Editing Germaine Tailleferre

{{Short description|French composer (1892–1983)}}
{{more footnotes|date=May 2010}}
{{Infobox classical composer
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Germaine Tailleferre
| honorific_suffix = 
| image            = Germaine Tailleferre et Mario Hacquard 1.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Germaine Tailleferre and Mario Hacquard
| birth_name       = Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1892|04|19|df=y}} 
| birth_place      = [[Saint-Maur-des-Fossés]], [[Val-de-Marne]], France
| baptised         = <!-- Use Baptised if Born date is unavailable, do not use both. -->
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1983|11|07|1892|04|19|df=y}}
| death_place      = Paris, France
| occupations      = <!-- Use this field *only* if the person was also **notable** for contributions in another discipline.  If notable as a composer only, leave blank. -->
| flourished       = <!-- Use as a substitute for <code>born</code> and <code>died</code> where appropriate. -->
| known_for        = <!-- For pre-modern subjects, can be used as an alternative to the anachronistic "occupation"; not used for works (see next parameter). -->
| list_of_works    = <!-- Link to "List of works" subarticle here. Do not list individual pieces. -->
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Ralph Barton]]|1926|1927|end=divorce}}
* {{marriage|Jean Lageat|1932|1955|end=divorce}}
}}
| partner          = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) -->
| children         = 1
| parents          = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters -->
| notable_family   = <!-- e.g. [[Bach family]], [[Mozart family]], etc. Include only those with "family" articles. -->
}}
'''Germaine Tailleferre''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɛʁmɛn tɑjfɛʁ|lang}}; born '''Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse'''; 19 April 1892{{spaced ndash}}7 November 1983) was a French [[composer]] and the only female member of the group of composers known as ''[[Les Six]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-09 |title=Classical home listening: Germaine Tailleferre; Ruth Gipps |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/09/germaine-tailleferre-her-piano-works-revived-1-nicolas-horvath-review-ruth-gipps-winds-of-change-ben-goldscheider-london-chamber-orchestra |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

==Biography==
'''Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse''' was born at [[Saint-Maur-des-Fossés]], [[Val-de-Marne]], 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]] with her mother at home, composing short works of her own, after which she began studying at the [[Conservatoire de Paris|Paris Conservatory]] where she met [[Louis Durey]], [[Francis Poulenc]], [[Darius Milhaud]], [[Georges Auric]], and [[Arthur Honegger]]. 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]], 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]] and [[Montparnasse]], 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 ''[[Les Six]]'' began. The publication of [[Jean Cocteau]]'s manifesto ''Le coq et l'Arlequin'' resulted in [[Henri Collet]]'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]]. Ravel encouraged her to enter the ''[[Prix de Rome]]'' Competition. In 1926, she married [[Ralph Barton]], an American caricaturist, and moved to [[Manhattan]], New York. Barton, like Tailleferre's father, did not support her musical pursuits. In her memoir, Tailleferre mentioned she barely did any composing during the 2 ½ years they were married.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heel |first=Kiri L. |date=2011 |title=Trauma and Recovery in Germaine Tailleferre’s Six chansons françaises (1929) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/wam.2011.0001 |journal=Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=38–69 |doi=10.1353/wam.2011.0001 |issn=1553-0612}}</ref> 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]] during the 1920s), ''La nouvelle Cythère'', which was commissioned by [[Sergei Diaghilev]] for the ill-fated 1929 season of the famous [[Ballets Russes]], and ''Sous les ramparts d'Athènes'' in collaboration with [[Paul Claudel]], as well as several pioneering film scores, including ''B'anda'', in which she used African themes.

Along with these pieces, Tailleferre also had experience with dance choreography thanks to her work with Jean Borlin on ''Le marchand d'oiseaux''. Jean, the chief dancer and official choreographer of the Ballet Suédois, always encouraged composers of new ballets to add their own ideas to the choreography. She would later reminisce on the event, saying how she would dance and run across the stage in her enthusiasm and recklessness, kicking up dust as she went.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hamer |first=Laura |date=2010-08-01 |title=Germaine Tailleferre and Hlne Perdriat's Le Marchand d'oiseaux (1923): French feminist ballet? |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/smt.4.1.113_1 |journal=Studies in Musical Theatre |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=114 |doi=10.1386/smt.4.1.113_1 |issn=1750-3159}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gérard Billaudot Éditeur {{!}} Germaine Tailleferre|url=https://www.billaudot.com/en/composer.php?p=Germaine&n=Tailleferre|access-date=2021-02-23|website=www.billaudot.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hacquard|first=Georges|url=https://www.radioswissclassic.ch/fr/base-de-donnees-musicale/musicien/366398259cdc05ef3aa72fd6d48885a696210/biography?app=true|title=Germaine Tailleferre : La Dame des Six|date=1999|publisher=L'Harmattan|isbn=978-2-7384-7102-4|location=Paris}}</ref>

The 1930s were even more fruitful, with the ''Concerto for Two Pianos, Chorus, Saxophones, and Orchestra'', the ''Violin Concerto'',  the [[Cycle (music)|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]]. Her work in film music included ''Le petit chose'' by [[Maurice Cloche]] 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]].

After the war, in 1946, she returned to her home in France, where she composed [[orchestra]]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]]), ''Dolores'', ''La petite sirène'' (with [[Philippe Soupault]], based on [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s story "[[The Little Mermaid]]"), and ''Le maître'' (to a libretto by [[Eugène Ionesco|Ionesco]]), the [[musical comedy]] ''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 (Tailleferre)|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]]); 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]], [[Seine-et-Marne]], France.<ref>{{cite book|first=Lindsey C.|last=Harnsberger|title=Essential Dictionary of Music: The Most Practical and Useful Music Dictionary for Students and Professionals|location=Los Angeles|publisher=Alfred Publishing Co.|year=1997|page=260|isbn=978-0-88284-728-3}}</ref>

In Britain, BBC Radio 3 broadcast five hours of biography and critique of Tailleferre's works, in one of its series [[Composer of the Week]], including recordings of her works (available as podcasts), in the final week of July 2023.<ref>''Radio Times'', week of 22-27 July 2023</ref>

==Works==
{{main|List of compositions by Germaine Tailleferre}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* Janelle Gelfand: "Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) Piano and Chamber works," Doctoral Dissertation, 1999, University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music 
* {{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/23/arts/one-of-les-six-still-at-work.html|title=One of 'Les Six' Still at Work|last=Mitgang|first=Laura|date=May 23, 1982|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 15, 2019}}
* 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.&nbsp;109–130
* Robert Shapiro: ''Germaine Tailleferre: a Bio-Bibliography'' (Greenwood Press, 1994) {{ISBN| 9780313286421}}
* 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

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Shapiro|first1=Robert|title=Les Six: the French composers and their mentors, Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie|date=2011|publisher=Peter Owen|location=London|isbn=9780720612936|language=en|oclc=743140202}}
*{{cite book|last1=Tailleferre|first1=Germaine|title=Les Mémoires de G. Tailleferre: dossier.|date=1986|publisher=Champion|isbn=2852030128|language=fr|oclc=15103703|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/histoirestragiqu0000band}}
*Women of Note: [http://womenofnote.co.uk womenofnote.co.uk/]
*Classical Music Now- Musik Fabrik Musik Publishing [http://www.classicalmusicnow.com/tailleferre.htm Germaine Tailleferre at Classical Music Now]

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Germaine Tailleferre}}
* {{YouTube|15mzZj69wyE|Suite Burlesque for piano duet (1981)}}
* {{IMDb name|id=nm0846803}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Tailleferre, Germaine}}

{{Germaine Tailleferre}}
{{Les Six}}
{{Neoclassicism (music)}}
{{Authority control}}

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