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Eugène Bozza Background Information
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"We have had enough clouds, waves, aquaria, water-sprites, and nocturnal perfumes. Music better get its drugged Wagnerian senses out of the 19th century and hit the music halls and the circus; let it shimmy with jazz-bands and chatter with machines. Everything must be bright and sharp, sharp and cutting, cutting-edge and au courant; parody and pastiche must give the old espressivo the boot.” --Jean Cocteau from his 1918 manifesto Le Coq et l'Arlequin |
Biographical Overview
- 1905: Born April 4 in Nice, France
- 1924: Studied at the Paris Conservatory. Won prizes for violin, conducting, and composition in 1924, 1930, and 1934, respectively.
- 1934: Received the Prix de Rome for his La Légende de Roukmani
- 1939-1948: conductor of the Paris Opéra-Comique
- 1951: Director of the Ecole Nacionale de Musique
- 1956: Became a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
- 1991: Passed away on September 28 in Valenciennes, France
Historical Context
- Development of ragtime happens right around Bozza’s birth:
- Joplin published Maple Leaf Rag in 1899. Ragtime was partially responsible for the development of jazz music as the rhythms served to move the groove of the music away from the downbeat. This idea developed into early swing music. An important component of ragtime music is the stride bass line.
- 1900: Sousa brings “cakewalks” on European tour
- Many pieces from 1917-1923 use trombone to reinforce the bass line, play small solos, and add the glissandi associated with jazz trombone. (Campbell)
- 1917: Stravinsky uses trombone to aid in the jazzy sound of his L’Histoire du Soldat. He even goes so far as to title his third dance movement as “Ragtime”.
- 1923: Milhaud uses trombone and jazz in “The Chaos before Creation” of his La création du monde.
- Change in use of trombone came in 1920’s with players like “Tricky” Sam Nanton, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. In particular, these last two trombonists were known for their high lyrical register and use of slide vibrato.
- Ravel uses this lyrical trombone style in many of his orchestral works beginning with L’enfant es les sortileges. The most famous (or infamous) of which is the solo in Bolero.
- Most importantly: jazz flooded French popular culture before WWI
| “French composer and conductor Eugène Bozza wrote many large-scale stage works, but he is best known outside of France for more modest woodwind and brass pieces in a highly accessible, elegant, lyrical style. Some have become standard student test works; others, for wind quintet, saxophone quartet, and various unusual instrumental combinations, are favorite faculty recital items. Celebrity soloists rarely play his music, but Bozza is nevertheless widely heard in European and American conservatories.” (Answers.com) |
- New Orleans was written during the composer’s exploration jazz in writing. Comes after writing the Ballade in 1944 which was inspired by Frank Martin’s Ballade – a piece for solo trombone and piano that bridged the void in jazz-influenced composition in France.