Cardiff academic discovers lost Milhaud score

Cardiff University’s School of Music has presented the premiere of a lost work by French composer Darius Milhaud, who is remembered primarily as a member of French composer group Les Six which also comprised Francois Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric and Germaine Tailleferre. Pianist and 20th-century French music specialist Professor Caroline Rae discovered the piece with her PhD student James Brookmyre.

Professor Caroline Rae discovered Milhaud’s manuscript in Brecon at the home of Laetitia Jack, granddaughter of stage designer Audrey Parr (1892-1940). The work was written as a birthday gift for Parr by Milhaud and poet Jean Cocteau in November 1920. Milhaud set Cocteau’s surreal poem to music for soprano and seven instruments.

Professor Rae said: ‘It’s not every day an unknown work by a major French composer is discovered, let alone in Wales. This wonderful piece is a real gem and shows Milhaud at his most inventive and experimental. It sheds new light on Milhaud’s stylistic development while demonstrating a real affection for Audrey Parr, a forgotten figure of the interwar French avant-garde who undertook several collaborations with Milhaud and Claudel and was also the dedicatee of music by Poulenc. The discovery is a real coup for Cardiff University and I’m very grateful to Laetitia Jack, the manuscript owner, for giving us permission to give the world premiere.’

This new discovery is set against a backdrop of uncertainty for Cardiff University’s School of Music, which this month approaches the end of a 90-day consultation period around proposals for a reduction of 400 academic staff, and the cessation of subjects including Music. Final plans for approval are expected to be considered by University Council in June 2025.

The world premiere performance of the work took place at the University Concert Hall with performers were drawn from Cardiff University School of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Bodman String Quartet: Clair Rowden (soprano), Gabbi Alberti (flute), James Brookmyre (clarinet), Jaroslaw Augustyniak (bassoon), Robert Fokkens (violin), Charles Bodman-Whittaker (viola), Claudine Cassidy (cello) and Jordan Williams (double bass).

Laetitia Jack said: ‘We were amazed and very excited to find the manuscript after it had been lost for about 40 years. We thought that we would never manage to get a group of musicians to ever play it, and so we’re incredibly grateful to Caroline Rae and James Brookmyre for taking it on. It sounds wonderful. I can't believe it. We’re just so very excited and very happy, and I’m glad that this piece was composed for my granny.’