ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about a composer, scientist, inventor, philosopher and Rear-Admiral Jean Cras was a French musician. But this French musician was also Proper Breton. Jean Cras' published compositions may be demarcated into five creative phases, the first of which spans his sixth to twentieth years. Cras first began to publish his works during his second creative phase, 1899-1910. Cras' choices of texts further disclose the philosophical import of this process and consequently, his increasingly masterful integration of words and music. Cras' explicitly autobiographical Quintette pour piano of 1922 begins his fourth and most imaginative period. Consequently, many of the Breton idiosyncrasies Cras suffused into his works may now be traced systematically and scientifically. Cras' allusions to and simulation of Breton ethnic instruments provide the clearest insights to his evocations of Brittany. Cras' very frequent allusions to and actual incorporation of non-European modality merits attention.
