Image from Blast, war number, July 1915.
A symphony incorporating twenty typewriters to replicate the sounds of breaking shrapnel was noted in press accounts in 1924.1 According the reports, “At the Front” was composed by a French veteran of the First World War.
The war symphony ranks among the earliest compositions to incorporate the sounds of typewriters, predated only by Erik Satie’s Parade, which debuted in 1917. Unfortunately, the composer of “At the Front” was left unnamed in newspaper accounts.
Francis Poulenc, noted for his musical eccentricities, is one possible connection. He served in the last months of the war and worked as a typist at the Ministry of Aviation toward 1921. He gained fame in 1924 with Les Biches, a one-act ballet, so it is unlikely that he would not have been named had he also composed “At the Front.” Possibly, the piece arose from his circle, but that is merely speculation.
Battle of the Somme, July 1 to November 18, 1916. Image featuring a “mitrailleuse.”
Newspapers largely mocked the symphony, though no one seems to have heard the composition performed. That a war veteran would have composed a novelty piece seems unlikely, and the use of unconventional instruments signals a genuine effort to convey the horrors of the battlefield through Hemingway’s mitrailleuse.
Most accounts drew upon imagination to describe the symphony.
The Daily Press wrote, “The composer, who believes in innovation, is rumored to have declared in an interview, ‘It is my ambition to abolish the emotional appeal of music, and thus to capture the business man public. I shall make the date stamp do all that the harp has done heretofore, and I have not been afraid to insert a long passage for pencil sharpeners and crossed nibs'” (emphasis mine).2
Another newspaper quipped: “It is not certain, whether they are to represent machine-gun fire or the noise of a busy general headquarters.”3
This account in the Shawnee News Star (September 9, 1924), offered the most creative description of the symphony:
Final note
As I was able only to search digital archives of English-language sources, I wonder if any French researchers might learn more about this composition. It would certainly be interesting to hear this symphony.
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.