Only since the 1990s has French musical life during the Second World War become a subject of study for musicologists and historians. They have started to fill a gap in the historiography of that period, during which the German army occupied France and Marshal Philippe PĂ©tain, hero of the First World War, directed an authoritarian regime from the city of Vichy. Among Vichy specialists, disinterest in music was a glaring aspect of La vie culturelle sous Vichy, published in 1990 (Rioux, 1990). Another 11 years would have to pass before the arrival of La vie musicale sous Vichy (ChimĂšnes, 2001), which opened up many areas of research, some of which were explored in the following decade (Simon, 2009). More recently a collective work has taken stock of the studies undertaken in this field, laying the groundwork for new and promising avenues of research (ChimĂšnes and Simon, 2013). One such topic is the use of music for political purposes. As an extension of my previous work on Debussy and Berlioz (Simon, 2006, 2013), this chapter will focus not on a single composer, but rather on the musical rendering of the Joan-of-Arc myth by the arts organisation Jeune France.

Jeune France and Vichy’s Use of the Joan-of-Arc Myth

The Vichy government came to power in July 1940 and put an end to the democratic system of the Third Republic, imposing an authoritarian regime under the control of an occupying army. This control had significant consequences for French musical life insofar as the German authorities attached much importance to culture, in particular for the purpose of maintaining order.1 Shortly after setting themselves up in France, the German authorities encouraged the resumption of cultural activities. They established a surveillance and censorship system primarily aimed at excluding Jews from musical organisations, and their works from concert programmes. At the same time, the German authorities embarked on an intensive programme of propaganda in order to promote German music through texts, concerts and operas featuring Germanic composers and performers. People involved in French musical life were urged to celebrate the entente cordiale between the two neighbouring countries. In December 1941 the German authorities invited 10 of them to take part in the ceremonies to be held on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Mozart’s death in Vienna.
Despite this singular context, the Vichy regime was given considerable leeway. Although the occupying forces had unlimited rights to veto any decision, the Vichy authorities were allowed to restructure French musical organisations and appoint their directors without interference. Organising committees were established for various sectors of the economy. Of the three music-related committees, the Professional Organising Committee for Music (ComitĂ© d’organisation professionnelle de la musique) was the last to be constituted. Its president, the virtuoso pianist Alfred Cortot (1877–1962), held great ambitions. He wished to make it into a hegemonic organisation modelled on the German Chamber of Music (Reichsmusikkammer) founded in 1933 by the Nazis. The Allied victory would cut short his plans. This corporative organising committee, like the other two, did not intervene directly in artistic creation, which was handled by other institutions.
Vichy’s voluntary participation in musical creation took four forms: commissioning works, making gramophone recordings, supporting distribution and producing performances. Commissions fell directly within the remit of a ministerial body, the General Secretariat of Fine Arts (SecrĂ©tariat gĂ©nĂ©ral aux beaux-arts). It took over a practice initiated by the Popular Front government in the three years before the war broke out, but on a much larger scale.2 Indeed, while the Popular Front government had commissioned 22 works from composers between 1938 and 1940, the Vichy regime ordered 67 between 1941 and 1944. These pieces were mainly intended for stage or orchestra. Most of the composers who received these commissions had attended the Paris Conservatory and had benefited from the Prix de Rome arts scholarship; half of them were under the age of 40. Many of these commissions, however, were not carried out and only 13 premiered during the Occupation. Paradoxically the Vichy government found itself obliged to promote works that had been commissioned by the Popular Front government that were subject to scorn at that time. For example, this was the case for Ginevra by Marcel Delannoy (1898–1962) and Rossignol de Saint-Malo by Paul Le Flem (1881–1984), two opĂ©ras comiques that nonetheless fit into the musical landscape of the Occupation. Vichy also intervened in the sphere of musical creation by supporting gramophone recordings. The General Secretariat of Fine Arts and the French Association for Artistic Action (Association française d’action artistique) financed the production of records bound for embassies and cultural organisations abroad. In this way, recordings of one or more works were offered to 40 living composers beginning in November 1942. The Vichy regime also fostered musical creation by funding distribution, especially of commissioned compositions, although other works also benefited from state assistance. Pieces by imprisoned composers or former war prisoners were performed during concerts organised by relief committees. In addition, through Jeune France, Vichy helped to produce large cultural events mainly held in stadiums. In particular, Jeune France organised the performance of two works, set to music by Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), at the Roland-Garros Stadium in Paris: 800 mĂštres, a ‘sporting drama’ by AndrĂ© Obey (1892–1975), and The Suppliants by Aeschylus. The arts organisation was also behind two other open-air shows dedicated to Joan of Arc.
Jeune France, created by Pierre Schaeffer (1910–1995), holds a singular place in the history of Vichy’s cultural policies. Its brief 17-month existence echoed the evolution of the collaborationist regime.3 Music appears to have been a priority for this arts association. The son of a musician, Schaeffer was a graduate of the École Polytechnique, an engineer at the French public company for postal services and telecommunications and a Rover Scout in the Scout Movement. He began working in national radio on 1 July 1936 and went to Vichy following his discharge from the army. In the effervescence of the first few weeks of the Vichy government, he created Radio-Jeunesse, whose purpose was to broadcast and comment on Marshal PĂ©tain’s messages, some of which were read by Cortot. It was within Radio-Jeunesse that the future team of Jeune France coalesced around the figure of Schaeffer. With the assistance of Emmanuel Mounier from the magazine Esprit, the group drew up the programme for a movement that would receive support from the General Secretariat for Youth (SecrĂ©tariat gĂ©nĂ©ral Ă  la jeunesse) and its head, Georges Lamirand. Schaeffer borrowed the organisation’s name from one coined in 1936 by a group of fouryoung composers: Yves Baudrier (1906–1988), AndrĂ© Jolivet (1905–1974), Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) and Daniel Lesur (1908–2002). All of them agreed on the use of this name except Messiaen, who was a prisoner of war in Germany. The organisation’s articles of association were filed on 22 November 1940. The first article sets out the aim of the new organisation (‘to create, for youth and by youth, a movement called Jeune France to renew the great tradition of French quality in arts and culture’) while the second lists the means necessary to achieve this objective: setting up Jeune France regional offices and artistic projects, and organising tours and celebrations that make use of local forces (Archives nationales de France, Statuts de Jeune France). Decentralisation was their main priority. However, the autonomy of Jeune France quickly sparked the mistrust of the French authorities, whose subsidies constituted the movement’s only resources. On an order from the Minister of National Education on 22 December 1941, Schaeffer was sent back to his original post at Radiodiffusion Nationale, the national radio service. He returned to Paris, where he would set up an experimental radio studio and become a leading member of ChaĂźne Duvernois, a network of radio transmitters in the French Resistance. The association Jeune France was dissolved on 15 March 1942.
Although music was not Jeune France’s only sphere of action, it occupied an important place in the performances produced by the organisation. Three pieces in particular merit a closer look, namely Portique pour une jeune fille de France, Sainte Jeanne and Jeanne d’Arc au bĂ»cher. These works, dedicated to the young martyr, arose as a result of the first feast day of Joan of Arc organised by the Vichy regime on 11 May 1941.4 They were all performed in unoccupied France...