ABSTRACT
This chapter considers contemporary reviews in the French press of key works first performed during the years of the Nazi occupation, notably Marcel Delannoy’s Ginevra, Francis Poulenc’s Les Animaux modèles and Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps. It also examines the reaction of French critics to German operatic repertoire, particularly Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina, given its French premiere in the Paris Opéra. The authors of these reviews were not only critics but also, in several cases, important composers, notably Arthur Honegger and André Jolivet. Delannoy was not only the composer of Ginevra but also a member of the Groupe Collaboration and the author of a stinging review of Messiaen’s Quatuor in the collaborationist newspaper Les Nouveaux Temps. Honegger’s reviews in Comoedia are eloquent and enlightened in spite of his occasional involvement with official Vichy activities (he was a member of the French delegation sent to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Mozart’s death in 1941). The chapter compares and contrasts these differing critical responses and places them in the wider context of French music and politics of the pre-war and post-war eras.
