Louis Durey was the son of a businessman. He had no idea that he wanted to be a composer until he heard the opera Pélléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy. He was then already 19 years old. He taught himself how to compose.
Durey became a member of the group called Les Six in 1920. However, he did not take part in the music they wrote together in 1921 called "Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel". This made Jean Cocteau very annoyed.
Durey became interested in left-wing politics and later joined the Communist Party. During the years of the Nazi occupation of World War II, he worked with the French Resistance and wrote anti-Fascist songs. After the war he had strong Communist ideas. This made it difficult for him to be successful in the world of music.
In 1950 he got the job of music critic for a communist newspaper in Paris.
He wrote a lot of music during his life, but there were many years when he wrote nothing. He composed songs, chamber music and choral works.
Louis Durey died at Saint-Tropez, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger (10 March 1892 - 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer, who was born in Le Havre, France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of the group of composers called Les Six. His most popular piece of music is an orchestral work called "Pacific 231", which imitates the sound of a steam locomotive.
His full name was Oscar-Arthur Honegger, but his first name was never used. He studied harmony and violin in Paris until his parents moved to Zürich, Switzerland, when he studied at the Conservatory there. He then went back to Paris to study with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d'Indy. He wrote a ballet "Le dit des jeux du monde" in 1918. In 1926 he married Andrée Vaurabourg, a pianist and fellow student at the Paris Conservatoire. They often went on tour together, and his wife played the piano parts to his compositions. The couple had one daughter, Pascale, born in 1932. Honegger also had a son, Jean-Claude (1926-2003) whose mother was the singer Claire Croiza.
In the early 1920s Honegger became famous with the "dramatic psalm" "Le Roi David" ("King David"), which is still often sung by choirs. He wrote a lot of music between the wars, including the oratorio "Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher", one of his best works. It tells the story of Joan of Arc.
During World War II Honegger could not leave Paris. He joined the French Resistance. He continued to write very serious music, including four symphonies (numbers 2-5) and some religious music.
Honegger loved trains. As a student he had spent some time travelling to Paris twice a week by train from Le Havre. His popular orchestral work "Pacific 231" describes a train on the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was an early piece, written in 1923.
In 1947 Honegger suffered a severe heart attack, and after that he composed little. A second heart attack caused his death eight years later in Paris.
Honegger's music is different to that of the other members of Les Six, partly because Honegger liked the Romantic music of Wagner, Strauss and Reger. His music is tonal but with numerous strong dissonances. His musical style was also influenced by the music of Bach.
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (pronounced "DAR-yus MEE-oh") (born Marseille, 4 September 1892; died Geneva 22 June 1974) was a French composer. He was a member of the group called "Les Six". He is one of the most important French composers of the 20th century. He wrote more than 400 compositions. His music is often influenced by jazz and polytonality (music in more than one key at once).
Milhaud's family were Jewish. He grew up in Aix-en-Provence. His father was an almond dealer. When he was very small he often listened to the songs that were being sung by the women who were sorting out the nuts. They were folksongs from the Provence. When he was a young man he liked to go for walks in the Provence country. This was an important part of his life.
Milhaud's parents liked music. His father was a pianist and often played at local music gatherings. His mother had a nice contralto voice. When he was seven he learned to play the violin. He loved the music of Claude Debussy, whom he met once.
Milhaud studied in Paris at the Paris Conservatory where he met Arthur Honegger and Germaine Tailleferre who were also to become members of Les Six. He studied composition under Charles-Marie Widor and harmony and counterpoint with André Gédalge. He also studied privately with Vincent d'Indy. He taught himself to play the piano. In Paris he was able to listen to music by a lot of great composers.
He was terribly sad when a close friend was killed in World War I. He decided to go to Brazil. He worked there for nearly two years, deciphering codes. He liked the sounds of the jungle. These sounds were to have an impact on his music. The other great influence was jazz, which he heard in 1922 in New York.
Milhaud returned to France and worked very hard. He often travelled. In 1940 he had to emigrate to the United States because the Nazis were arresting Jewish musicians. In America he gave lectures.
His health became poor. He had rheumatoid arthritis for nearly all his adult life, and by 1948 he was in a wheelchair. He still continued to travel, and to teach, for as long as possible. Probably his most famous student was Dave Brubeck.
In 1925 Milhaud married his cousin, an actress called Madeleine Milhaud. She often performed speaking parts in her husband's musical works. In his final years, she devoted herself to looking after him. She died in Paris on 17 January 2008 at the age of 105.
Milhaud's most popular works include "Le Boeuf sur le Toit" (ballet), "La création du monde" (a ballet for small orchestra with solo saxophone, influenced by jazz), "Scaramouche" (for Saxophone and Orchestra, also for two pianos), and "Saudades do Brazil" (dance suite). His autobiography is called "Notes Sans Musique" ("Notes Without Music"), later rewritten as "Ma Vie Heureuse" ("My Happy Life").
Saône
The Saône is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône river. It starts in the Vosges department amd joins the Rhône in the city of Lyon.
Two French departments has the name of the river in their names: Haute-Saône and Saône-et-Loire, both in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
The Saône river has a length of and a drainage basin with an area of .
Its average yearly discharge (volume of water which passes through a section of the river per unit of time) is at Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or in the Metropolitan Lyon.
Average monthly discharge (m/s) at Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or (13 years)
The Saône river starts in the "commune" of Vioménil in the Vosges department, at an altitude of about . The river flows in general to the south-southwest.
The Saône river flows through the 3 regions and 6 departments. It flows through the following "communes", among others:
The Saône river flows into the Rhône river as a right tributary in the city of Lyon.
The main tributaries, over 40 km long, of the Saône river are:
Left tributaries:
Right tributaries:
Hereford
Hereford (pronounced or ) (pronounced "Henforth") is a city and civil parish in the West Midlands of England, close to the border with Wales and on the River Wye. It is the county town of Herefordshire.
The name "Hereford" comes from the Anglo Saxon "here", meaning an army and "ford" which is a place where soldiers could cross.
Hereford has had a cathedral since 1059.
In 1997, Hereford Council lost its status as a city council, and had to appoint Charter Trustees. Its ancient city traditions are recognised and carried on by the parish council, which is led by the City Mayor.
The A49, A438, A465, A480, A4103, A4110, B4399, B4224 and B4359 roads pass through Hereford.
Hereford has a train station.
Hereford has a city bus station, for routes in the city, and a country bus station, for routes out of the city.
The finger