Cécile Anne Marie Antoinette Sauvage (; 20 July 1883 – 26 August 1927) was a French poet. She was the author of collections ''Tandis que la terre tourne'' (1910) and ''Le Vallon'' (1913). Her love poetry was posthumously collected and published by Béatrice Marchal in the volume ''Cécile Sauvage: Écrits d'amour'' (2009). Sauvage was the mother of French composer

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

. In Francophone circles, she is often called the 'poetess of maternity'.

Biography

Sauvage was born in

La Roche-sur-Yon La Roche-sur-Yon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Vendée Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loire Regions of France, region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is '' ...

on 20 July 1883. Her father, Gal Prosper Sauvage, was a schoolteacher of history, married to Marie-Eugénie Jolivet. In 1888, Sauvage's family moved to Provence, where she subsequently grew up in

Digne-les-Bains Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the Franco-Provençal, classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Alpe ...

alongside her younger sister, Germaine, and brother, André. At twenty years old, Sauvage wrote a long poem, "''Les trois Muses''" (The Three Muses). Her father, who encouraged his daughter in her literary endeavors, passed along the work to the poet

Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...

, who further encouraged her to submit to a literary journal. In May 1905, this poem was received at ''La Revue forézienne'', a literary journal based in Saint-Étienne. The journal's editor, Pierre Messiaen, was struck by the composition; Messiaen and Sauvage entered into correspondence that blossomed into romance and were married on 9 September 1907 at a church in Sieyes, near

Digne Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte ...

. In 1907, more of Sauvage's poetry was published in the Parisian literary journal ''

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

''. Sauvage and Messiaen moved to Avignon. The couple's first son, Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles, was born on 10 December 1908. In 1909, the Sauvage-Messiaen family moved to

Ambert Ambert (; Auvergnat: ''Embèrt'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Puy-de-Dôme Departments of France, department in Auvergne (region), Auvergne in central France. Administration Ambert is the seat of the canton of Ambert and the arrondiss ...

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

, where Messiaen was appointed as a local schoolteacher. In 1910, Sauvage's first full poetry collection, ''Tandis que la terre tourne'', was published with the Parisian publishing house,

. One of the subcollections in this work is titled ''L'Âme en bourgeon'' (The Soul in Bud): a collection about maternity, inspired by Sauvage's pregnancy with and birth of Olivier, this series of poems has endured as Sauvage's most famous and recognizable work. Messiaen1913

On 10 August 1912, Sauvage gave birth to a second son, Alain André Prosper (who would likewise become a poet, while residing with her brother André in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. In 1913, Sauvage's second collection of poetry, ''Le Vallon'', was published with Mercure de France. Following Pierre Messiaen's appointment as a teacher of English language and literature at a ''lycée'' in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, Sauvage moved with her husband and children to Nantes in February 1914. Following the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and Pierre Messiaen's being called to serve as an interpreter for the British forces, Sauvage moved to Grenoble and lived there until autumn 1918. In 1919, the Sauvage-Messiaen family decided to move to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

so as to allow for Olivier to develop his musical talents at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

. Sauvage apparently wrote extensively during this time period, including several long, now mostly-lost dramas in verse: these were titled ''Aimer après la mort, Hémérocalle et la guerre'' and ''Hémérocalle et l’amour.'' However, Sauvage published nothing. Her health deteriorated and on 26 August 1927, Sauvage died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

at the

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu () was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris being the oldest an ...

in the presence of her sons and husband. Pierre Messiaen organized the posthumous publication of a book in praise of Sauvage's work, ''Cécile Sauvage: Études et souvenirs'', issued in 1928 with a Saint-Étienne publisher, Édition des Amitiés. In 1929, Messiaen edited a volume of Sauvage's works for publication with Parisian publisher Mercure de France, titled ''Œuvres'' ''de Cécile Sauvage''. This 1929 volume contained previously unpublished poetry collections by Sauvage. However, as Béatrice Marchal has demonstrated, the new material was heavily edited by Messiaen in the course of preparation for publication. Messiaen also released a slim collection of letter extracts penned by Sauvage, ''Lettres à Pierre Messiaen'', in 1930 (Édition des Amitiés). Family friend and fellow writer

Henri Pourrat The French writer and folklore collector Henri Pourrat was born in 1887 in Ambert, a town in the mountainous Auvergne region of central France. He died near Ambert in 1959. Biography Born to an Ambert shop-owner, Pourrat finished secondary school ...

dedicated a work to Sauvage, titled ''La Veillée de novembre'' (1937). In 2009, Béatrice Marchal transcribed and published manuscripts of love poetry composed by Sauvage between 1914-1915. Marchal demonstrated that these sensual love poems were written by Sauvage to her lover, Jean de Gourmont, an editor at Mercure de France with whom Sauvage had an affair sometime in 1914. Marchal noted that Pierre Messiaen heavily edited portions of these manuscripts for publication in his 1929 ''Œuvres'' ''de Cécile Sauvage''. Marchal's 2009 volume reflects a more complete picture of Sauvage's work and transcribes the love poems in their surviving entirety. Plaque Digne

Sauvage's surviving manuscripts and letters are now at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

, where they are catalogued under the "Archives privées" of the Fonds Olivier Messiaen et Yvonne Loriod.

Work

* ''Tandis que la terre tourne'',

, 1910 * ''Le Vallon'', Mercure de France, 1913 * ''Œuvres'' ''de Cécile Sauvage,'' Mercure de France, 1929 * ''Lettres à Pierre Messiaen'', Édition des Amitiés, 1930 * ''L’Âme en bourgeon,'' Steff, 1955 * ''L’Âme en bourgeon,'' Séguier Archimbaud, 1987 * ''Tandis que la terre tourne,'' Séguier Archimbaud, 1991 * ''Œuvres'' ''complètes,'' Table Ronde, 2002. B: The title is misleading. This volume is a reproduction of ''Œuvres'' ''de Cécile Sauvage'' (1929) and as such is ''not'' the complete works.* ''Écrits'' ''d’amour'', Cerf, 2009

References

Cited sources

* Béatrice Marchal: ''Cécile Sauvage. Écrits d'amour'', Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 2009.

External links

* http://www.poemswithoutfrontiers.org/Sauvage.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauvage, Cecile 20th-century French poets Olivier Messiaen 1883 births People from La Roche-sur-Yon 1927 deaths

Biography

Work

References

Cited sources

Further reading

External links