Société nationale de musique
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The Société nationale de musique was an organisation in late 19th and early 20th century Paris, promoting French music and allowing rising composers to present their works in public. It was founded in the aftermath of France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 on a strong tide of nationalist feeling, and at first excluded all music by non-French composers. In its first 30 years it gave the premieres of works by composers including Saint-Saëns, Chabrier, Franck, Fauré, Dukas and Debussy.
In the 1880s the original purely French nature of the society was abandoned, and foreign works and composers were accepted. Under the presidency of Vincent d'Indy the society became increasingly conservative, and a rival organisation, the Société musicale indépendante, was set up in 1910 by Maurice Ravel and others, briefly overshadowing the Société nationale. The rival closed down in 1935; the Société nationale continued until 1939 when it was wound up.
Among the works written for or premiered by the society are Chabrier's Pièces pittoresques, Franck's Variations symphoniques, Fauré's First and Second Piano Quartets and the song-cycle La Bonne chanson, Dukas's L'Apprenti sorcier, and Debussy's String Quartet and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.