Germaine Tailleferre (; born Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse; 19 April 18927 November 1983) was a French composer and the only female member of the group of composers known as ''

Les Six "Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in ' ...

''.

Biography

Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse was born at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés,

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a p ...

, France, but as a young woman she changed her last name from "Taillefesse" to "Tailleferre" to spite her father, who had refused to support her musical studies. She studied

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 keybo ...

with her mother at home, composing short works of her own, after which she began studying at the

Paris Conservatory 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 ...

where she met

Louis Durey Louis Edmond Durey (; 27 May 18883 July 1979)Randel, Don Michael (1996)The Harvard biographical dictionary of music, p. 232. Harvard University Press. . was a French composer. Life Louis Durey was born in Paris, the son of a local businessman. It ...

, Francis Poulenc,

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

Georges Auric Georges Auric (; 15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, France. He was considered one of ''Les Six'', a group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. Before he turned 20 he ...

, and

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

. At the Paris Conservatory her skills were rewarded with prizes in several categories. Most notably, Tailleferre wrote 18 short works in the ''Petit livre de harpe de Madame Tardieu'' for

Caroline Luigini Caroline Luigini, called ''Câline'', (2 November 1873 in Lyon – 1968 in Paris, aged 94) was a French musician, harpist and professor of harp of Italian origin, born from a family of musicians of Modena, who was the pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns. ...

, the Conservatory's Assistant Professor of harp. With her new friends, she soon was associating with the artistic crowd in the Paris districts of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

and

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

, including the sculptor Emmanuel Centore who later married her sister Jeanne. It was in the Montparnasse atelier of one of her painter friends where the initial idea for ''

'' began. The publication of

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 s ...

's manifesto ''Le coq et l'Arlequin'' resulted in

Henri Collet Henri Collet (; 5 November 1885 – 23 November 1951) was a French composer and music critic who lived in Paris. Biography Born in Paris, Collet first studied at the Conservatory of Music at Bordeaux before going to Madrid to study Spanish liter ...

's media articles that led to instant fame for the group, of which Tailleferre was the only female member. In 1923, Tailleferre began to spend a great deal of time with Maurice Ravel at his home in

Montfort-l'Amaury Montfort-l'Amaury () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region, north central France. It is located north of Rambouillet. The name comes from Amaury I de Montfort, the first ''seigneur'' (lord) of Montfort. Geogra ...

. Ravel encouraged her to enter the ''

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

'' Competition. In 1926, she married

Ralph Barton Ralph Waldo Emerson Barton (August 14, 1891 – May 19, 1931) was a popular American cartoonist and caricaturist of actors and other celebrities. His work was in heavy demand through the 1920s and has been considered to epitomize the era, but hi ...

, an American caricaturist, and moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York. She remained in the United States until 1927, when she and her husband returned to France. They divorced shortly thereafter. Tailleferre wrote many of her most important works during the 1920s, including her ''First Piano Concerto'', the ''Harp Concertino'', the ballets ''Le marchand d'oiseaux'' (the most frequently performed ballet in the repertoire of the

Ballets suédois Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

during the 1920s), ''La nouvelle Cythère'', which was commissioned by

Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pa ...

for the ill-fated 1929 season of the famous Ballets Russes, and ''Sous les ramparts d'Athènes'' in collaboration with

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

, as well as several pioneering film scores, including ''B'anda'', in which she used African themes. In 1931 she gave birth to her only child, daughter Françoise Lageat, with lawyer Jean Lageat. The couple married one year later and would later divorce in 1955 after years of separation. The 1930s were even more fruitful, with 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 her masterwork, ''La cantate de Narcisse'', in collaboration with

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...

. Her work in film music included ''Le petit chose'' by

Maurice Cloche Maurice Cloche (17 June 1907, Commercy, Meuse – 23 March 1990, Bordeaux, France) was a French film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. Best known for his Oscar-winning film ''Monsieur Vincent'' (1947) he won a 1948 Special Acad ...

and a series of documentaries. At the outbreak of World War II, she was forced to leave the majority of her scores at her home in Grasse, with the exception of her recently completed ''Three Études for Piano and Orchestra''. Escaping across Spain to Portugal, she found passage on a boat that took her to the United States, where she lived the war years in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. After the war, in 1946, she returned to her home in France, where she composed

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l and chamber music, plus numerous other works including the ballets ''Paris-Magie'' (with Lise Delarme) and ''Parisiana'' (for the Royal Ballet of Copenhagen), the operas ''Il était un petit navire'' (with

Henri Jeanson Henri Jules Louis Jeanson (6 March 1900 in Paris – 6 November 1970 in Équemauville) was a French writer and journalist. He was a "satrap" in the "College of 'Pataphysics". As a journalist before World War II Jeanson was born on 6 March ...

), ''Dolores'', ''La petite sirène'' (with

Philippe Soupault Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault in ...

, based on Hans Christian Andersen's story "

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

"), and ''Le maître'' (to a libretto by Ionesco), the

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

''Parfums'', the ''Concerto des vaines paroles'' for baritone voice, piano, and orchestra, the ''Concerto for Soprano and Orchestra'', the ''Concertino for Flute, Piano, and Orchestra'', the ''Second Piano Concerto'', the ''Concerto for Two Guitars and Orchestra'', her ''Second Sonata for Violin and Piano'', and the ''Sonata for Harp'', as well as an impressive number of film and television scores. The majority of this music was not published until after her death. In 1976, she accepted the post of accompanist for a children's music and movement class at the ''École alsacienne'', a private school in Paris. During the last period of her life, she concentrated mainly on smaller forms due to increasing problems with arthritis in her hands. She nevertheless produced the '' Sonate champêtre'' for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and piano; the ''Sonata for Two Pianos''; ''Chorale and Variations for Two Pianos or Orchestra''; a series of children's songs (on texts by

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 publ ...

); and pieces for young pianists. Her last major work was the ''Concerto de la fidelité'' for coloratura soprano and orchestra, which was premièred at the Paris Opera the year before her death. Germaine Tailleferre continued to compose right up until a few weeks before her death, on 7 November 1983 in Paris. She is buried in

Quincy-Voisins Quincy-Voisins () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne governmental department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants of the commune are called ''Quincéens'' in French. Twin towns The town is twinned ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, France.

Works

''See List of compositions by Germaine Tailleferre''

Selected bibliography

* Janelle Gelfand "Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) Piano and Chamber works," Doctoral Dissertation, 1999 University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music *Laura Mitgang, ONE OF 'LES SIX' STILL AT WORK, NY Times May 23, 1982 * Laura Mitgang "Germaine Tailleferre: Before, During and After Les Six" in The Musical Woman, Vol. 11 Judith Lang Zaimont, editor (Greenwood Press 1987) * Caroline Potter/Robert Orledge: "Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983): A Centenary Appraisal" Muziek & Wetenshap 2 (Summer 1992) pp. 109–130 * Robert Shapiro "Germaine Tailleferre: a Bio-Bibliography" (Greenwood Press 1994) * Samuel Anthony Silva "In Her Own Voice: Exploring the Role of the Piano in the Deuxième Sonate pour Violine et Piano by Germaine Taillferre," Doctoral Dissertation, 2008 University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music *Genevieve McGahey "Is life not an eternal new beginning?':Uncovering Germaine Tailleferre's Marchand d'oiseaux", Undergraduate Music Honors Thesis, 2012, Swarthmore College; recipient of the Melvin B.Troy Prize in Music & Dance

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tailleferre, Germaine 1892 births 1983 deaths 20th-century classical composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni Composers for piano Concert band composers French classical composers French women classical composers French film score composers French women film score composers Les Six Neoclassical composers French opera composers People from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés French ballet composers 20th-century women composers 20th-century French composers 20th-century French women musicians Composers for harp

Biography

Works

Selected bibliography

References

Further reading

External links