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{{Short description|Group of French composers}}
[[File:Les Six Tableau.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''Le Groupe des six'', 1922, painting by [[Jacques-Émile Blanche]]. In this painting of eight people, only five of ''Les Six'' are represented; [[Louis Durey]] was not present. In the center: pianist [[Marcelle Meyer]]. On the left, from bottom to top: [[Germaine Tailleferre]], [[Darius Milhaud]], [[Arthur Honegger]], [[Jean Wiener]]. On the right, standing [[Francis Poulenc]], [[Jean Cocteau]]; and seated [[Georges Auric]].<ref name="bialek">{{cite magazine |last1=Bialek |first1=Mireille |date=December 2012 |accessdate=July 18, 2021 |number=15 |url=https://amis-musees-rouen.fr/fichiers/gazette/gazette_2012.pdf |title=Jacques-Émile Blanche et le Groupe des Six |magazine=La Gazette des Amis des Musées de Rouen et du Havre |page=7}}</ref>]]

"'''Les Six'''" ({{IPA|fr|le sis|lang}}) is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in [[Montparnasse]]. The name has its origins in two 1920 articles by critic [[Henri Collet]] in ''[[Comœdia (journal)|Comœdia]]'' (see [[#Bibliography|Bibliography]]).<ref name="collet1">{{cite magazine |last1=Collet |first1=Henri |date=16 January 1920 |title=La Musique chez soi (XII): Un livre de Rimsky et un livre de Cocteau – Les Cinq russes, les Six français, et Erik Satie |magazine=[[Comœdia (journal)|Comœdia]] |page=2}}</ref><ref name="collet2">{{cite magazine |last1=Collet |first1=Henri |date=23 January 1920 |title=La Musique chez soi (XIII): "Les 'Six' français – Darius Milhaud, Louis Durey, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc et Germaine Tailleferre |magazine=[[Comœdia (journal)|Comœdia]] |page=2}}</ref> Their music is often seen as a [[neoclassicism (music)|neoclassic]] reaction against both the musical style of [[Richard Wagner]] and the [[Impressionist music]] of [[Claude Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

The members were [[Georges Auric]] (1899–1983), [[Louis Durey]] (1888–1979), [[Arthur Honegger]] (1892–1955), [[Darius Milhaud]] (1892–1974), [[Francis Poulenc]] (1899–1963), and [[Germaine Tailleferre]] (1892–1983).

==''{{Lang|fr|Les nouveaux jeunes}}''==
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2021}}
In 1917, when many theatres and concert halls were closed because of [[World War I]], [[Blaise Cendrars]] and the painter [[Moïse Kisling]] decided to put on concerts at 6 {{Interlanguage link|rue Huyghens|fr}}, the studio of the painter [[Émile Lejeune (painter)|Émile Lejeune]] (1885–1964). For the first of these events, the walls of the studio were decorated with canvases by [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], [[Henri Matisse|Matisse]], [[Fernand Léger|Léger]], [[Amedeo Modigliani|Modigliani]], and others. Music by [[Erik Satie]], Honegger, Auric, and Durey was played. This concert gave Satie the idea of assembling a group of composers around himself to be known as ''{{Lang|fr|Les nouveaux jeunes}}'', forerunners of {{Lang|fr|Les Six}}. Soon after, Honegger suggested that Milhaud should be a part of the group, and a famous Spanish pianist named Ricardo Viñes introduced Poulenc to the group. Later, Germaine Tailleferre was slowly incorporated into the group thus establishing the Les Six.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chang |first1=Xuewei |last2=Salleh |first2=Marzelan Bin |last3=Sun |first3=Jifang |date=April 22, 2024 |title=Resonating Reflections: A Critical Review of Ethnosymbolic Dynamics in Les Six's Music Nationalism Movement |journal=Arts |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=75 |doi=10.3390/arts13020075 |doi-access=free |issn=2076-0752}}</ref>

==Les Six==
According to Milhaud:

{{blockquote|[Collet] chose six names absolutely arbitrarily, those of Auric, Durey, Honegger, Poulenc, Tailleferre and me simply because we knew each other and we were pals and appeared on the same musical programmes, no matter if our temperaments and personalities weren't at all the same! Auric and Poulenc followed ideas of Cocteau, Honegger followed German Romanticism, and myself, Mediterranean lyricism!{{quote without source|date=July 2021}}|Ivry 1996}}

And according to Poulenc:
{{blockquote|The diversity of our music, of our tastes and distastes, precluded any common aesthetic. What could be more different than the music of Honegger and Auric? Milhaud admired [[Albéric Magnard|Magnard]], I did not; neither of us liked [[Florent Schmitt]], whom Honegger respected; Arthur [Honegger] on the other hand had a deep-seated scorn for [[Erik Satie|Satie]], whom Auric, Milhaud and I adored.|Quoted in Mark Amory, ''Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric'', 1998, ch. VI}}

But, that is only one reading of how the Groupe des Six originated. Other authors, like [[Ornella Volta]], stressed the manoeuvrings of [[Jean Cocteau]] to become the leader of an [[avant-garde]] group devoted to music, like the [[cubism|cubist]] and [[surrealism|surrealist]] groups which had sprung up in [[visual arts]] and [[literature]] shortly before, with [[Pablo Picasso]], [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], and [[André Breton]] as their key representatives. The fact that Satie had abandoned the ''Nouveaux jeunes'' less than a year after starting the group, was the "gift from heaven" that made it all come true for Cocteau: his 1918 publication, ''Le Coq et l'Arlequin'',<ref name="coq">{{cite web |last1=Hurard-Viltard |first1=Eveline |year=1989 |title=Jean Cocteau et la musique à travers "Le Coq et l'Arlequin" |work=Revue de l’Université de Bruxelles |url=https://digistore.bib.ulb.ac.be/2011/DL2503255_1989_1_2_000.pdf |publisher=[[Université Libre de Bruxelles]] |pages=85''ff'' |accessdate=18 July 2021}}</ref> is said to have kicked it off.

After [[World War I]], Jean Cocteau and Les Six began to frequent a bar known as "La Gaya" which became ''[[Le Bœuf sur le toit (cabaret)|Le Bœuf sur le toit]]'' (The Ox on the Roof) when the establishment moved to larger quarters. As the famous ballet by Milhaud had been conceived at the old premises, the new bar took on the name of [[Le bœuf sur le toit|Milhaud's ballet]].<ref>[[Roger Stéphane]], "Portrait souvenir de Jean Cocteau" (transcript of a French television interview in 1963 by the author and the subject) (Tallandier, 1964), pp. 63–67, {{ISBN|2-235-01889-0}}.</ref> On the renamed bar's opening night, pianist [[Jean Wiéner]] played tunes by [[George Gershwin]] and [[Vincent Youmans]] while Cocteau and Milhaud played percussion. Among those in attendance were impresario [[Sergei Diaghilev|Serge Diaghilev]], artist [[Pablo Picasso]], filmmaker [[René Clair]], singer [[Jane Bathori]], and actor and singer [[Maurice Chevalier]]. Another frequent guest was the young American composer [[Virgil Thomson]] whose compositions in subsequent years were influenced by members of Les Six.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4yIwCwAAQBAJ&dq=Virgil+Thomson+LA+bOEUF+SUR+LE+TOIT&pg=PA136 Virgil Thomson: ''Virgil Thomson'' (New York: Library of America & Penguin Random House, 2016)], {{ISBN|978-1-59853-476-4}}, p. 135–136; Virgil Thomson and Le Boeuf sur le Toit on https://books.google.com</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OHObaUvYuAUC&dq=Virgil+Thomson+Le+Gaya&pg=PA110 Alex Ross: ''The Rest is Noise. Listening to the Twentieth Century'' (New York: Picador, 2007)], {{ISBN|978-0-312-42771-9}}, p. 110; Virgil Thomas describes Le Boeuf sur le Toit on https://books.google.com</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=m8W2AgAAQBAJ&dq=Virgil+Thomson+Encyclopedia&pg=PA631 Lee Stacey & Lol Henderson (eds): ''Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century'' (New York: Routledge, 2013), p. 631; Virgil Thomson on Google Books]</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virgil-Thomson ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' Virgil Thomson on www.britannica.com].</ref>

==Collaborations==
Although the group did not exist to work on compositions [[Classical music written in collaboration|collaboratively]], there were six occasions, spread over 36 years, on which at least some members of the group did work together on the same project. On only one of these occasions was the entire Groupe des Six involved; in some others, composers from outside the group also participated.

Auric and Poulenc were involved in all six of these collaborations, Milhaud in five, Honegger and Tailleferre in three, but Durey in only one.

===1920: ''L'Album des Six''===
In 1920 the group published an album of piano pieces together, known as ''[[L'Album des Six]]''. This was the only work in which all six composers collaborated.

# ''Prélude'' (1919) – '''Auric'''
# ''Romance sans paroles'', Op. 21 (1919) – '''Durey'''
# ''Sarabande'', H 26 (1920) – '''Honegger'''
# ''Mazurka'' (1914) – '''Milhaud'''
# ''Valse in C'', [[FP (Poulenc)#17|FP 17]] (1919) – '''Poulenc'''
# ''Pastorale, Enjoué'' (1919) – '''Tailleferre'''

===1921: ''Les mariés de la tour Eiffel''===
In 1921, five of the members jointly composed the music for Cocteau's ballet ''[[Les mariés de la tour Eiffel]]'', which was produced by the [[Ballets suédois]], the rival to the Ballets Russes. Cocteau had originally proposed the project to Auric, but as Auric did not finish rapidly enough to fit into the rehearsal schedule, he then divided the work up among the other members of Les Six. Durey, who was not in Paris at the time, chose not to participate. The première was the occasion of a public scandal rivalling that of ''[[The Rite of Spring|Le sacre du printemps]]'' in 1913. In spite of this, ''Les mariés de la tour Eiffel'' was in the repertoire of the Ballets suédois throughout the 1920s.

# ''Overture'' (14 July) – '''Auric'''
# ''Marche nuptiale'' – '''Milhaud'''
# ''Discours du General'' (Polka) – '''Poulenc'''
# ''La Baigneuse de Trouville'' – '''Poulenc'''
# ''La Fugue du Massacre'' – '''Milhaud'''
# ''La Valse des Depeches'' – '''Tailleferre'''
# ''Marche funèbre'' – '''Honegger'''
# ''Quadrille'' – '''Tailleferre'''
# ''Ritournelles'' – '''Auric'''
# ''Sortie de la Noce'' – '''Milhaud'''

===1927: ''L'éventail de Jeanne''===
In 1927, Auric, Milhaud and Poulenc, along with seven other composers who were not part of Les Six, jointly composed the children's ballet ''[[L'éventail de Jeanne]]''.

# ''Fanfare'' – [[Maurice Ravel]]
# ''Marche'' – [[Pierre-Octave Ferroud]]
# ''Valse'' – [[Jacques Ibert]]
# ''Canarie'' – [[Alexis Roland-Manuel]]
# ''Bourrée'' – [[Marcel Delannoy]]
# ''Sarabande'' – [[Albert Roussel]]
# ''Polka'' – '''Milhaud'''
# ''Pastourelle'' – '''Poulenc'''
# ''Rondeau'' – '''Auric'''
# Finale: ''Kermesse-Valse'' – [[Florent Schmitt]]

===1949: ''Mouvements du coeur''===
In 1949, Auric, Milhaud and Poulenc, along with three other composers, jointly wrote ''Mouvements du coeur: Un hommage à la mémoire de [[Frédéric Chopin]], 1810–1849'', a suite of songs for baritone or bass and piano on words of Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin in commemoration of the centenary of the death of Frédéric Chopin.

# ''Prélude'' – [[Henri Sauguet]]
# ''Mazurka'' – '''Poulenc'''
# ''Valse'' – '''Auric'''
# ''Scherzo impromptu'' – [[Jean Françaix]]
# ''Étude'' – [[Léo Preger]]
# ''Ballade nocturne'' – '''Milhaud'''
# ''Postlude: Polonaise'' – [[Henri Sauguet]]

===1952: ''La Guirlande de Campra''===
In 1952, Auric, Honegger, Poulenc, Tailleferre and three other composers collaborated on an orchestral work called ''[[La Guirlande de Campra]]''.<ref>[http://www.ltmpub.freeserve.co.uk/lessixbio.html Cocteau, Satie & Les Six] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929153647/http://www.ltmpub.freeserve.co.uk/lessixbio.html |date=2010-09-29 }}</ref>

# ''Toccata'' – '''Honegger'''
# ''Sarabande et farandole'' – [[Daniel Lesur]]
# ''Canarie'' – [[Alexis Roland-Manuel]]
# ''Sarabande'' – '''Tailleferre'''
# ''Matelote provençale'' – '''Poulenc'''
# ''Variation'' – [[Henri Sauguet]]
# ''Écossaise'' – '''Auric'''

===1956: ''Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long''===
In 1956, Auric, Milhaud, Poulenc and five other composers created an orchestral suite in honour of the pianist [[Marguerite Long]], called ''[[Variations sur le nom de Marguerite Long]]''
# ''Hymne solennel'' – [[Jean Françaix]]
# ''Variations en forme de Berceuse pour Marguerite Long'' – [[Henri Sauguet]]
# ''La Couronne de Marguerites'' ("The Crown of Daisies"), ''Valse en forme de rondo'' – '''Milhaud'''
# ''Nocturne'' – [[Jean Rivier]]
# ''Sérénades'' – [[Henri Dutilleux]]
# ''Intermezzo'' – [[Daniel Lesur]]
# ''Bucolique'', FP. 160<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KsUGv8-TVGcC&dq=Jean+Francaix%3A+Hymne+solennel&pg=PA448 Carl B. Schmidt, The Music of Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): A Catalogue]. Retrieved 17 May 2016</ref> – '''Poulenc'''
# ''ML (Allegro: Finale)'' – '''Auric'''

==Selected music by individual members of Les Six==
{{See also|Category:Compositions by Georges Auric| Category:Compositions by Louis Durey| Category:Compositions by Arthur Honegger| Category:Compositions by Darius Milhaud| Category:Compositions by Francis Poulenc| Category:Compositions by Germaine Tailleferre}}
*''Salade'' by Milhaud; premiered 1924 in a production of Count Etienne de Beaumont
*''La nouvelle Cythère'' by Tailleferre; written in 1929 for the Ballets Russes and unproduced because of [[Sergei Diaghilev|Diaghilev]]'s sudden death
*''Cinq bagatelles'' by Auric
*''[[Les biches]]'', ballet (1922/23) by Poulenc
*''Le Bal Masqué'', cantate profane sur des poèmes de Max Jacob (Baritone, ensemble) (1932) by Poulenc
*''Scaramouche'' by Milhaud
*''[[Le Bœuf sur le toit]]'' by Milhaud
*Sonate pour violon seul by Honegger
*''[[Danse de la chèvre]] (Dance of the Goat)'' for solo flute by Honegger
*[[Sonate champêtre (Tailleferre)|Sonate champêtre for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano]] by Tailleferre

==See also==
{{Portal|Classical music}}
* [[American Five]]
* [[The Five (composers)]]
* ''[[Group of Eight (music)|Grupo de los Ocho]]''

==Bibliography==
* [[Jean Cocteau]]: ''Le Coq et l'Arlequin: Notes autour de la musique'' (Paris: Éditions de la Sirène, 1918).
* [[Henri Collet]]: "La Musique chez soi (XII): Un livre de Rimsky et un livre de Cocteau – Les Cinq russes, les Six français, et Erik Satie", in: ''Comœdia'', 16 January 1920, p.&nbsp;2.
* Henri Collet: "La Musique chez soi (XIII): "Les 'Six' français – Darius Milhaud, Louis Durey, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc et Germaine Tailleferre", in: ''Comœdia'', 23 January 1920, p.&nbsp;2.
* Fondation Erik Satie (ed.): ''Le Groupe des Six et ses amis: 70e anniversaire'' (Paris: Placard, 1990), {{ISBN|2-907523-01-5}}.
* [[Ornella Volta]]: ''Satie/Cocteau. Les Malentendus d'une entente'' (Bègles: Le Castor Astral, 1993), {{ISBN|2-85920-208-0}}.
* [[Benjamin Ivry]]: ''Francis Poulenc'' (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), {{ISBN|0-7148-3503-X}}.
* [[Roger Nichols (musical scholar)|Roger Nichols]]: ''The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917–1929'' (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002), {{ISBN|0-500-51095-4}}.
* Robert Shapiro: ''Les Six: The French Composers and their Mentors Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie'' (London/Chicago: Peter Owen, 2011), {{ISBN|978-0-7206-1293-6}}.
* Jane F. Fulcher: ''The Composer as Intellectual. Music and Ideology in France, 1914–1940'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
* [[Barbara L. Kelly]]: ''Music and Ultra-Modernism in France, a Fragile Consensus, 1913–1939'' (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2013).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm6-1/coq-en.html ''Les Six'', Satie, and Cocteau – by Stéphane Villemin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050206164850/http://scena.org/lsm/sm6-1/coq-en.html |date=2005-02-06 }}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhobQwVl_QQ Le Groupe des Six - Une évocation par diverses personnalités] on YouTube

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