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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)

Composer of the Week: Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983): Episode 2: Les Six: 1920s

Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)

Episode 2

Episode 2: Les Six: 1920s

Les Six: 1920s

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), Les Six: 1920s

Donald Macleod follows Tailleferre's activities after leaving the Paris Conservatoire.

Donald Macleod follows Tailleferre's activities after leaving the prestigious Paris Conservatoire, including joining the group of composers who became known as 'Les Six'.

Germaine Tailleferre's music is championed by Eric Satie. Calling her his "musical daughter", soon Tailleferre joins the young composers who eventually become known as "Les Six".

There can't be many instances where studying music is likened to being a street-walker on one of the most shady streets in Paris. That was the accusation Germaine Tailleferre's father hurled at her, a child prodigy who wanted to take her music studies more seriously. It fell to Tailleferre's enterprising mother to come up with a solution. After her father left for work, Tailleferre was escorted to her music lessons each day by some obliging local nuns.

This unpromising start turned into a long and largely successful career in which Tailleferre continued to write music up to her death, at the age of 91, in 1983. 
Fame found Tailleferre early on, in the 1920s, when she was a member of the group of musicians eventually titled "Les Six". Initially championed by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, two of the most influential voices among the Parisian avant-garde, the group, which comprised Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey and Tailleferre, prospered in a heady environment of artistic expression and friendship. Extending across the Arts, they collaborated with Picasso, Georges Braque and Marie Laurencin and poets like Paul Claudel, Paul Valery, Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob. 
Two disastrous marriages and the occupation of France during the second world war curtailed Tailleferre's musical activities and may at least in part explain why her early fame dwindled in later years. Yet, while much of her music remains in manuscript form, including a large body of music for film, television and radio, happily this shadowy figure among "Les Six" is returning to the limelight. Presenting her work for the first time on "Composer of the Week", Tailleferre's published legacy reveals a rich treasure trove of chamber works, solo piano, concertos, ballets, operas and songs.

Today Donald Macleod follows Tailleferre's activities after leaving the prestigious Paris Conservatoire. Identified by Erick Satie and given Jean Cocteau's seal of approval, Tailleferre's reputation grows through concerts of her work and the glowing critical reception to her String Quartet and her lyrical first sonata for violin and piano.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of French composer Germaine Tailleferre

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Germaine Tailleferre, whose published legacy reveals a rich treasure trove of chamber works, solo piano, concertos, ballets, operas and songs

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Composer of the Week

Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)

Episode 2: Les Six: 1920s

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