Born Germaine Taillefesse… she changed her last name to spite her father, who tried to forbid her a career in music…Germaine Tailleferre was the only female member of the famed generation of French composers known as The Six.
Tailleferre entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1904, where her colleagues, the future Les Six, were students or acquaintances: Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, George Auric, Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, and herself. Equally important to her artistic formation was the eccentric composer Eric Satie, who named Germaine his “musical daughter.” Satie served as an artistic godfather and promoter to the young composers, followed by the famed dramatist Jean Cocteau.
Tailleferre composed several successful orchestral works and ballets in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but difficulties abounded: her father was abusive; she needed to teach to support her ailing mother after his death; she suffered two unhappy marriages (both with men who were opposed to her composing); and many of her manuscripts were burned by Nazi soldiers to heat her commandeered house during World War II.
Nevertheless, she continued to compose prolifically, developing a special focus on film and television scores. Regarding her obstacles, she said, “I do not like to talk about it, because I write happy music as a release. But anyway, things were always against me.”
Composing until her last days, Tailleferre lived into her nineties, the last of Les Six.
Germaine Tailleferre… a Composing Woman.
Repertoire
Jeux de plein air (1918)
Le marchand d’oiseaux (1923) ballet
Piano Concerto (1923-4)
Concertino for Harp (1927)
Cantate du Narcisse (1938)
Violin Sonata No. 2 (1947-8)
Concerto des vaines paroles (1954)
Clarinet Sonata (1957)
Piano Trio (begun in 1916-7, finished in 1978)
Supporting Materials
