Darius Milhaud's seven-movement suite for wind quintet La Cheminée du Roi René (The Chimney of King René) was taken from music written for Raymond Bernard's 1939 film Cavalcade d'Amour. The film consists of three love stories set in the court of fifteenth century French regent René d'Anjou (1409-1480), and the sequences were set musically by three composers: Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, and Roger Desormiéres. Milhaud had always held a fascination with King René, his chivalric code, and the legendary jousts that were associated with his court. Milhaud was a native of Aix-en-Provence, where King René's court and castle were located. He had also studied some of the musical manuscripts from King René's reign, but little of anything of this is to be found in La Cheminée du Roi René; the music is all Milhaud's and is written in his most immediate and forthright idiom.

The seven-movement plan is thus: (1) "Cortège" (Procession), (2) "Aubade" (Morning Serenade), (3) "Jongleurs" (Jugglers), (4) "La Maousinglade," (5) "Joutes sur L'Arc" (Jousts on the Arc), (6) "Chasse à Valabre" (Hunting at Valabre) and (7) "Madrigal-Nocturne." These movements range in length from less than a minute to just about three minutes; many listeners hearing La Cheminée du Roi René without benefit of a score may well not realize that they are hearing a small suite rather than a single, uninterrupted work. Altogether La Cheminée du Roi René takes about 13 minutes to play, and the mood is so similar from movement to movement there is little to single out for comment. However, "La Maousinglade" with its gentle, swaying oboe-driven Sarabande, sticks in the memory long after it is heard. There is a hint of Renaissance-styled ornamentation in "Joutes sur L'Arc," and a hint of the hunting-horn is heard in "Chasse à Valabre"; towards the end of this movement there is a short passage of Milhaud's bi-tonal thorniness thrown for comic relief between the clarinet and bassoon. The pensive and strongly Neo-Classical "Madrigal" brings this short suite to a quiet and restful close.

La Cheminée du Roi René is not only one of Milhaud's best known works; it is one of the most popular chamber suites of the twentieth century. No self respecting wind quintet would consider doing without it in their repertoire, and it is programmed with relentless fervor on classical music radio in the United States and doubtless elsewhere.

© All Music Guide