton in 1895, mainly due to increasing
requests for guest appearances throughout France. He sold the cabaret to Marius
Hervochon, his pianist at the time. As a tribute, Hervochon renamed it Cabaret Aristide
Bruant, and the cabaret outlived the great artist for whom it was named by forty years,
unlike Le Chat Noir, which closed in the same year in which its founder died.
3.2 Compositions
Bruant was one of the leading cabaret chansonniers of his time. Harold Segel
notes, “Song, idiom, and personal style fused to produce memorable if disturbing
performances and justifiably created around Bruant the mystique of France’s greatest
turn-of-the-century cabaret chansonnier, indeed the very embodiment of the genre in the
peak period of its development.”34 Spontaneity was one of the most essential elements
in Bruant’s compositional style. This could be a contributing factor to the simplistic
nature of his melodies. Given the standards of cabaret at the time, he probably wrote
with the intention that performers would elaborate on the notes on the page.
Bruant published his first song book, Dans la rue, at the height of his fame in
1889. In 1896 Bruant published the first volume of a three-volume collection entitled
Chansons et monologues. The latter two volumes were published in 1897.35 Sur la route,
his final volume of songs, came out in 1899. These songs reflect his time spent in the
33. Ibid., 51.
34. Segel, 66.
35. Ibid., 54.
17
country after retirement, and for the first time, the character of the “vagabond” or
wanderer appears in his songs. Most importantly, it was Bruant’s obsession with
criminals that separated him from his fellow chansonniers. He had an expansive
knowledge of their way of life, speech, and habits. As Segel states:
What he brought to his chansons that was different from those of his fellow
chansonniers was an intimate knowledge of the mores and speech of petty
criminals with whom so many of his songs deal, an even more striking realism of
setting, character, and idiom, a somewhat greater feeling for the macabre, a
distinct, indeed memorable, voice that was at once cutting and metallic, and a
physical presence and personal style that lent still greater authenticity to
his songs and played no small part in the aura that grew up around him.36
Rather than singing about the criminal, Bruant’s songs tell the story directly from a
criminal’s perspective. The narrator in each song assumes the personae of the whores,
pimps, murderers, unemployed laborers, and other social outcasts found in Parisian
society. Because criminals were a central focus of Bruant’s songs, the prison and the
guillotine are common subject matters. The song “A Montpernesse” centers on the
marriage between a whore and her pimp. She is gluttonous and drinks alcohol
increasingly as she ages, even sneaking off behind her husband’s back to have a drink.
The husband reaches his breaking point and decides to kill her:
Table 3.1: Excerpted text from “A Montpernesse” by Aristide Bruant
(Translated by Nickolas Sanches and Sara Chiesa)
A Montpernesse
At Montpernesse
C’est pour ça qu’ j’y cardais la peau
Et que j’y ai crevé la paillasse,
A Montpernesse.
That’s why I skinned her hide,
and split the old bag open,
at Montpernesse.
The pimp ends the chanson in prison awaiting the guillotine, free from the burden of
any remorse.
36. Ibid., 51.
18
Bruant blatantly defied societal rules of the time by discussing violence and
crime unapologetically in his songs. It was through his carefully chosen words that he
illustrated such dark settings. For example, Bruant utilized the colloquial French of the
time in order to increase the accessibility of the text. In the song “Crâneuse” (The
braggart), there appear several elisions commonly found in colloquial French:
j'viens (= je viens), c’qu’a (= ce qu’a), nom de d’la (= nom de dela), un’ marmit’ (= une
marmite), faut-i’ qu’nous (= faut-il que nous), qu’a m’f’ra (= qu’a me fera), and en v’la’ (= en
voila). In addition, there are several colloquial expressions taken from the lowest tiers of
society in Paris. Bruant cleverly chose many words with double meanings. Some
examples are gonzesse (“dessert tart” or a “floozy”), marmite (“pot found in the kitchen”
or “whore”), and febosse (“a bag” or “an old hag”).
Bruant often wrote about specific places in Paris, particularly the rougher
districts of the city, and this is reflected in many of his song titles. Some examples are
“A la place Maubert,” “A la villette,” “A Montpernesse,” “Belleville-Ménilmontant,” “A
Saint-Ouen,” “A la roquette,” “Rue Saint-Vincent,” and “Le Chat Noir.”
3.2.1 “Rôdeuse de berges”
Table 3.2: Text of “Rôdeuse de berges,” with music and text by Aristide Bruant
(Translation by Adeline Heck and Sara Chiesa)
Rôdeuse de Berges
Prowler of Riverbanks
(Verse 1)
A Paris les p’tit’s gigolettes
Gagn’nt de l’argent bien facil’ment,
Ell’s ont du linge et des toilettes,
Et même un p’tit appartement.
Eh! Ben moi j’ai jamais eu d’veine,
Je n’turbin’pas dans les grands prix,
Et j’carapat’le long d’la Seine
Entre Billancourt et Paris.
In Paris, the little harlots
earn money so easily,
they’ve got clothes and toiletries,
and even a little apartment.
Eh! Well I’ve never had any luck,
I don’t ask for a lot of money,
and I hurry along the Seine
between Billancourt and Paris
19
(Refrain)
Rôdeus’ de berg’ au bord de l’eau
Je trottin’comme un’petit’grue
Et sous les ponts, si j’fais l’poireau
Je n’me ballad’pas dans la rue!
Prowler of riverbanks along the river,
I trot like a little tart,
and under the bridges, if I cool my heels
I don’t walk the street!
(Verse 2)
Si j’frayais dans les quartiers riches
J’pourrais m’payer des kimonos;
Au lieu d’bâcher dans les péniches
J’irais pieuter dans des garnos,
Mais j’ai pas l’rond… Souvent, J’suis meule,
J’bouff’ pas tous les jours
à ma faim…
Et j’vas d’vant moi, comm’ça tout’seule
En chantant pour gagner mon pain.
If I were hangin’ out in the rich neighborhoods
I’d be able to treat myself to some kimonos;
instead of sleepin’ in the barges
I would go hit the hay in furnished apartments,
but I don’t have a cent… I’m broke often
I don’t stuff my face every day
to my heart’s content…
I walk around by myself, just like that, all alone
singin’ to earn my bread.
(Refrain…)
(Verse 3)
L’matin, quand le soleil s’apprête
A rayonner sur les coteaux,
Quand la nature’se met en fête,
J’écout’chanter les p’tits oiseaux,
Mais l’soir, si tôt qu’la lun’se lève
Je r’commence à marcher d’vant moi
Et j’viens poireauter sur la grève
En attendant Je n’sais pas quoi…
In the morning, when the sun
gets ready to shine upon the hills,
when nature starts celebratin’,
I listen to the little birds singin’,
but at night, as soon as the moon rises
I begin again to walk around
and I come hang out on the shore
waitin’ for I don’t know what…
(Refrain…)
Bruant wrote both the lyrics and music in his song “Rôdeuse de berges” (“The
prowler of riverbanks”). The text speaks of the little harlots, or p’tit’s gigolettes, who
earn enough money on the streets to be able to afford an apartment complete with
clothes and toiletries. The narrator in the song more nobly “sings to earn his bread”
rather than walking the streets. He is saying that although his line of work does not
provide an exorbitant lifestyle, there is more integrity in singing for a living than in
prostituting.
Both the introduction and the postlude end with a plagal cadence, which is
widely associated with church hymns; Bruant is humorously showing the dichotomy
20
between the lewd subject matter of the text and the religious, pious association that the
music evokes (see Figure 3.2).
Figure 3.2: Plagal cadence. “Rôdeuse de berges,” introduction mm. 1-4
As was typical in cabaret music of the time, there is a 16-bar refrain. Most times,
the audience would sing along with the refrain since that was the most familiar part of
the tune, and in this piece, they get the opportunity to do so three times. In order to
draw attention to the start of the refrain, Bruant inserts one bar of 4/4 time in the
preceding measure (measure 20) in a piece that is otherwise written in 3/4 (save for the
introduction and postlude which are in 2/4). This gives the audience a warning that the
familiar part of the tune is about to start once again.
It is evident from the 3/4 time that this piece is a waltz, which is another
commentary on high style. In choosing to employ a waltz feel and accompaniment,
Bruant started a trend that would remain prevalent in cabaret music. The natural lilt in
the song helped to encourage dancing participation within the audience.
Harmonically, the only chords represented are variations of I, IV, V, and viio7.
Several times throughout the piece, Bruant employs the secondary dominants including
V7/V and V7/vi. The more interesting harmonies are created through the chromatic
passing tones that pervade the piece. For example, in m.17, Bruant uses a chord of the
added 6th on the third beat (see Figure 3.3).
21
Figure 3.3: Specific harmony in m. 17. “Rôdeuse de berges” mm. 15-19
In the accompaniment, Bruant maneuvers between harmonies by means of the
chromatic passing tones of D# and D♭. In the verses, Bruant uses D# in measures 10
and 19, which leads to E, or the mediant of the dominant key (see Figure 3.3 for m. 19).
Then in contrast, he uses a D♭ in the first measure of the refrain (measure 21), which
leads to C, or the dominant of the home key of F Major. In addition, the D♭ to C
complements the half-step movement of B♭ to A that immediately precedes it in both
the vocal line and the melody of the accompaniment. Several examples are shown
below in the refrain:
22
Figure 3.4: One measure of 4/4 time and the movement of the D♭.
“Rôdeuse de berges,” mm. 20-40
Approximately half of the time, the piano accompaniment doubles the vocal
melody with added embellishments. For example, in m. 15, the piano plays thirds in
the right hand with the vocal melody being played in the top line (see Figure 3.3). Also,
the left hand of the piano accompaniment echoes the melody of the first four measures
23
of the refrain (four notes at a time), but at a tenth lower and with an eighth rest
separating the melody from the echo (see Figure 3.4).
In the measures where the accompaniment does not double the vocal melody,
the piano is in duet with the voice, usually in the interval of a third or a sixth. It also
fills in notes where the voice has rests; examples of this are in the treble clef of measure
16 (see Figure 3.3) and measure 24 (see Figure 3.4).
3.2.2 “Les canuts”
Table 3.3: Text of “Les canuts” with music and text by Aristide Bruant
Les Canuts
The Silk Workers
(Verse 1)
Pour chanter veni creator
Il faut une chasuble d’or
Pour chanter veni creator
Il faut une chasuble d’or
Nous en tissons pour vous
Grands de l’église,
Et nous pauvres canuts,
N’avons pas de chemise.
To sing “veni creator,”
one needs a golden chasuble,*
to sing “veni creator,”
one needs a golden chasuble.
We weave them for you,
great men of the church,
and we poor silk workers
don’t have any shirts.
(Refrain)
C’est nous les canuts!
Nous sommes tout nus!
We’re the silk workers!
We are stark naked!
(Verse 2)
Pour gouverner il faut avoir
Manteaux ou rubans en sautoir
Pour gouverner il faut avoir
Manteaux ou rubans en sautoir.
To govern, one must have
coats or ribbons around the neck.
To govern, one must have
coats or ribbons around the neck.
Nous en tissons pour vous,
Grands de la terre,
Et nous pauvres canuts
Sans drap on nous enterre.
We weave them for you,
great men of the earth,
and we poor silk workers,
they bury us without a sheet.
(Refrain…)
*chasuble : the type of vestment worn
by the priest when saying mass
24
(Verse 3)
Mais notre règn’arrivera
quand votre règne finira
Mais notre règn’arrivera
Quand votre règne finira.
Nous tisserons
le linceul du vieux monde,
Car on entend déjà
la tempête qui gronde.
But our reign will come
once your reign ends,
But our reign will come
once your reign ends.
We will weave
the shroud of the old world,
because one already hears
the storm brewing.
(Refrain…)
The canuts were silk workers in the commune of Lyon (located between Paris
and Marseille) in the 19th century. They were subjected to harsh working conditions
with very little pay. Because of this, there were many disgruntled workers, resulting in
what became known as the Canut Revolts. The first revolt in 1831 is one of the first
documented worker revolts of the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
Once again, Bruant employs a sense of irony through the dissonance between
the text and the style of the music. The sarcastic text speaks of the harsh conditions that
the canuts endured—and for what? They worked thankless jobs for a meager wage in
order to make the clothes for the clergy of the church and for the rich politicians who
forgot about the canuts when it came time for legislation. At the end of each verse, the
text states “Nous sommes tout nus!” which colloquially translates to “We are stark
naked!” How ironic that the workers making the clothing for the upper class must go
without clothing themselves. There is a double meaning in “Nous sommes tout nus!”
Bruant could be referring to the purity of one’s heart in addition to literal nudity.
“Nous sommes tout nus!” can also mean that the canuts are honest, hard-working
people; it is as if they are saying “We have nothing to hide!” Regardless, they are
literally buried without a sheet as nameless naked bodies in a grave, just as the text
states: “Sans drap on nous enterre.” Through his text, Bruant is speaking out against
the great disparities between the upper class and the working class.
25
Figure 3.5: Fermata in m. 24 and the refrain. “Les canuts,” mm. 22-28
The form is identical to “Rôdeuse de berges” containing three verses, each
followed by a refrain. However, it is unique that “Les canuts” has a refrain of only four
bars. Each time it contains the text of “C’est nous les canuts, Nous sommes tout nus!”
This four-bar refrain directly mimics the responsorial psalm found in the Catholic
Mass37 and other Jewish and Christian services where a church cantor (soloist) or choir
leads the congregation by singing the verses and the congregation joins in for the short
response after each verse. Bruant directly quotes Latin text found in the opening line of
the hymn “Veni creator spiritus” when he says “Pour chanter veni creator,” or “To sing
‘come creator’!’” To set up and to draw attention to the refrain in “Les canuts,” Bruant
uses a fermata over the last syllable of each of the three verses (for measure 24, see
37. Before the Second Vatican Council in 1962-1965, this part of the mass was referred to as the
gradual rather than the responsorial psalm.
26
Figure 3.5) rather than adding a measure of 4/4 time like he did in “Rôdeuse de
berges.”
In this song, Bruant evokes modality with the Phrygian motion from E♭ to D. He
also recalls the music of the 17th and 18th centuries through the use of the rolled chords
in the accompaniment, which are reminiscent of a harpsichord; these chords begin the
moment that the voice enters. This reminds us of the music found in courts in the 1700s,
which is Bruant’s way of further mocking the upper class in addition to the church.
Figure 3.6: Rolled chords that evoke a harpsichord. “Les canuts,” mm. 5-12
In the accompaniment, Bruant constantly doubles the vocal melody in the right
hand, with the first measure of each verse being the only exception (see Figure 3.6).
“Les canuts” has a quicker harmonic rhythm than “Rôdeuse de berges,” with the
27
harmony changing twice per measure in 2/4 time rather than once per measure in 3/4
time.
Bruant’s obsession with criminals gives his music a unique flavor. He
unashamedly discusses crime and mocks the church and upper class. He is able to
express himself more clearly having written both the music and words. He begins each
song with a verse and ends on the familiar tune of the refrain while doubling the vocal
melody in the accompaniment. This combined with the directness of his text and his use
of colloquial French expressions made his music instantly accessible to the masses at
both Le Chat Noir and Le Mirliton. While it was exclusively Bruant's music that was
played at the latter during the composer’s lifetime, the fact that it continued to
dominate the repertoire at Le Mirliton for an additional 40 years after his death shows
the depth of influence left by his musical legacy.
28
CHAPTER FOUR
ERIK SATIE (1866-1925)
Born at Honfleur in Normandy, Erik Alfred Leslie Satie was surrounded by
music from the day he was born. His French father, Jules Alfred Satie, married his
Scottish mother, Jane Leslie Anton, in 1865. When Erik was 4 years old, Jules and Jane
moved the family to Paris. Tragically, Jane died in 1872 at only 29 years of age. Erik
and his two younger siblings were sent back to Honfleur to live with their paternal
grandparents. This was a defining moment in young Erik’s life because this is where he
received his first formal music lessons with Vinot, pupil of Niedermeyer and organist at
the church of Saint-Léonard. When his grandmother passed away in 1878, he and his
brother moved to Paris to rejoin their father, who shortly thereafter married a piano
teacher named Eugénie Barnetche. At this time, Satie’s father began to publish his own
compositions in Paris as well as those of both his son and Barnetche.38
Erik Satie entered the Conservatoire de Paris in the preparatory class of Émile
Descombes in 1879, and he struggled throughout his tenure there. His teachers thought
him lazy, and this is reflected on his piano examination comments. He received
remarks such as “Gifted but indolent” in 1880 and “Laziest student in the
Conservatoire” in 1881, both written by Descombes.39 Satie was dismissed from the
Conservatoire in 1882. Through his tenacity and sheer force of will, he audited a few
classes, reauditioned, and was then reaccepted. On his second time around, he received
similar examination feedback, such as “Worthless. Three months just to learn the piece.
Cannot sight-read properly.” He chose to leave the Conservatoire de Paris in early
November of 1886 to pursue military service. Like Bruant, Satie quit after a short stint
in the army.
38. Gillmor, xix.
39. Ibid.
29
Following a quarrel with his father about a liaison amoureuse Erik allegedly had
had with the family maid, Erik Satie left his family’s middle-class home in 1887 to
pursue a career in Montmartre.40 “He was thrilled to be rid finally of the shackles of his
[Roman Catholic] conservative upbringing, and he rebelled with a vengeance; he
enthusiastically embraced the reckless bohemian lifestyle.”41 Satie, then 21 years old,
lived in an apartment that was extremely close to Le Chat Noir. There, he chose to make
his grand entrance as a viable, aspiring artist, participant in, and proponent of the new
art form of cabaret.
He visited Le Chat Noir for the first time during the lavish performance of a
shadow play entitled Temptation of Saint Anthony. A friend introduced him that night to
Rudolphe Salis as “Erik Satie, gymnopédiste!” This was before he had composed his
three Gymnopédies in 1888. It is unknown whether he was trying to market himself as a
composer of gymnopédies, or if his name was in reference to the gymnopaedia of ancient
Sparta—“a festival in which nude (or simply unarmed) men and boys danced about
deities’ statues to musical accompaniment.”42 It is possible that he was simply trying to
be a memorable, audacious personality. Regardless, he later had the three Gymnopédies
to thank for his employment, for it was because of the innovation and popularity of
these pieces that he was offered an informal position by Salis as the second pianist at Le
Chat Noir.
Satie’s tenure there was short-lived, however, and in 1891 he abandoned Le Chat
Noir due to a quarrel with Salis regarding a lack of financial compensation. He left the
pioneering cabaret to take the job as second pianist at the nearby cabaret, Auberge du
Clou. “If Le Chat Noir had nurtured Satie’s nonconformist spirit, the Auberge du Clou
was the arena in which he began vigorously to assert that spirit.”43 Those who were
discontent with Salis and Le Chat Noir began to frequent Auberge du Clou; it was “those
40. Ibid., 52.
41. Wachsmann, Klaus and Patrick O’Connor. "Cabaret." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
(Oxford University Press. Web. 4 Feb. 2013).
<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/04505>.
42. Whiting, 69.
43. Ibid., 172.
30
who felt that Salis had sacrificed the ambiance and idealism of the cabaret by making a
public spectacle of their gatherings for his own profit.”44 “The décor was rustic rather
than medieval, intended (according to Jules Claretie) to recreate ‘a Norman tavern, with
a sprig of holly on its shop sign, red curtains, plaster ceiling,…straw-bottomed chairs,
and oaken tables.’ ”45
This is where Satie met both Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Vincent Hyspa
(1865-1938). He shared an intimate friendship with both in addition to a performing
career with the latter. As stated by Steven Moore Whiting, “These contacts had a crucial
impact upon Satie’s peculiar development as a creative artist.”46 Satie would take
regular gigs at many of the cabarets of Montmartre in order to earn a living, but it was
as the accompanist and arranger to famed chansonnier Vincent Hyspa that Satie made
most of his money and was able to sustain himself through extreme financial struggles.
“Satie made many arrangements of popular songs by other composers for his own use
as cabaret accompanist to Vincent Hyspa and others between 1899 and 1909. The other
composers include Paul Delmet, Laurent du Rillé, Georges Tiercy, Emile Debraux, and
even Bizet and Offenbach.”47 In addition to being a singer, Hyspa was also a composer,
arranger, and an amateur pianist. It was a common practice for him to write a verse
and fit the words into an already-existing familiar folk tune.
4.2 Compositions
Erik Satie composed in several varying genres of music, including over 130 solo
piano pieces, several dramatic works, about ten pieces for unaccompanied instruments,
three orchestral works, and many vocal works both large-scale (Messe des pauvres for
chorus and organ and Socrate) and small-scale, including art songs and cabaret pieces.
44. Ibid., 108.
45. Ibid., 107.; Claretie’s description stems from an article, ‘Paris—Ariste’ written for Le Temps, 2
May 1884, and reprinted in La Vie à Paris, 1884.
46. Ibid., 109.
47. Orledge, Robert. Satie the Composer. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 335.
31
Satie composed 22 art songs and 18 cabaret songs, and thus, his song output is divided
almost equally. One of Satie’s greatest overall musical achievements was his effort to
integrate music hall sounds, cabaret sounds, and well-known tunes into his classical
music output. He played a large role in the development of the French cabaret genre,
and he helped to perpetuate the notion of freedom in both composition and thought.
As Robert Orledge explains, “All [Satie] wished for was the freedom to compose what
he wanted when he wanted, without material constraints.”48
Satie consistently employed whole-tone scales and chords built in fourths. He
innovatively used dissonances as viable entities without resolving them. This created
significantly more adventurous and complex harmonies than Bruant had ever used.
Also, because Vincent Hyspa had such an infectious sense of humor and an impressive
talent as an actor, Satie often left extended rests between verses or words to allow
ample time for Hyspa to play to the audience. An example of this is in “Le Veuf” and
“Veuf II.”
4.2.1 “Je te veux”
Table 4.1: Text of “Je te veux” with music by Erik Satie and text by Henry Pacory
(Translation by Bard Suverkrop and Sara Chiesa)
Je te veux
I want you
(Refrain)
J'ai compris ta détresse,
Cher amoureux,
Et je cède à tes voeux:
Fais de moi ta maîtresse.
Loin de nous la sagesse,
Plus de tristesse,
J'aspire à l'instant précieux
Où nous serons heureux:
Je te veux.
I have understood your distress,
dear lover,
and I yield to your desires:
Make of me your mistress.
Forgetting all common sense,
no more sadness,
I yearn for the precious moment
when we will be happy:
I want you.
48. Orledge, 9.
32
(1st Couplet)
Je n'ai pas de regrets,
Et je n'ai qu'une envie:
Près de toi, là, tout près,
Vivre toute ma vie.
Que mon coeur soit le tien
Et ta lèvre la mienne,
Que ton corps soit le mien,
Et que toute ma chair soit tienne.
I have no regrets,
and I have but one desire:
Close to you, there, very close,
to live all my life.
Let my heart be yours
and your lips be mine,
let your body be mine,
and let all my flesh be yours.
(Refrain…)
(2nd Couplet)
Oui, je vois dans tes yeux
La divine promesse
Que ton coeur amoureux
Vient chercher ma caresse.
Enlacés pour toujours,
Brûlés des mêmes flammes,
Dans des rêves d'amours,
Nous échangerons nos deux âmes.
Yes, I see in your eyes
the divine promise
that your loving heart
is seeking my caress.
Entwined forever,
burned by the same flames,
in the dreams of love,
we will exchange our two souls.
(Refrain…)
Between 1900 and 1904, Satie composed several waltzes, including “Je te veux,”
its companion piano waltz with a new trio, both versions of “Poudre d’or,” both waltzes
entitled “Tendrement,” and approximately sixteen other partially completed waltzes.49
When Satie later orchestrated “Je te veux” for both brass orchestra and full orchestra, he
added a new trio.50 Moving away from the cabaret tradition found in Bruant’s music of
writing both the text and the lyrics, Satie set this music to text by Henry Pacory.
The song experienced tremendous popularity, and it played voraciously
throughout cabarets right after Satie gained the sponsorship of famed music hall singer
Paulette Darty, whom he knew from the Conservatoire. It was “through the advocacy of
49. Whiting, 277.
50. Orledge, 281.
33
Vincent Hyspa and the ‘Queen of the Slow Waltz,’ Paulette Darty, that Satie became
better known for his popular songs than for his other music.”51
“Je te veux” contains a refrain and two couplets. Unlike Bruant and other cabaret
predecessors, Satie begins the song with the refrain rather than with a verse. The
sensuous text speaks of a lustful passion between two lovers, and the sway of the 3/4
waltz balances out the intensity of the text with a playful, light-hearted lilt. As is
common in Satie’s waltzes, hemiola rhythms are prevalent in “Je te veux,” occurring at
measures 18-20 in the refrain, measures 58-60 in the first couplet, and measures 84-86 in
the second couplet.
a)
Figure 4.1: Hemiolas found in “Je te veux”
a) Hemiola. “Je te veux” mm. 18-21
b) Hemiola. “Je te veux” mm. 58-61
c) Hemiola. “Je te veux” mm. 84-87
51. Ibid., 113.
34
b)
c)
Figure 4.1—continued
35
In French music written in the late 19th and into the 20th century, the crescendo
and diminuendo signs often refer to tempo in addition to or instead of volume. A
prime example of this is in measures 30-34 in the refrain.
Figure 4.2: Crescendo and diminuendo markings as indicators of tempo.
“Je te veux,” mm. 30-35
Another great example is in the first couplet in measure 43 leading into measure 44,
when the listener is waiting with bated breath to know what the singer’s one desire is:
Table 4.2: Excerpted text from “Je te veux,” mm. 45-69
Je te veux
I want you
Et je n’ai qu’une envie:
And I have but one desire:
Près de toi, là, tout près,
Vivre toute ma vie.
Que mon cœur soit le tien
Et ta lèvre la mienne,
Que ton corps soit le mien,
Et que toute ma chair soit tienne.
Close to you, there, very close,
to live all my life.
Let my heart be yours
and your lips be mine,
let your body be mine,
and let all my flesh be yours.
36
Figure 4.3: Decrescendo marking indicating time in m. 44. “Je te veux,” mm. 38-45
The piano accompaniment is a standard waltz accompaniment. It doubles the
vocal line in octaves while maintaining a separate octave in the bass on every downbeat
throughout the piece. On beats two and three of almost every measure, there are
chords that help fill out the rhythm (see Figures 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3).
37
4.2.2 “La diva de l’Empire”
Table 4.3: Text of “La diva de l’Empire,” with music by Erik Satie
and text by Dominique Bonnaud and Numa Blès
(Translation by Bard Suverkrop and Sara Chiesa)
La diva de l’Empire
The diva of the Empire
(Refrain)
Sous le grand chapeau Greenaway,
Mettant l'éclat d'un sourire,
D'un rire charmant et frais
De baby étonné qui soupire,
Little girl aux yeux veloutés,
C'est la Diva de l'Empire.
C'est la rein' dont s'éprennent
Les gentlemen
Et tous les dandys
De Piccadilly.
Under a large Greenaway hat,
wearing a dazzling smile,
with the charming and fresh laugh
of an astonished sighing baby,
the little girl with velvety eyes,
it is the diva of the Empire.
It is the queen with whom
the gentlemen become enamored,
and all the dandies
of Piccadilly.
(1st Couplet)
Dans un seul "yes,"
elle met tant de douceur
Que tous les snobs en gilet à coeur,
L'accueillant de hourras frénétiques,
Sur la scène lancent des gerbes de fleurs,
Sans remarquer le rire narquois
De son joli minois.
In a single “yes,”
she puts on so much sweetness
that all the snobs in waistcoats,
welcome her with frenzied cheers,
they toss bouquets on the stage
without noticing the mocking smile
on her pretty little face.
(Refrain…)
(2nd Couplet)
Elle danse presque automatiquement
Et soulève, oh très pudiquement,
Ses jolis dessous de fanfreluches,
De ses jambes montrant le frétillement.
C'est à la fois très très innocent
Et très très excitant.
She dances almost automatically
and lifts up, oh very modestly,
her pretty frilly petticoat,
to show her wriggling legs.
It is both very, very innocent
and very, very exciting.
(Refrain…)
38
Satie composed one of his most popular songs, “La diva de l’Empire,” in 1904. It
was referred to by Satie with the ironic name of “Stand-Walk Marche” or the “Little Girl
March,” and Satie later orchestrated it for piccolo, flute, clarinet in A, bassoon, horn,
cornet in A, trombone, percussion, strings.52 Once again, Satie sets music to pre-existing
lyrics, this time using the words of Dominique Bonnaud and Numa Blès.
Similarly to how Bruant incorporated colloquial elisions and French expressions,
Bonnaud and Blès cleverly insert several colloquial English words. Examples are
scattered throughout the text, including “un chapeau Greenaway,” “Little girl aux yeux
veloutés,” “les gentlemen,” “Dans un seul yes,” and “De baby.” Some of these rhyme
with the French words including the pairings of “Greenaway” with “charmant et frais”
and “gentlemen” with “dont s’épprennent.”
The text tells the story of a young woman (the diva) who performs in a cabaret
establishment in London called The Empire. The diva in the song is a tease who
infantilizes herself in her cabaret act. She acts like a little girl by tossing her skirt,
showing a hint of bare leg while all the while giggling and feigning naïveté. The
simplicity of the 2/4 meter reflects the simplicity of the diva’s “little girl” act. She sings
about a “Greenaway hat,” referring to Kate Greenaway (1846-1901), who designed hats
but made her living as a writer and illustrator of children’s books, further amplifying
the “little girl” persona of the diva.
“La diva de l’Empire” is identical in form to “Je te veux.” Satie begins the piece
with the refrain and alternates it with two couplets. Just as Bruant uses a 16-bar refrain
in “Rôdeuse de berges,” Satie uses a 16-bar refrain in this piece. One way in which he
shows the difference between the refrain and each couplet is by using a different tonal
center—the refrain is written in G major, and each of the two couplets are written in D
major. Satie employs the tradition of doubling the vocal melody in the accompaniment,
yet he does so in an unusual way: in the refrain, the accompaniment doubles the vocal
melody in the same octave, and in each couplet, the accompaniment doubles the vocal
52. Whiting, 287.
39
melody one octave lower with the exception of measure 27, which doubles in the same
octave and one octave higher. This occurs on the words “elle met tant de doucer,” (she
puts on so much sweetness) and the higher octave reflects the diva’s sweetness and the
insincerity of her “putting on” the sweetness (see Figure 4.4b). With the unison
between the pianist and the singer in the refrain, it is almost as if the pianist joins in
with the singer to sing the chorus of the song just as the patrons of Le Chat Noir would
have done.
a)
Figure 4.4: Melodic doubling. “La diva de l’Empire”
a) Melodic unison doubling. “La diva de l’Empire,” mm. 9-12
b) Melodic doubling one octave higher. “La diva de l’Empire,” mm. 25-28
40
b)
Figure 4.4—continued
As is common in Satie’s compositional style, he utilizes simple melodies over
strong, dance-like rhythms. Satie indicates a tempo marking of “Temps de marche” to
be maintained throughout the piece, and this begins strongly from the onset of the
eight-measure piano introduction. The last four measures of the piano introduction act
as a vamp, thus giving the singer an opportunity to speak to her audience if she so
desires; this was and continues to be a very common occurrence during cabaret
performances.
Satie’s humor and quirkiness set him apart from other composers. Because he
used the texts of others, he was forced to express his distinctive personality through his
music alone. His use of hemiola as well as various rhythmic motives and unusual time
signatures (for the repertoire) act as his musical signature. He begins his songs with the
refrain, and like Bruant, he has the piano double the vocal melody almost
constantly. This, combined with the scattering of colloquial English expressions found
throughout the texts he uses, makes his music accessible for the masses at Le Chat Noir,
Auberge du Clou, and continuing into the present-day. When acknowledging the
41
frequency with which his music is performed today, almost 100 years after his death, it
is difficult to imagine that Satie was ever considered “the laziest student at the
Conservatoire.”
Figure 4.5: Introduction acting as a vamp. “La diva de l’Empire,” mm. 1-8
42
CHAPTER FIVE
MARGUERITE MONNOT (1903-1961)
Marguerite Monnot was born in Decize, Nièvre, to parents Marius and Marie
Monnot. Marius was a famous organist who had gone blind at the age of three. He
worked at the church of Saint-Aré where he also taught piano lessons and composed
religious music. With some background in music, Marie also taught piano lessons, as
well as French literature; she was primarily a writer, however. Marius and Marie
hosted parties at which their musician friends would perform all evening.
With such artistic-minded parents, Monnot grew up surrounded by art,
literature, and music; it is fitting that she was a piano prodigy, composing her first piece
at the age of three and making her public debut performing Mozart when she was a
mere three-and-a-half years of age.53 In her formative years, Monnot received the
majority of her education in reading and writing from her mother and in music from
her father; because she often skipped formal school, she had the luxury of refining her
piano skills for several hours each day. Monnot followed a path similar to that of Satie,
being classically trained and then later attending the Conservatoire de Paris. There, she
studied piano with Alfred Cortot and composition with Nadia Boulanger.
5.2 Compositions
Monnot’s songwriting career began to take off in the mid-1930s, particularly
when her composition “L'Étranger” was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque
by L'Académie du Disque Français in 1935. “Initially sung by Annette Lajon, ‘L'Étranger’
was adopted by a young, up-and-coming cabaret singer named Édith Piaf, who met and
53. Huey, Steve. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/marguerite-monnotmn0000573151/biography.
43
befriended Monnot through a lyricist and cabaret pianist named Raymond Asso.”54
Monnot collaborated with Asso on many hits sung by Piaf (1915-1963), and together,
Monnot and Asso significantly contributed to the legend of Piaf by providing the music
and lyrics to several of Piaf’s hit songs. When the love affair between Asso and Piaf
ended, the collaboration between Monnot and Asso also ended. She teamed up with
many other lyricists, several of whom were Piaf’s current lovers. In addition, Monnot
composed music for Piaf’s own original lyrics as well. “A few examples of these
include the anti-Nazi protest ‘Où sont-ils mes petits copains?,’ the playful ‘C'est un
monsieur très distingué,’ and ‘Tu es partout,’ a song later included in the film Saving
Private Ryan.”55 Piaf referred to herself as a chansonnier, and she considered herself to
have followed in the footsteps of Aristide Bruant. Whereas many of her contemporaries
chose to employ liberally the use of Sprechstimme, or speaking within a song, Piaf
insisted on using that minimally. Rather, she placed a huge importance on “singing
always” and allowing the voice to bloom even when highlighting particular words or
phrases.56
Monnot met Édith Piaf in 1935. In 1940 they became the first female songwriting
duo in France, and they maintained their collaboration and friendship throughout the
majority of their lives. Along with their close friends, Monnot and Piaf would gather in
the latter’s living room to host frequent soirees where they would try out new songs.
Monnot devoted the last twenty-five years of her life to composing almost exclusively
for Piaf. Their friendship turned tumultuous after Piaf met the composer Charles
Dumont in the late 1950s. Dumont composed one of Piaf’s most popular signature
tunes, “Je ne regrette rien,” and after she achieved great success with this song, Piaf
eliminated 11 of Monnot’s songs from her repertoire in order to make room for
Dumont’s new works.57
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid.
56. Ruttkowski, Wolfgang. “Cabaret Songs.” Popular Music & Society, GRIN Verlag, 2008, 5.
57. Huey, Steve. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/marguerite-monnotmn0000573151/biography.
44
Monnot acquired an international audience in 1956 when she set Alexandre
Breffort’s comedy Irma la Douce to music in her first venture into theatre. “Premiering
toward the end of the year, Irma la Douce told the tale of a sweet young prostitute who
falls in love with a poor young law student, who schemes to keep her all to himself.”58
The musical comedy was risqué for its time, and it became one of the very few
European musicals to achieve wide-spread fame throughout the English-speaking
world, having 1,512 performances in London’s West End and about 524 performances
on Broadway.59
Also in the 1950s, Monnot collaborated with several different lyricists, one of
whom was René Rouzaud. Together, they wrote “La goualante du pauvre Jean” which
translates to “Poor John’s Complaint.” However, because of the identical sounds of
“pauvre Jean” and “pauvres gens” (poor people), listeners mistakenly identified it as
“The Poor People of Paris.”
Monnot chose to transition from classical to popular music after an illness ended
her performing career when she was 18 years old. This illness was due to an extreme
attack of nerves on the evening of a concert during a United States tour in 1921. This
crippling stage fright haunted Monnot throughout her life and career; even years into
her friendship and collaboration with Piaf, Monnot would become extremely nervous
before showing her a new composition.
Because it was such a rarity for women to be recognized and appreciated as
composers in the early to mid-twentieth century, Marguerite Monnot was a pioneer in
her field, and she created a path for future generations of female composers. In the year
of her death, the city of Decize renamed the street where she grew up after her (rue des
Écoles became rue Marguerite Monnot), and in 1989, a nursery school was named after
her in the center of her town. “On the 30th anniversary of her death in 1991, a mass,
concert, and exhibition were held in Decize in her memory.”60
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid.
45
5.2.1 “Mon légionnaire”
Table 5.1: Text of “Mon légionnaire,” with music by Marguerite Monnot
and text by Richard Asso
Mon légionnaire
My legionnaire*
(Verse 1)
Il avait de grands yeux très clairs
Où parfois passaient des éclairs,
Comme au ciel passent des orages.
Il était plein de tatouages
Que j'ai jamais très bien compris,
Son cou portait, "Pas vu, pas pris."
Sur son coeur on lisait, "Personne."
Sur son bras droit un mot, "Raisonne."
He had large and very bright eyes
where sparks sometimes passed,
like storms pass in the sky.
He was full of tattoos
that I never understood very well,
his neck bore, “Not seen, not caught.”
On his heart read: “No one.”
On his right arm, one word: “Reason.”
(Refrain)
Je sais pas son nom,
Je ne sais rien de lui.
Il m'a aimée toute la nuit
Mon légionnaire!
Et me laissant à mon destin
Il est parti dans le matin
Plein de lumière!
Il était minc’, il était beau,
Il sentait bon le sable chaud,
Mon légionnaire!
Y avait du soleil sur son front
Qui mettait dans ses cheveux blonds
De la lumière!
I don’t know his name,
I know nothing about him.
He loved me all night,
my legionnaire!
And leaving me to my destiny
he left in the morning
full of light!
He was thin, he was handsome,
he smelled nice like the hot sand,
my legionnaire!
There was sunshine on his brow
that made his hair shine blond
in the light!
*legionnaire: a member of any foreign legion
46
(Verse 2)
Bonheur perdu, bonheur enfui,
Toujours je pense à cette nuit,
Et l'envie de sa peau me ronge.
Parfois je pleure et puis je songe
Que lorsqu'il était sur mon coeur
J'aurais dû crier mon bonheur…
Mais je n'ai rien osé lui dire.
J'avais peur de le voir sourire!
Lost happiness, fleeting happiness,
every day I think of that night,
and the desire for his skin gnaws at me.
Sometimes I cry and then I think
that when he was on my heart,
I should have cried out in happiness...
but I dared not tell him anything.
I was scared to see him smile!
(Refrain…)
(Verse 3)
On l'a trouvé dans le désert,
Il avait ses beaux yeux ouverts,
Dans le ciel passaient des nuages.
Il a montré ses tatouages
En souriant et il a dit,
Montrant son cou, "Pas vu, pas pris."
Montrant son coeur: "Ici personne."
Il ne savait pas… Je lui pardonne.
They found him in the desert,
he had his beautiful eyes open,
in the sky above, clouds passed by.
He showed his tattoos
smiling and he said,
showing his neck, “Not seen, not caught.”
Showing his heart: “Here, no one.”
He didn’t know… I forgive him.
(Refrain 2)
Je rêvais pourtant que le destin
Me ramèn’rait un beau matin
Mon légionnaire!
Qu'on s'en irait loin tous les deux
Dans quelque pays merveilleux
Plein de lumière!
Il était minc’, il était beau,
On l'a mis sous le sable chaud
Mon légionnaire!
Y avait du soleil sur son front
Qui mettait dans ses cheveux blonds
De la lumière!
Yet I dreamt that
one beautiful morning,
fate would return to me my legionnaire!
That the two of us would go far away
to some wonderful country
that is full of light!
He was thin, he was handsome,
they put him beneath the hot sand
my legionnaire!
There was sunshine on his brow
that made his hair shine blond
in the light!
47
Like Satie, Marugerite Monnot wrote solely the music and not the text. In 1936
Richard Asso enlisted the service of Monnot to write music for a set of lyrics he had
written for a future song called “Mon légionnaire.” Asso himself had been a foreign
legionnaire, and therefore it is entirely appropriate and even poignant that he wrote the
lyrics. Upon hearing it, Piaf initially turned the song down, and it was instead recorded
by Marie Dubas, one of Piaf's major influences. In early 1937, Piaf reconsidered, and her
version of “Mon légionnaire” became a classic of French popular music.61
“Mon légionnaire” tells the story of a woman’s affair with a legionnaire (a
member of any foreign legion). The character in the song sings of a brief affair with this
mysterious, tattoo-clad military man about whom she knows nothing. The first verse is
mainly narrative as the singer describes the legionnaire, the second verse reflects upon
the affair, and the third verse speaks of the death of the legionnaire. The latter
foreshadows Piaf’s real life: in 1949, her lover Marcel Cerdan died at age 33 in a plane
crash.
Since the inception of cabaret (and especially at the inception, since in the very
beginning, much of the music was not even written down), it was a common practice to
improvise. Monnot and Piaf organized the improvisation so that it was not completely
random. For example, in recordings of Piaf singing “Mon légionnaire,” the pianist
improvises with arpeggios and florid passages within an A7 harmony each time in the
measure before the refrain; it is as if to get the attention of the audience by saying, “This
is the familiar part of the tune!”
61. Ibid.
48
Figure 5.1: Embellishments occur to set up the refrain.
“Mon légionnaire,” mm. 15-18
Unprecedentedly, Monnot uses two refrains that contain identical music and
slightly differing text. She follows in the footsteps of Ravel’s second Violin Sonata
(1923-27) with her interesting tempo marking of “Tempo di Blues” at the refrain. She is
referencing the genre of music that originated in the deep south of the United States in
the late 1800s, which was simultaneously occurring with the birth of cabaret music in
Montmartre. Unexpectedly, the refrain contains 16 bars, not 12, as one might expect
when imitating the blues.
Continuing in Bruant’s tradition of beginning a song with a verse, Monnot
begins this and most of her songs with a verse rather than with the refrain as was the
common practice of Satie. The piece begins in D minor, which sets up an ominous
background for the dark text that is to come in the third verse, and at the end of the
introduction, the accompaniment imitates a trumpet call from a funeral march:
49
Figure 5.2: Triplet rhythm and trumpet call. “Mon légionnaire,” mm. 1-8
Throughout the piece, the trumpet call appears three times, each of which is
harmonized differently—the first is shown above in Figure 5.2; the second sits on top of
a D minor tonality; the third sits on top of a D major tonality.
The accompaniment contains a triplet rhythm that acts autonomously from the
voice and creates a two-against-three rhythm in mm. 5-8 (see Figure 5.2); this is a rare
occurrence in French cabaret songs written up until this point. It is much more
common in previously written songs to have the pianist doubling the vocal line almost
constantly. Also, Monnot innovatively and liberally employs the use of minor seven
chords and also uses what is known in jazz as “added 6th” chords just as Bruant and
Satie did. Overall, her harmonic language is more reminiscent of Satie’s than Bruant’s,
50
however, and Monnot expands both the harmonies and the rhythms used by previous
cabaret composers, which allows her to highlight the text even more specifically.
5.2.2 “Comme moi”
Table 5.2: Text of “Comme moi,” with music by Marguerite Monnot and
text by C. Delecluse and M. Senlis
Comme moi
Just like me
(Verse 1)
Peut-être bien qu'ailleurs
Une femme a le cœur
Éperdu de bonheur
Comme moi.
Et que d'un geste heureux,
Elle soulève un peu
Le rideau de soie bleue
Comme moi,
Pour regarder en bas
Son amour qui viendra
La prendre dans ses bras,
Comme moi,
It could well be that elsewhere
a woman has a heart
wild with happiness
just like me.
And that with a happy gesture,
she lifts a little
the blue silk curtain
just like me,
to look down below
at her love who will come
to take her in his arms,
just like me,
(Refrain 1)
Elle attend son Amour,
Les yeux de son Amour,
Les bras de son Amour,
Comme moi...
She waits for her love,
the eyes of her love,
the arms of her love,
just like me…
(Verse 2)
Peut-être bien aussi
Qu'à l'instant, elle vit
Le meilleur de sa vie,
Comme moi,
Et qu'en fermant les yeux
Elle abandonne un peu
Sa main dans ses cheveux,
Comme moi,
Peut-être qu'à son cœur
Elle épingle une fleur
Et puis regarde l'heure
Comme moi,
It could well be also
that at this moment she is living
the best part of her life,
just like me,
and while closing her eyes
she loses her hand
in her hair a little,
just like me,
Perhaps, she pins a flower
to her heart,
and then watches the time
just like me,
51
(Refrain 2)
Et pense à son Amour,
Aux yeux de son Amour,
Aux bras de son Amour,
Comme moi…
And thinks about her love,
about the eyes of her love,
about the arms of her love,
just like me…
(Verse 3)
Peut-être bien encor
Qu'elle entendra plus fort
Son cœur battre, et alors,
Comme moi,
Elle voudra crier
En entendant monter
Un pas dans l'escalier,
Comme moi.
Comme moi dans l'instant
Où mon cœur en suspens
Se retient un moment
Contre toi,
It could very well be
that she will listen
to her heartbeats getting louder, and then,
just like me,
she will want to cry out
upon hearing the sound
of a footstep on the stairs,
just like me.
Just like me in the moment
when my heart, in suspense,
holds back for a moment
against you,
(Refrain 3)
Et puis meurt, mon Amour,
Dans tes yeux, mon Amour,
Dans tes bras, mon Amour,
Mon Amour!...
And then dies, my love,
in your eyes, my love,
in your arms, my love,
my love!...
“Comme moi” is an example of Monnot’s (and Piaf’s) later style. This is
evidenced through the liberties taken by Piaf in the vocal line, such as excessive
scooping and tempo fluctuations as heard on her recordings. However, these
performance choices are made to enhance and showcase certain words in the text. And
despite the highlighting of specific words, a fluid and consistent legato must be
maintained; the French language helps facilitate this, especially because the natural
sweep of the language heads toward the end of each sentence or thought. The text has
surprisingly sparse punctuation in the verses, and it is essential to sing through at least
a four- (if not eight-) bar phrase so that the text is accurately conveyed. An additional
challenge for the singer is to differentiate within the repeated text. Throughout
52
“Comme moi,” the singer sings the words “comme moi” eight times, and each one must
be different and must reflect the surrounding text.
“Comme moi” is written in three 12-measure verses each followed by a fourmeasure refrain. To heighten the drama and to create a strong emphasis on the text,
Monnot has the pianist double the vocal melody in three octaves in each refrain—in the
same octave as the voice and one octave higher and lower.
Figure 5.3: Three octaves doubling the vocal line and the third four-measure refrain.
“Comme moi,” mm. 30-38
Identically to “Mon légionnaire,” this song contains multiple refrains with
identical music and slightly varied text; similar to the refrain in Bruant’s “Les canuts,”
the refrain is only four measures long. Monnot boldly uses three refrains in “Comme
moi,” rather than two. Since she is talking about another woman, in the first refrain,
the singer sings in third person of waiting for her love, her lover’s eyes, and her lover’s
arms; in the second refrain, the singer sings in third person of thinking of her love, her
lover’s eyes and her lover’s arms. In the example below from the third refrain, the text
53
is given from a first-person perspective and is therefore more personal and more
dramatic:
Table 5.3: Excerpted text from “Comme moi”
Comme moi
Just like me
Et puis meurt, mon Amour,
Dans tes yeux, mon Amour,
Dans tes bras, mon Amour,
Mon Amour !...
And then dies, my love,
in your eyes, my love,
in your arms, my love,
my love !...
The bass line in “Comme moi” provides the foundation for a typical habanera
dance rhythm. This remains consistent throughout the introduction, each verse, and
the postlude; it is only in the refrains that the dotted rhythm is abandoned for straight
eighth notes (see Figure 5.4).
Monnot boldly stood her ground as a composer despite her introverted
demeanor and the fact that she was composing in a time when her peers discriminated
against female musicians. Like Satie, she focused on setting the texts of others, was
surrounded by art from an early age, and later spent time at the Conservatoire de
Paris. Similar to Bruant, she began each song with a verse and ended with the
familiarity of the refrain, which sometimes lasted only four measures. This, combined
with her frequent doubling of the vocal melody in the piano accompaniment, made her
music irresistible to those who wished to sing along. She has achieved legendary status
in French-speaking cultures due to her interesting and complex relationship with Édith
Piaf, and many of her songs are still considered to be classics of French popular song.
54
Figure 5.4 Habanera rhythm found in the introduction (m. 1) and the first verse (m. 3).
Straight eighth notes in the refrain (m. 14). “Comme moi,” mm. 1-17
55
CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION
In the late nineteenth century, there were countless innovations occurring in
math, science, architecture, and literature. Equally important innovations were
occurring in the arts, as well. Paintings were challenging the status quo with works
such as “Madame X” by John Singer Sargent; plays were addressing avant-garde
aesthetic positions with such works as Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind; operas
were becoming bolder and more risqué, as witnessed in Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro
Mascagni, Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, and Carmen by Georges Bizet. French
cabaret music began to evolve simultaneously with these other genres of art and music.
Aristide Bruant blatantly defied societal rules of his time by discussing violence
and crime unapologetically through his songs. Erik Satie rid himself of the shackles of
his conservative upbringing and his discouraging days spent at the Conservatoire de
Paris to embrace the reckless bohemian lifestyle found in the cabarets of Montmartre
and to write innovatively for the cabarets. Marguerite Monnot asserted herself as a
viable composer in forming the first female songwriting duo in France with Édith Piaf
in a time when that was a monumental achievement.
Although each composer had a unique compositional voice, their music shares a
number of common characteristics that embody the cabaret style of this period. These
features include the frequent doubling of the vocal melody in the accompaniment, the
incorporation of added 6th chords, and the frequent evocation (both musically and in
the text) of the church and upper class. Both Bruant and Monnot began each song with
a verse, whereas Satie most commonly began his works with a refrain. Bruant and Satie
helped to make their music and texts more accessible through the use of colloquial
expressions; although the former used French to do so, and the latter, English (in the
classic macaronic style). Unlike Bruant, both Satie and Monnot used the texts of others
and composed only the music. They both were introduced to music at an early age and
56
studied at the Conservatoire de Paris; this could possibly explain why their harmonic
language is so similar even though they were born almost 40 years apart.
In addition to creating and contributing to a new genre of music, these
composers of French cabaret were part of a much larger movement: a new freedom and
expression of thought. With the opening of Le Chat Noir on November 18, 1881,
Rudolphe Salis provided a home and safe zone for a new medium of expression.
French cabaret music was born out of a human necessity for communion among people
and a freedom of thought and speech. As Candice Burrows summarizes, “This society
proved that the cabaret was more than music or songs and alcohol, which was a
common belief held by the general society of the time. It was a free haven, a type of
permission for artists to perform anything that made a statement.”62 With the lack of
social media and other means of communication, the chansonniers facilitated this
communication and innovation among the public, including widespread awareness of
political happenings and injustices and providing the public with a new political and
artistic voice.
62. Burrows, 6.
57
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books and Essays:
Appignanesi, Lisa. The Cabaret. New York: Universe Books, 1976.
Gillmor, Alan M. Erik Satie. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1988.
Huey, Steve. http://www.allmusic.com/cartist/marguerite-monnotmn0000573151/biography.
Nye, Robert A. Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France: The Medical Concept of
National Decline. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
Oberthür, Mariel. Cafes and Cabarets of Montmartre. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith
Books, 1984.
Orledge, Robert. Satie the Composer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Rearick, Charles. Pleasures of the Belle E̗poque: Entertainment and Festivity in Turn-of-theCentury France. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.
Ruttkowski, Wolfgang. “Cabaret Songs.” Popular Music & Society, GRIN Verlag, 2008.
Segel, Harold B. Turn-of-the-Century Cabaret: Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Vienna,
Cracow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zurich. New York: Columbia University Press,
1987.
Seigel, Jerrold E. Bohemian Paris: Culture, Politics, and the Boundaries of Bourgeois Life,
1830-1930. New York: Viking, 1986.
Weisberg, Gabriel P. Montmartre and the Making of Mass Culture. New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Whiting, Steven Moore. Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Zeldin, Theodore. France, 1848-1945 (Ambition, Love, and Politics). Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1973.
58
Dissertations:
Brand, Jennifer Ellen. "Le Chat Noir and the Musical Mainstream in Late NineteenthCentury Paris."University of Calgary (Canada), 2002. In PROQUESTMS
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/304799377?accountid=4840
Burrows, Candice S. "Cabaret: A Historical and Musical Perspective of a Struggling
Era." The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. In PROQUESTMS
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/845605897?accountid=4840.
Scores:
Bruant, Aristide. 20 succe̖s pour piano-chant: 10 monologues. Paris: Salabert, 1982.
Piaf, Édith – 25 Chansons de “Dans les prisons de Nantes” a “L’homme de Berlin.” Société
D’Editions Musicales Internationales, Paris, 1982
Piaf, Édith – Édith Piaf Song Collection. Hal Leonard, Milwaukee, WI, 1997.
Satie, Erik, Steven Moore Whiting, and Ornella Volta. Neuf chansons de cabaret et de caf'
conc': pour voix et piano. Paris: Salabert, 1995.
Satie, Erik. Mélodies et chansons. Paris: Salabert, 1988.
59
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Sara Chiesa received a Doctor of Music degree in Piano Performance with a focus
on accompanying and chamber music from Florida State University in 2013, where she
was awarded graduate assistantships in both opera and studio accompanying. In
addition, she holds two piano performance degrees from Bowling Green State
University (M.M.) and Oakland University (B.M.). Upon graduation from BGSU, Ms.
Chiesa was invited to serve on the faculty as a vocal coach and opera pianist. She rejoins
the BGSU faculty each summer as the pianist and coach for the High School Vocal Arts
Camp.
During her tenure as a student, Ms. Chiesa won several awards, including the
Marjorie Neville Collaborative Piano Award, the Ben and Karlene Salon Memorial
Award, the Jennifer Scott Memorial Award in Outstanding Piano Pedagogy, the Joyce
Adelson Memorial Award in Piano Ensemble, the Award for Outstanding Student in
Piano Performance from Oakland University, and the David Daniels Young Artist’s
Concerto Competition. In addition, she was a finalist for the Rosamund Haeberle
Memorial Award in Piano Performance and the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra
Piano Concerto Competition. At age 19 she was awarded the Stanley Hollingsworth
Study Abroad Grant, which enabled her to study at the Prague International Piano
Masterclasses. Also, Ms. Chiesa has been a two-time featured soloist with the Oakland
Symphony Orchestra in Rochester, Michigan, performing both the Poulenc Piano
Concerto and the Schumann Piano Concerto.
Outside of academia, Ms. Chiesa has coached and performed extensively in the
United States and abroad including concerts in Prague, Czech Republic and Spoleto,
Italy. She was an Emerging Artist Apprentice Coach at Virginia Opera for their 20132014 opera season. She spent the summer of 2012 playing for Gina Lapinski’s dramatic
coaching studio at the CoOPERAtive Program at Westminster Choir College as well as
working as a piano apprentice at V.O.I.C.Experience with Sherrill Milnes. During the
two prior summers, she coached and accompanied opera in Spoleto, Italy, through
60
Cincinnati-Conservatory’s Spoleto Music Festival. There, she played under the baton of
Maestro Mark Gibson and in the private voice studio of William McGraw.
As a musical director and coach of opera, Ms. Chiesa helped bring to life the
Florida State Opera Outreach production of Così fan tutte as well as Sweeney Todd at the
Florida State School of Music. She has also music directed L’incoronazione di Poppea,
Patience, and The Telephone at Bowling Green Opera Theatre. In addition to opera, Ms.
Chiesa has worked as a musical theatre music director and coach on works including
Alan Menken’s A Christmas Carol; Titanic: The Musical; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat; My Fair Lady; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown!; Working; and The Pirates of
Penzance.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Ms. Chiesa was the founding pianist for the first
professional children’s choir in Detroit. She worked with the Detroit Children’s Choir
from its inception in 2006 until 2010. Also, she was the founding musical director for
Beneath the TrapDoor Productions based in Clinton Township, Michigan, where she
worked closely with director Brian Meldrum on several musicals. BTD Productions
brought together community members and professionals to produce inspiring
performances that sought to encourage and enhance the arts in the greater Detroit area.
Throughout her career, Ms. Chiesa has had the privilege of working with
renowned conductors and coaches, some of whom include Douglas Fisher, Mark
Gibson, Warren Jones, Martin Katz, and Kathleen Kelly. She studied harpsichord with
Karyl Louwenaar and her principal piano teachers have included Mary Siciliano, Laura
Melton, and Timothy Hoekman.
61

French Cabaret Music: Songs of Aristide Bruant, Erik Satie, and

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