On July 28, 1914 the First World War began. This war also had a strong impact on the music of that period. In our video interview, musicologist Emmanuel Reibel explains how the sorrow and terror of those times influenced the work of Darius Milhaud.

Darius Milhaud wrote his String Quartet no. 3 in 1915. The composition is dedicated to his friend Léo Latil, a poet who was killed in the battlefield that same year. The third string quartet is unique in Milhaud’s oeuvre. It has only two movements and also features a soprano, singing lyrics by Latil; the composition’s exceptional dark atmosphere reflects the composer’s mourning. 

Milhaud’s composition differs strongly from other music that was written during the First World War by composers such as André Caplet, Florent Schmitt or Camille Saint-Saëns. And it is very clearly opposed to the propaganda music of that period: nationalistic songs, militaristic hymns and conventional marches that were used to motivate both civilians and soldiers on the front lines.

Find out more in this conversation between journalist Antoine Pecqueur and musicologist Emmanuel Reibel.