The Life and Music of Lili Boulanger

The history of classical music is littered with the stories of
great composers who tragically died young. The composer I’ve been
talking about for the last two episodes, Franz Schubert, died at
31. Mozart died at 36, Mendelssohn at 38, Bizet at 37, Gershwin
at 38, Gideon Klein at 25, Purcell at 36. The composer I will
tell you about today is part of this sad list. Lili Boulanger,
one of the most talented and promising composers of her era, died
at the age of just 24, and her entire life since the age of 2 was
marked by illness and poor health. In her short life she wrote
around 24 works, many of which show extraordinary prowess for
such a young composer. Boulanger was the first woman to win the
famous Prix de Rome, a French composition prize won by past
luminairies such as Berlioz, Gounod, Debussy, Faure, Massenet,
and many other greats of French composition. It was also won by
Boulanger’s father, a story we’ll get to as we go through
Boulanger’s life. Her music was marked by the influences of
impressionism, but also by the influence of her perhaps more well
known sister, Nadia, who became a legendary composition teacher
throughout the 20th century. Today I’ll take you through some of
the key moments in Boulanger’s life, and we’ll also take a look
at 3 of her pieces: Les Sirenes, Faust Et Helene, the piece that
won Boulanger the Prix de Rome, written when she was just 18, and
we’ll finish with an orchestral piece that might be the most
frequent way you might encounter Boulanger’s music in the concert
hall these days entiled D’un Matin de Printemps. Boulanger,
despite her short life, is one of hte most fascinating and
underrated musical figures in classical music history, so if you
aren’t already familiar with her music, I can’t wait to introduce
you to her this week. Join us!


A big thank you to Thomas Goss for his research on Lili Boulanger
- his fantastic article on her is available here:
https://orchestrationonline.com/lili-boulanger-in-her-own-right/


Performances:


Les Sirenes: Chorus: Philharmonia Chor Stuttgart with Helene
Schneiderman, mezzo-soprano and Émile Naoumoff, piano


Faust Et Helene: Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Bonaventura Bottone
(tenor), Jason Howard (baritone), BBC Philharmonic, Yan Pascal
Tortelier, Conductor


D'un Matin de Printemps: BBC Philharmonic, Yan Pascal Tortelier,
Conductor