Louise-Marie Simon (30 November 1903 – 7 March 1990),

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Claude Arrieu, was a prolific

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. She wrote hundreds of works in varying formats, including stage works, concert works, and movie scores. She was also a teacher, and worked as a producer and assistant head of sound effects at French Radio.

Biography

Born in Paris, Arrieu was a classically trained musician from an early age. Her mother,

Cecile Paul Simon Cecile Paul Simon (April 12, 1881 - January 3, 1970) was a French composer who published under at least two pseudonyms and was the mother of composer Louise Marie Simon (also known as Claude Arrieu). Simon was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Little is ...

, was also a composer. Arrieu became particularly interested in works by Bach and

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, and later,

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

. However,

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

, and

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

provided her the most inspiration. Dreaming of a career as a

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

, she entered the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

in 1924. She became a piano student of Marguerite Long and took classes from

Georges Caussade Georges Paul Alphonse Emilien Caussade (20 November 1873 – 5 August 1936) was a French composer, music theorist, and music educator. Biography Born in Port Louis, Mauritius, he joined the faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris in 1905 as a teac ...

Noël Gallon Noël Jean-Charles André Gallon (11 September 1891 – 26 December 1966) was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a ''Toccata'' for piano, a ''Sonata ...

Jean Roger-Ducasse Jean Jules Aimable Roger-Ducasse (Bordeaux, 18 April 1873 – Le Taillan-Médoc ( Gironde), 19 July 1954) was a French composer. Biography Jean Roger-Ducasse studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Émile Pessard and André Gedalge, and was t ...

and Paul Dukas. In 1932, she received first prize for composition. From this point on, she developed her personal style. She was particularly interested in the evolution of musical language and various technical means available. In 1935, she joined the French Radio Broadcasting Program Service (« Service des programmes de la Radiodiffusion française »), where she was employed to 1947. She participated in the development of a wide range of programming, including Pierre Schaeffer's experimental

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

series, ''La Coquille à planètes'' (1943–1944). In 1949, she won the Prix Italia of the RAI for her score ''Frédéric Général''. She wrote music in all styles, composing works of "pure music" as well as music for

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, radio, and

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

, contributing her own voice to every situation, dramatic or comic, with a particular taste for

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

and imagery. Her musical gift is typified by its ease of flow and elegance of

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

. Vivacity, clarity of expression, and a natural feel for

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

are her hallmarks. Arrieu composed

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(1932), two pianos (1934), two concertos for

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(1938 and 1949), for

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(1946),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and strings (1965). She also wrote ''Petite suite en cinq parties'' (1945), "Concerto for wind quintet and strings" (1962), ''Suite funambulesque'' ("Tightrope Walker's Suite") (1961), and "Variations for classical strings" (1970). Among her important

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

compositions are her Trio for Woodwinds (1936), Sonatina for two violins (1937), and Clarinet Quartet (1964). Her Sonatine for flute and piano made a big impression at its first radio performance in 1944 by Jean-Pierre Rampal and H. Moyens. Although Arrieu's instrumental works strongly contributed to her legacy, it is vocal music that most markedly distinguish her career. Voice inspired her to set many poems to music, including those by Joachim du Bellay, Louise Levêque de Vilmorin,

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

Jean Tardieu Jean Tardieu (born in Saint-Germain-de-Joux, Ain, 1 November 1903, died in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, 27 January 1995) was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. Life and career He earned a degree in literature and worked for a publi ...

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

, and

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

. Examples include ''Chansons bas'' for voice and piano based on poems by Mallarmé (1937); ''Candide'', radio music on texts by Jean Tardieu based on

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

; and ''À la Libération'', cantata of seven poems on love in war, on poems by Paul Éluard. Her first opéra bouffe, ''Cadet Roussel'' with a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by André de la Tourasse after Jean Limozin, was presented at the Opéra de Marseille on 2 October 1953. In 1960, ''La Princesse de Babylone'', an opéra bouffe after the work of Voltaire adapted by Pierre Dominica, was praised for its lyrical originality and spectacle. Noteworthy

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s include: ''Les Gueux au paradis'' (1946), ''Crèvecoeur'' (1955), ''Niok l'éléphant'' (1957), ''Marchands de rien'' (1958), ''Le Tombeur'' (1958), and ''Julie Charles'' (for

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, 1974). Pierre Schaeffer wrote: "Claude Arrieu is part of her time by virtue of a presence, an instinct of efficiency, a bold fidelity. Whatever the means, concertos or songs, music for official events, concerts for the elite or for a crowd of spectators, she delivered emotion through an impeccable technique and a spiritual vigilance, finding the path to the heart."

Notable Compositions

Trio d'anches / Reed Trio, 1936 1. Allegro. 2. Pastorale et Scherzo. 3. Final. 9 mins. Ob, cl, bn Arrieu was 33 when she wrote the Reed Trio; it was commissioned by the ''Trio D’Anches de Paris''; Poulenc (1926), Milhaud (''Suite d’après Michel Corrette'', op 161, 1937) Ibert (1935), and Auric (1938) had also composed for them. However, her Trio shows the care she took with the part writing, sharing the material equally between the three instruments. The opening ''Allegretto ritmico'' is a swaggering mock march, with contrasting, nostalgic episodes. Initially the ''Pastorale et Scherzo'' is tender and swaying; the 3-time continues, faster and cheekily, and includes its own ‘middle section’. The Final, ''Allègrement'', emulates the military manner, even in 3-time; then comes a ‘proper’, 4-time, steadier parade. Her wittiness is mischievous, producing teasingly foiled expectations in a mildly anarchic manner. Published by Amphion Editions. The Ambache CD recording is on ''Liberté, Egalité, Sororité''. It can be bought on Ambache Recordings Liberté, Egalité, Sororitéhttp://womenofnote.co.uk/recordings/: . Wind Dixtuor. 1967 Wind Dixtuor, 1967 (rev. 1989) 1. Allegretto moderato. 2. Moderato - Allegro scherzando - Andante - Tempo primo. 3. Andante - Allegro scherzando. 2 fl, ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, hn, tpt, tbn The humorous first movement has slightly grotesque leaps in the main theme. An intermezzo quality characterizes the outer sections of the second movement, around a brief scherzando. Next, a pastoral 6/8 precedes a bustling second scherzando. The singing wind writing is taken up again in the Cantabile, and the whole is rounded off with an energetic finale, which ends in a characteristically French gesture - with surprising gentleness. This piece was premiered at RTF by the Birbaum Ensemble.

Works List

Opera *''Noé'', 1931–1934 (imagerie musicale, 3 acts, A. Obey), f.p. Strasbourg Opéra, 29 January 1950 *''Cadet Roussel'', 1938–1939 (opéra bouffe, 5 acts, André de la Tourasse after Jean Limozin), f.p. Marseilles, Opéra, 2 October 1953 *''La Coquille à planètes'' (opéra radiophonique, Pierre Schaeffer), RTF ( Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française), 1944 *''Le deux rendez-vous'', 1948 (opéra comique, P. Bertin after G. de Nerval), RTF, 22 June 1951 *''Le chapeau à musique'' (opéra enfantine, 2 acts, Tourasse and P. Dumaine), RTF, 1953 *''La princesse de Babylone'', 1953–1955 (opéra bouffe, 3 acts, P. Dominique, after Voltaire), Rheims, Opéra, 3 March 1960 *''La cabine téléphonique'' (opéra bouffe, 1 act, M. Vaucaire), RTF, 15 March 1959 *''Cymbeline'', 1958–1963 (2 acts, J. Tournier and M. Jacquemont, after Shakespeare), ORTF, 31 March 1974 *''Balthazar, ou Le mort–vivant'', 1966 (opéra bouffe, 1 act, Dominique), Unperformed *''Un clavier pour un autre'' (opéra bouffe, 1 act, J. Tardieu), Avignon, Opéra, 3 April 1971 *''Barbarine'', 1972 (3 acts, after A. de Musset), incomplete *''Les amours de Don Perlimpin et Belise en son jardin'' (imaginaire lyrique, 4 tableaux, after F. Garcia Lorca), Tours, Grand Théâtre, 1 March 1980 Chamber Music * ''Cinq mouvements'', 1964 (clarinet quartet: E-flat, two B-flat, and bass), premiered by the Belgian Clarinet Quartet in Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany * ''Concerto en ut'', 1938 (2 pianos and orchestra) * ''Deux pieces'', 1966 (string quintet, harp, horn, and percussion), premiered at ORTF under the direction of Freddy Alberti * ''Fantaisie lyrique'', 1959 ( ondes Martenot and piano), contest piece for the Paris Conservatory * ''Impromptu II'', 1985 (oboe and piano) * ''Passe-pied'', 1966 (cello and piano) * ''Quintette en ut'', 1952 (wind quintet), premiered by the French Wind Quintet in Sarrebrück, Germany, 1952 * ''Suite en trio'', 1955 (bamboo pipes: soprano, alto in A or G, and bass) * ''Suite en quatre'', 1980 (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon), premiered by the Soni Ventorum Ensemble in Washington, U.S., 19 January 1980 Vocal Music * ''A traduire en esthionen'', 1947 (René Chalupt) * ''Ah! Si j'étais un oiseau'', 1946 (choir: three equal parts, Samivel) * ''Attributs'', 1947 (René Chalupt) * ''Chanson de Marianne'', 1947 (soprano and/or baritone and piano, Max Jacob) * ''Dix Chansons: Folklore de France'', 1957 (unison choir, flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, and strings) * ''Rondeaux de Clément Marot'', 1950 (choir: three equal parts) * ''Rue des Ormeaux'', 1953 (music for radio, Claude Roy) Teaching Pieces * ''Caprice'', 1976 (B-flat or C trumpet and piano) * ''Cerf-volant'', 1976 (piano) * ''Conte d'hiver'', 1976 (bass trombone and piano) * ''Escapade'', 1976 (piano) * ''Intermède'', 1966 (B-flat or C trumpet and piano) * ''Introduction'', scherzo et choral, 1986 (tenor trombone and piano) * ''La fête'', 1976 (clarinet and piano) * ''La poupée casée'', 1976 (piano) * ''Le cœur volant'', 1976 (horn and piano) * ''Lectures pour piano'', 1968 (piano) ** Volume 1: I. Nonchalance, II. L'hiver est fini, III. Bavardes, IV. Carnet de bal ** Volume 2: V. Ingénue, VI. Capricieuse, VII. Malicieuse, VIII. Péronelle * ''L'enfant sage'', 1976 (piano) * ''L'étourdi'', 1979 (B-flat or C trumpet and piano) * ''Manu militari'', 1979 (B-flat or C trumpet and piano) * ''Ménétrier'', 1965 (B-flat or C trumpet or cornet and piano) * ''Nocturne'', 1976 (oboe and piano) * ''Nostalgie'', 1980 (flute and piano) * ''Pauvre Pierre'', 1976 (flute and piano) * ''Petit choral'', 1980 (clarinet and piano) * ''Petit récit'', 1976 (piano) * ''Prélude pastoral'', 1976 (piano) * ''Promenade mélancolique'', 1976 (piano) * ''Questionnaire'', 1976 (piano) * ''Retour au village'', 1986 (B-flat or C trumpet and piano) * ''Rêverie'', 1979 (B-flat or C trumpet and piano) * ''Six-huit'', 1965 (Bb or C trumpet and piano) * ''Trois duos faciles'', 1977 (two flutes) * ''Trois duos faciles'', 1977 (flute and bassoon) * ''Trois duos faciles'', 1977 (two oboes) * ''Un jour d'été'', 1976 (clarinet and piano) * ''Valse'', 1948 (piano) * ''Voyage en hiver'', 1976 (flute and piano)

References

Sources

*Sadie, Stanley (Ed.)

992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...

(1994). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol. 1, A-D, chpt: "Arrieu, Claude" by Richard Langham Smith, New York: MacMillan. .
IMDb: Claude Arrieu - Filmography
* Fr.Wikipedia: Claude Arrieu
Editions Billaudot: Claude Arrieu

External links

Radio France
oxfordmusiconline.com
Nearly Complete Catalogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrieu, Claude 1903 births 1990 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French composers 20th-century French women musicians Women opera composers French women classical composers French film score composers French women film score composers French opera composers 20th-century women composers Pseudonyms