Making maps today once again proved to be a very helpful experience. In fact, as proven in yesterday’s readings, making maps is not only done for the fact that they offer a visual representation of things but also because they often times help make arguments or uncover trends, details, and claims that could be otherwise unseen or ignored without their use.
Today, we made a map based on Poulenc, Milhaud, Stravinsky and Honneger’s premieres from 1914 to the 1920s and what we found was pretty interesting.
In fact, even though this was only our first draft, it was interesting to already notice a couple of things that could be great starters for research.
For example, while looking at the map, I realized that most of Poulenc, Milhaud, Stravinsky and Honneger’s premieres were composed in France or other neighbouring Western European countries. This might possibly reveal something about Western Europe being more advanced for the kind of music produced by these composers , as opposed to the rest of Europe.
Moreover, I realized that Milhaud, as opposed to Poulenc, Stravinsky and Honneger, had at least a piece that he performed outside of Europe, more precisely in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
It would be interesting to see the reasons that motivated Milhaud’s choice to perform in Brazil and maybe see if Milhaud was more inclined to reach a global public, as opposed to the other composers.
Another trend again that I noticed was about the music that was produced in France. In fact, most premiers had occurred in Paris, and often times at the same venues (such as Le Théâtre des Champs Elysées or the Opera). My hypothesis here might be because of France being more centralised around Paris, which at that time was already more politically and economically advanced as well as more urbanised , as compared to the other French cities.
