Five composers from 'Les Six', at the Eiffel Tower, 1921 (photo)

Les Six (pronounced: [le sis]) is a name given to a group of six French composers who worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's The Five, originates in critic Henri Collet's 1920 article "Les cinq Russes, les six Français et M. Satie" (Comoedia, 16 January 1920). Their music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. L to R: Germaine Tailleferre, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Jean Cocteau et Georges Auric. Manque Durey.