Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SUMMER 2016 • sai-national.org 12 K P U Z Parody as a literary and compositional technique has long been used by artists to pay tribute to, satirize, and/or criticize one's peers. As a member of Les Six, Germaine Tailleferre (1892- 1983) identified as a neoclassicist and was already imitating other composers' styles in her earlier works, adapting them to her own style. Tailleferre's early use of parody reflected a technique she would employ throughout her career, regardless of style or genre. Upon returning to France in 1946 aer a self-imposed exile to the United States, she eased back into full-time composition. In the 1950s, Tailleferre composed over fiy works: operas, film scores, ballets, and instrumental music. is decade marked the beginning of her compositional relationship with Radio France as many of these works were aired soon aer their premiers or were first heard on the station. Radio France also commissioned her to compose directly for the radio, including operas, scores for radio plays, and a 1953 flute concerto. is collaboration between Tailleferre and Radio France led Jean Tardieu, music director of the state-run network, to commission a set of five opéra-bouffes in 1955. ese operas were to be short productions, lasting around twenty minutes, requiring seven or fewer singers, and a chamber orchestra. e libretti for these operas were written by Tailleferre's niece, Denise Centore, who was a published historian and journalist for Radio France. e current published collection consists of only four operas as the fih has been lost. As an opera cycle (Tailleferre's wording), the set is titled Du style galant au style méchant or, in English, "From the galant style to the wicked style". e first opera, La fille d'Opéra, is based on Rameau's tragédies lyriques; the second, Le Bel Ambitieux, imitates the romantic era operas of Boieldieu, Auber, and Rossini. e third, La pauvre Eugénie, is based on the "slice of life" operas of Zola, Bruneau, and Gustave Charpentier. I will discuss the fourth opera in detail later in this article. e lost opera, Rouille à l'Arsenic, is described by Tailleferre as "a fake naturalistic opera ending with a policeman being poisoned by arsenic." A published version of the four operas in piano reduction came out in 2012, divided into two booklets. e full score bears a publication date of 1974, but the orchestral parts just became available for rental this past summer. I have found three productions of these operas in addition to my staging, but to my knowledge no other performances of these operas have occurred since their broadcast in December 1955. With the parts readily available and the required essay on the Bac (baccalauréat), the academic qualification exam which French students take at the end of high school, other productions may be under consideration. Monsieur Petitpois achète un château, the fourth and final extant opera of the cycle, is based on the opérettes of Jacques Offenbach. In the program notes for my American stage premiere of this work I summed up the plot thus: "M. Petitpois opens on the Duke preparing to sell his 'fixer-upper' castle to a nouveau-riche buyer who will arrive shortly with his daughter and her fiancé, his nephew. e Duke's son, Adelestan, saw the family at the train station and immediately fell in love with the beautiful Héloïse. Will Petitpois buy the castle? Whom will Héloïse choose – and must someone die? And, Parody in Tailleferre's Monsieur Petitpois achète un chateau VARIATIONS ON A THEME Héloïse, Oreste, and Adelestan of Monsieur Petitpois achète un château written by Germaine Tailleferre (at left) based on the opérettes of Jacques Offenbach.

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