Isabelle Aboulker (born 23 October 1938) is a French composer, particularly known for her operas and other vocal works. In 1999, she gained a prize from the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

and in 2000 the music prize of the

Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques ( en, Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors. The Society manages, promotes ...

for her numerous lyric pieces.

Life and work

Isabelle Aboulker was born in the Parisian suburb of

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the Parisian area, located from its centre. It is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and t ...

. Her father was the Algerian-born film director and writer

Marcel Aboulker Marcel Aboulker (1 January 1905 in Algiers – 7 September 1952 in Garches) was a French Algerian screenwriter and film director. Aboulker built up a successful career from the late 1940s directing comedy films before his death from illness at the ...

and her maternal grandfather was the composer

Henry Février Henry Février (2 October 18756 July 1957) was a French composer. Biography Henry Février was born in Paris, France, on 2 October 1875. He married and had a son, the pianist Jacques Février. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his ...

. While following a course in composition and keyboard studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, she started composing for the theatre, the cinema and television. She then worked for the Conservatoire as their chief accompanist and voice teacher and authored several educational works. In 1980, she turned to composing operas and subsequently many other vocal works. Because of her work with children, Isabelle Aboulker made a particular speciality of composing pieces, which would appeal to them or in which they could participate, as they do in ''Les Fables enchantées'', based on the work of

Jean de la Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...

. Other subjects have included Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Tom Thumb (''Petit Poucet''). Among her work for adults are two operas based on plays by

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

and settings of poems by Guillevic and

Charles Cros Charles Cros or Émile-Hortensius-Charles Cros (October 1, 1842 – August 9, 1888) was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude. Cros was a well-regarded poet and humorous writer. As an inventor, he was interested in the field ...

. In 1998, she was commissioned by the Orchestre de Picardie to write the

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

''L'Homme qui titubait dans la guerre'' to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the ending of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and this was subsequently chosen to represent France when

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

became European city of culture in 1999. To celebrate the second centenary of

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

's birth that same year she was commissioned by the Grand Théâtre in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

to write the comic opera ''Monsieur de Balzac fait son théâtre''. The 2011 contemporary classical album

Troika Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three') may refer to: Cultural tradition * Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia * Troika (dance), a Russian folk dance Pol ...

includes Isabelle Aboulker's song cycle ''Caprice étrange'', set to poems written in French by 19th-century Russian poets

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...

Aleksandr Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

and

Fyodor Tyutchev Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Тю́тчев, r=Fyódor Ivánovič Tyútčev, links=1, p=ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈtʲʉt͡ɕːɪf; Pre-Reform orthography: ; – ) was a Russian poet and diplomat. ...

."Troika: Russia’s westerly poetry in three orchestral song cycles"
Rideau Rouge Records, ASIN: B005USB24A, 2011.

References

Note

*The article is based on French-language resources at th
website on the composer
and th
Classical Composers database
1938 births Conservatoire de Paris faculty Conservatoire de Paris alumni Women opera composers French women classical composers French opera composers French people of Algerian descent Living people People from Boulogne-Billancourt Women music educators {{France-composer-stub