JOUVE (Pierre Jean). - Lot 179

Lot n° 179
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Estimation :
1000 - 1500 EUR
JOUVE (Pierre Jean). - Lot 179
JOUVE (Pierre Jean). Born in Arras. 1887-1976. French poet and novelist. Manuscript A.S. "Pierre Jean Jouve", entitled A propos du XXe siècle. S.l.n.d [circa 1950]. 10 folio pages on heavy laid paper, blue and red inks. MAGNIFICENT TEXT ON ART AND MODERNITY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: Starting from his considerations on modern art and the way art is perceived, Jouve makes an analysis of Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck (Jouve, who was an unconditional admirer of Berg, had written several articles on the Austrian composer):...In 19th-century Paris, Wagner, Baudelaire, Courbet, Mallarmé and Cézanne were booed by the public, who were devoted to "clichés"... Today, modern art should ...reach vast communities, responding to the democratic evolution towards numbers... Yet, he laments, we have never known ...a greater isolation of art, a similar adaptation of art to the qualities of the restricted spiritual life, those of an elite whose face is not known... He is delighted that the exhibition "LŒuvre du XXe siècle", which took place in Paris last May, showed the best of contemporary creation and ...Without paradox, we can say that "lŒuvre du XXe siècle", in opera, we have heard: is Wozzeck. The importance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck appearing in Paris cannot be underestimated. The deep impression this brilliant work has made on all minds [...], the overwhelming success of the two performances directed by Karl Böhm and phenomenally embodied in the two protagonists Christl Golz and Joseph Hermann, affirm that something truly new has happened in France... Jouve has studied the score attentively and is preparing ...a highly developed critical work on Wozzeck: I say that it is impossible to conceive of a science of form more profound, more thorough, more total, and that this form, in which every note has a rigorous meaning, is placed by prodigy at the service of gushing invention and dramatic truth... He then examines the reasons why this prodigious opera was so long ignored by the French public. Then, returning to the music on offer at the exhibition, he evokes Stravinsky: ...It can be said that Igor Strawinsky's Rite of Spring has not aged in its brute force as a great obsessive myth, and that the extraordinary block of sound and rhythm still possesses its mystery... He believes that only Belà Bartok's 2nd Concerto for piano and orchestra can equal the Rite... and concludes ...Art is a long battle [...] the most rigorous and sovereign innovation of modern music will, in one way or another, have a real influence...The poet offers this manuscript to Théo Léger, ...in memory of Sils, last year...
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