Yvonne Rokseth (, 17 July 1890 – 23 August 1948) was a French composer, musicologist, organist, violinist, and writer. She was active in the French resistance during World War II and is best known for her research on

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

Life and career

Yvonne Rihouët was born in Maisons-Laffitte. Her father was a law officer at the appellate court in Paris. She studied music at the Paris Conservatory, the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded i ...

, and the Sorbonne. Her teachers included

Abel Decaux Abel-Marie Alexis Decaux (11 February 1869 – 19 March 1943) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue, best known for his piano suite ''Clairs de lune'', some of the earliest pieces of dodecaphonic, yet impressionist music. A student of ...

, Vincent d'Indy, Andre Pirro, and

Albert Roussel Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...

. Her dissertation was entitled (''Organ Music of the 15th and Early 16th Centuries''). The Schola Cantorum awarded a prize for her composition ''Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra''. Rokseth had a daughter, Odile Ledieu, in 1918. She married the Norwegian literary scholar in 1925, and they had two daughters, Anne-Cécile and Ève-Marie. In 1921, Rokseth began working as an organist at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Paris, later moving to be the organist for a Danish church nearby. In 1933, she became a librarian at the Paris Conservatory. Rokseth began teaching musicology at the University of Strasbourg in 1937. Her students included

Pauline Alderman Edith Pauline Alderman (January 16, 1893 – October 11, 1983) was an American musicologist and composer. She was the founder and the first Chairwoman of the Department of Music History and Literature (musicology) at the University of Southern C ...

and Jacques Chailley. She started a choir there in 1939, played viola and piano, and organized concerts. During World War II, Rokseth hid (probably Jewish) students in her apartment, distributed pamphlets for the French Resistance, and allowed radio programs for the Resistance to be transmitted from her apartment. She was later awarded a medal for her work during the war. In 1948, Rokseth was awarded the ''Medaille du Concours des Antiquites de la France'' for her four-volume work ''Polyphonies du XIIIe Siecle olyphony of the 13th Century'. She published several books and many articles about musicology, including 47 book reviews. Rokseth died in Strasbourg in 1948. Rokseth's works were published by

Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre (commonly referred to as L'Oiseau-Lyre) is a French music publishing company and a classical music record label that specialises in Early and Baroque music. It was founded in 1932 as a publisher of scholarly editions ...

and the . Her publications include:

Articles and books

*47 book reviews *Articles for academic journals *''Polyphonies du XIIIe Siecle'' (four volumes) *''Tabulature pour le jeu d'orgues'' (by anonymous; edited by Rokseth) *''Deux livres d'orgue'' (originally published by

Pierre Attaingnant Pierre Attaingnant (or Attaignant) (c. 1494 – late 1551 or 1552) was a French Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, active in Paris. Life Attaingnant is considered to be first large-scale publisher of single-impression movable type for ...

; edited by Rokseth)

Compositions

Chamber music

*Piano Quintet *Sonata for Violin *String Quartet

Keyboard

*Organ and piano pieces

Orchestra

*''Fantasy'' (piano and orchestra)

Vocal

Cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

''Lamentation de la vièrge au pied de la croix'' (transcription of a 13th-century work) * Oratorio ''Te Deum'' (c. 1925, solo voices, choir, organ and orchestra) *Songs

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rokseth, Yvonne French women composers French women musicologists 20th-century French musicologists French Resistance 1890 births 1948 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg