"Sept Poemes de Paul Claudel" - INSCRIBED TO JEAN WIENER

Paris: A. Z. Mathot. 1913. First Edition. Printed score of the important French avant-garde composer's early song cycle Sept Poemes de Paul Claudel, extraits de la Connaisance de L'Est (op. 7), signed and inscribed by Milhaud on the title page to his friend and colleague Jean Wiener. Milhaud has inscribed the volume on the title page familiarly to "Jean," signed "Darius" and dated 1913. Upright folio. 58 pp. [PN] Z. 706 M. Originally wrappers heavily worn, with the front cover detached and a large tear to the back cover; internally in fine condition and very good overall. 11 x 14.5 inches (27.2 x 37.5 cm).

Composed while still a student at the Paris Conservatoire, this song cycle was occasioned by Milhaud's first meeting with the poet Paul Claudel, in 1912. Claudel would come to be an important figure in Milhaud's life, a frequent source of texts, a close friend, and a colleague in the foreign service during World War I.

Jean Wiener (1896 -1982) trained at the Conservatoire in Paris, where he studied alongside Darius Milhaud, and worked with Erik Satie. He then embarked on a career as concert impresario, composer and pianist. He was the house pianist at the Gaya bar, and later at Le Boeuf sur le Toit. In 1924 a chance encounter with Clement Doucet (who succeeded him at Le Boeuf) brought him into the world of popular music. Already a jazz enthusiast, Wiener found fame with Doucet in the music halls of Europe as a piano duet, under the name "Wiener and Doucet" in which they performed classical music, hot dance and jazz. He was of some significance in the promotion of new music, both by his friends in the Les Six (Milhaud, Poulenc, etc.), and by composers such as Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. His compositions involve the use of jazz informed by French wit and elegance. (14477)

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Signed Document/Item

Printed Music

Classical Music

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