Foundations

Enter Emile Jaques-Dalcroze

The second in a series of articles tracing the historic convergence of people and ideas that culminated in the cataclysmic 1913 premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps, and exploring the impact of that revolution today. Previous Installment: "Two Characters in the Cast: Serge Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky"

Our story left off in 1907, the year Serge Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky met at a performance of Scherzo Fantastique and Feu d’Artifice.

That same year, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze wrote his article “The Initiation into Rhythm,” espousing the importance of movement in music education. Publications of the Methode Jaques-Dalcroze were already underway in Paris, and Jaques-Dalcroze had made waves throughout Europe through his unique techniques in music pedagogy, public demonstrations, and large-scale performances.

A slightly senior contemporary of Diaghilev and Stravinsky, Emile-Henri Jaques was born in Vienna, to Swiss parentage, in 1865 (Diaghilev was born in1872, and Stravinsky in1882).

We have several clues to the personality and world-view of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. Those who knew him made frequent references to his sense of humor. Numerous anecdotes point to a love of musical jokes in particular. In general, it seems evident that his creativity included a strong streak of playfulness.

Jaques-Dalcroze was a creative inventor. He invented music, invented his educational method, and even invented the name “Dalcroze,” based the name of a friend, “Valcroze.” So it’s no wonder that his life itself seems like a creative invention of his own design – part spontaneous improvisation, part deliberate composition.

Young Emile showed early talent at the piano, including in improvisation and composition. He also had a theatrical streak, and traveled with a summer stock company following a year of general studies at the University of Geneva. That led him to Paris the following year, to train as an actor. Make what you will of the fact that his chosen teacher was a comedic actor, Denis Talbot (a.k.a. Stanislaus Montalont).

His life in Paris at this time – from ages 19 to 21 – sounds very much like the typical life of a young “freelancer” (how many of us can relate!). In addition to studying diction, acting, Delsarte techniques and harmony, he worked -- and he worked at all sorts of things. He taught, he accompanied, he entertained as a pianist at the Chat Noir café, he played chamber music, and he composed. He wrote popular songs, and published his operetta scored for piano, Riquet a la Houppe. (The plot sounds very much like “Shrek” – ugly lovers become beautiful, transformed by their love.)

We can only guess what factors led him to change his focus from theatre to music, but one possibility is the fact that music was knocking on his door. Perhaps it’s a universal truth that young people in search of themselves, and in search of money to pay the rent, go where they’re hired. It becomes bread-and-butter, and it also shines light on abilities, recognizing and encouraging talent. Further, there’s the old sentiment that professions in the arts “choose us” -- we do what we love. Talent, love, and reward tend to flow together.

And so as Jaques-Dalcroze moved from his interest in theatre to a focus on music, he may have been finding his talent, love and reward flowing together to point the way forward.

Another common theme in the lives of artists and innovators seems to be a nomadic thirst for knowledge (and search for self and niche), and Jaques-Dalcroze was no exception. Returning to Geneva for the summer of 1886, he worked as a pianist at a spa (despite his parents’ objections). That led to an invitation for a year in Algiers, as assistant conductor and choral director at a theatre. (It was there that he met up with his old friend Raymond Valcroze, and decided to take on a variation of his name. Considering the significance of decisions to change or amend one's name, it seems clear that this was a profound friendship.)

Then on to Vienna, to study composition with Anton Bruckner. After touching base in Geneva again, he returned to Paris in 1889, where he studied with Faure and Delibes, and became acquainted with the work of Cesar Franck and Mathis Lussy.

In somewhat the same way Rudolph von Laban later identified and codified qualities of movement, Lussy was interested in discovering and systemizing rules and definitions of elements of musical expression. Irwin Spector states that Lussy “introduced [Jaques-Dalcroze] to the ways of scholarly expression,” and emphasizes that from Lussy, Jaques-Dalcroze “learned to recognize problems, to approach them in a scientific way, and to devise methods of solution”¹

Jaques-Dalcroze's nomadic, student phase seems to have ended when he returned again to Geneva in 1891, where he became Professor of Solfege (theory) at the Geneva Conservatory. At 26, it seems this position grounded him, enabling him to delve into his own independent work. No longer a roaming student, he was now a teacher of authority; no longer piecing work together as it was offered, he held a solid position. Again, our own lives' lessons can tell us how stability frees us to be creative -- and as a teacher at the conservatory, Jaques-Dalcroze focused and fused together his talents, experiences, knowledge, and imaginative energies.

His compositions continued at a rapid pace, and his spontaneous, inventive, playfully creative side found outlet in teaching itself. His pedagogical publications began as early as 1894, with his written volumes of the “Methode Jaques-Dalcroze” underway by 1906 (printing continued into the early 1920s). Meanwhile, he’d fully settled down in Geneva, marrying singer Nina Faliero in 1899.

In the next installment, we’ll take a closer look at Jaques-Dalcroze’s innovative work up to 1907, and then bring our characters together from the years between 1907 and 1912.

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1. Irwin Spector, Rhythm and Life: The Work of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1990), p. 17.

Copyright Monica Dale 2008