Les Six

Les Six , a short-lived group of six young early 20th-century French musicians. They were united by their adverse reactions to the extravagant impressionism of French composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel and the overwrought romanticism of Germans such as Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss . The group's name was coined in 1920 by the music critic Henri Collet. Inspired by the cool, abstract, and relatively unadorned compositions of Erik Satie and by the works of Jean Cocteau , their literary prophet and spokesman, Les Six attempted to write in a more simplified, sophisticated, and often jazzily rhythmic fashion. Nonetheless, all of the composers maintained their own distinctive styles. Les Six consisted of Arthur Honegger , Darius Milhaud , Francis Poulenc , Georges Auric (1899-1983), Louis Durey (1888-1979), and Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), the group's only woman.

Six, Les Collective name for six French composers who were organized as a group by Jean Cocteau in 1917. The members were Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre.

Six, Les (Fr.). The Six. Name applied by Fr. mus. critic Henri Collet in 1920 to group of young Fr. composers who, under influence of Satie and Cocteau, had achieved notoriety for their advanced ideas. They were Auric, Durey, Honegger, Milhaud, Poulenc, and Tailleferre. However, they soon went their separate ways and did not long operate as a group.