Modern French Music

Source: The Rice Institute Pamphlet. Vol. XIII APRIL, 1926 No. 2. Lectures on Modern Music delivered, under the auspices of the Rice Institute Lectureship in Music, January 27, 28, and 29, 1925, by Mlle. Nadia Boulanger, Professor of Harmony at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, and of Organ, Harmony, Counterpoint, and Fugue at the Paris Normal Music School.

“Fauré, Debussy and Stravinsky are, of course, the chief figures in the musical history of the last thirty-five years. The work of Debussy and Stravinsky is known, if it is not always understood, the world over; but Fauré, who is perhaps the greatest of the three, is still practically unknown outside of France.” (N. Boulanger)

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Introductory remarks. Nadia Boulanger’s lecture on Modern French Music was given in 1925, thus forming a boundary for the term modern. If the coverage is limited in this sense, there is still a unique vantage point. As a music student and teacher in the period she relates, events are known by a particular inside perspective – an “eye and ear” witness.