Germaine Tailleferre

by Georg Predota, Interlude

“Perhaps women have always been in closer contact with reality than men”

Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) was the sole female member of the intriguing group of young French composers eventually known as “Les Six.” Her association with “Les nouveaux jeunes” aside, Tailleferre was a prominent and prolific composer writing in a wide range of musical genres. Her memorable music for opera and ballet is augmented by piano concertos, symphonic works, solo piano pieces, music for small ensembles and well over 40 movie soundtracks. She left behind an extensive body of works representing almost 70 years of compositional engagement and over time forged a distinctive musical voice that valued clarity, spontaneity and charm. Tailleferre strongly believed that a composition would lack artistry if a listener couldn’t identify a composer’s style after three bars. “I write music because it amuses me,” Tailleferre suggested. “It’s not great music, I know, but it’s gay, light-hearted music which is sometimes compared with that of the “petits maîtres” of the 18th century. And that makes me very proud.”

Currently, Tailleferre is considered the “most important French woman composer of all time.” This appreciation, however, has only been forged during the 21st- century, and its cultural reinterpretation and revival of her music. Born Marcelle Taillefesse at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, France, her early years were marked by persistent struggles against her father. He considered music an unworthy pursuit, and a “woman studying music” he once remarked, “was no better than her becoming a streetwalker.” She eventually changed her name to spite her father, but never forgave him for his inflexible attitude towards her artistic gifts. Embittered, “she is said to have regarded his demise in 1916 as something of a relief.” Despites her father’s strong opposition, she began her study of piano and solfege at the Paris Conservatory in 1912, and immediately won various prizes in counterpoint and harmony. Tailleferre quickly caught the eyes of her fellow students Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric and Arthur Honneger. Upon the publication of her first string quartet in 1918, she was welcomed as a major talent into the private musical club that eventually blossomed into “Les Six.”

Les Six © s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

Tailleferre rubbed shoulders with the greatest creative minds of her time. She was a close friend of Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie, a favorite of Jean Cocteau and acquainted with Aaron Copland. Her circle of friends included Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Guillaume Apollinaire, George Balanchine and Sergei Diaghilev, among numerous others. She once remarked that Picasso gave her the “best lesson in composition” she ever received as he told her to “constantly renew yourself; avoid using the recipes that you have already found.” Many of her most important works emerged during the 1920’s, including the First Piano Concerto, the Harp Concertino, the ballets Le marchand d’oiseaux and La nouvelle Cythère, which was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. These highly successful and critically acclaimed compositions were followed by the Concerto for Two Pianos, Chorus, Saxophones, and Orchestra, the Violin Concerto, the opera cycle Du style galant au style méchant, the operas Zoulaïna and Le marin de Bolivar, and La cantate de Narcisse, in collaboration with esteemed French poet Paul Valéry.

Wanting to breathe new life into her career, Tailleferre moved to New York in 1925. Leopold Stokowski, Willem Mengelberg, Serge Koussevitzky, and Alfred Cortot performed her compositions, and her short-lived marriage to the New Yorker magazine artist Ralph Barton further enhanced her celebrity status. Musically reinvigorated and her marriage in tatters she returned to France, but World War II brought her once again to the United States. The war years severely stifled her musical creativity and productivity, and affected a fundamental cultural and artistic dislocation. Upon her return to France in 1946 Tailleferre continued to compose orchestral works, ballet and chamber music. However, most of these works were published posthumously with a substantial number of her compositions still unknown today. She nevertheless continued to compose until a few weeks before her death in 1983, and her last work Concerto de la fidelité pour coloratura soprano et orchestra premiered at the Paris Opera in 1982. Her music never failed to give voice to an extended French artistic tradition, and the seductive grace and charm of her work are perhaps best summed up by Cocteau’s famous assessment of Tailleferre “as the musical equivalent to painter Marie Laurencin.”

Jacques Ibert - his music and his life

Jacques Ibert - Divertissement | | Cristian Măcelaru | WDR Sinfonieorchester

Jacques Ibert was born in Paris in August 15 th 1890. His mother, an accomplished pianist, provided violin, then piano lessons for Jacques, despite his father’s wishes that his son follow in his business profession. From the beginning, Jacques always was more interested in free improvisation on the piano than concentration on technique and repertory.

After deciding to become a composer, his cousin ,Manuel de Falla, encouraged him in this field.

After graduating from secondary school in 1908, he delayed entering the Paris Conservatoire in order to help his father, whose family business had suffered a financial setbacks.

While working there, his plans switched from music to acting, an interest stimulated by meeting actors ,singers, artists and writers during the family’s earlier travels. His interest in theatre would be remain important for him throughout life.

Finally in 1911, Ibert entered the Paris Conservatoire,  and was taught by Pessard , Gédalge, and Vidal. Among his classmates were Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger, with whom he would work later on several occasions. His father unhappy about his music studies, had withdrawn financial support, so Ibert earns his  living by working as an accompagnist and writing light piano pieces and popular songs under a pen name. His previous skill improvisation became useful when he was employed as a pianist at sillent movie théâtres where he composed  scores  to fit the action on the screen. He later was to write over sixty film scores for sound movies.

World war I interrupted Ibert’s studies at the Conservatoire .He joined an army medical unit, and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the French government.

Shortly after returning to the Conservatoire, Ibert stood for the competition for the Premier Grand Prix (Prix de Rome). He won the prize,which meant living up to three years in Rome at the Villa Medici, in October 1919.

During his stay   at the Villa Medici, from February 1920 to May 1923  Ibert produced some of his best known works such as « La Ballade de la Geôle de Reading » and « Escales »..

In 1937 Ibert was named Director of L’Académie de France à Rome, the first musician to hold this post. He was responsible for administrative duties and supervision of the Prix de Rome winners. He held the position until 1960., although World War II forced him to leave Rome for a few years.

In 1955, Ibert was appointed General Administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques nationaux (the combined management of Paris Opera and Opera Comique).

In 1956, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux Arts of the Institut de France. He died in  February 5th  1962.

Germaine Tailleferre - her music and her life

 

Born in Paris on April 19th 1892, French composer Germaine Tailleferre began her studies at the Paris Conservatory in 1904, despite her father’s opposition and her equal ability in art. She studied primarily with Eva Sautereau-Meyer. She was a pianistic prodigy with a phenomenal memory for music which led to her winning many prizes. In 1913, she met Auris, Honegger and Milhaud whilst studying in Georges Caussade’s counterpoint class. Eric Satie was so impressed by her 1917 work Jeux de plein air for two pianos that he described her as his ‘musical daughter’, and through this relationship, Tailleferre’s reputation was substantially advanced. When Les Six was formed in 1919-20, she became its only female member. Her abilities at the harpsichord and affinity for the styles of music originally composed for the instrument stood her in excellent stead as the neo-classicism of Stravinsky began to grow in popularity, though her works retained an influence of Fauré and Ravel. 

Unfortunately, Tailleferre’s circumstances in through much of the rest of her life meant that she never gained much of the same acclaim as the other members of Les Six. After two very unhappy marriages, she found her creative energies drained and due to financial issues was almost unable to compose if not for commission, leading to many uneven and quickly composed works. Moreover, her lack of self-esteem and sense of modesty held her back from publicising herself to a fuller extent. In spite of this, some of concerti of the 1930s saw some success and she was often approached to compose for film. Throughout her career she continued to compose music for children which some writers have suggested helped to retain the spontaneity, freshness and charm that characterises her finest works.