Nadia and Lili Boulanger were daughters of Ernest Boulanger, who taught at the Paris Conservatoire. Both studied with and were influenced by notable French composer Gabriel Faure. Both competed for the Prix de Rome prize in composition – Nadia won second place, Lili was the first woman to win the prize. Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) Marie-Juliette…
“Music, I feel, must be emotional first and intellectual second.” Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France, near the border with Spain, which created a life-long appreciation of Spanish culture. Ravel is slightly younger than Claude Debussy, whose work Ravel admired. Ravel’s focus on technical perfection of composition surely stems from the detailed work of…
The primary aim of French music is to give pleasure Claude Debussy Achille-Claude Debussy, though one of the best known Impressionist composers today was not a fan of the Impressionist label. He admired the work of Richard Wagner and sought to liberate tone, sound and texture even further from the straight-jacket of contrived form. Debussy’s…
