GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE - FRANCE
BORN 19 APRIL
Marcelle Germaine Tailleferre was born to a family living in the outskirts of Paris on April 19, 1892. Despite having exposed young Germaine to music from an early age, Tailleferre's parents considered music to be an inappropriate activity for a young lady, and it was not until her twelfth year that Tailleferre convinced them to allow her to pursue serious studies at the Paris Conservatoire, where she studied accompaniment, harmony, and counterpoint, eventually taking first prizes in each. During the years following her graduation she also received a few informal lessons in orchestration from Maurice Ravel.
While a student at the Conservatoire, Tailleferre met composers Auric, Milhaud and Honegger, and after the premiere of her String Quartet in 1918, she was invited to join the Nouveaux Jeunes, a group of young composers who identified with the aesthetic of satirical composer Erik Satie and playwright Jean Cocteau which, with the addition of Tailleferre, Durey, and Poulenc, soon became known as Les Six, though not by their own choosing. Tailleferre married twice: following a brief marriage (in 1926) to American author Ralph Barton, she married Jean Lageat, a French lawyer. In 1974, she released an autobiography, Mémoires à l'emporte pièce.
Tailleferre's commitment to progressive musical ideas during the early 1920s earned her a measure of notoriety throughout the Parisian musical establishment. Nevertheless, her music never abandoned its allegiance to the traditional French "voice" as passed down from Fauré through Ravel, and the seductive grace and charm of her work are perhaps best summed up by Cocteau's famous assessment of Tailleferre as the musical equivalent to painter Marie Laurencin. The Chansons françaises for voice and piano (1930), and the well-known Overture for orchestra (1932) are sparkling and quintessentially French in their lighthearted, rather humorous use of modernist techniques. In later years, she experimented with serialism; however, these works are not regarded as highly as her earlier compositions.
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While a student at the Conservatoire, Tailleferre met composers Auric, Milhaud and Honegger, and after the premiere of her String Quartet in 1918, she was invited to join the Nouveaux Jeunes, a group of young composers who identified with the aesthetic of satirical composer Erik Satie and playwright Jean Cocteau which, with the addition of Tailleferre, Durey, and Poulenc, soon became known as Les Six, though not by their own choosing. Tailleferre married twice: following a brief marriage (in 1926) to American author Ralph Barton, she married Jean Lageat, a French lawyer. In 1974, she released an autobiography, Mémoires à l'emporte pièce.
Tailleferre's commitment to progressive musical ideas during the early 1920s earned her a measure of notoriety throughout the Parisian musical establishment. Nevertheless, her music never abandoned its allegiance to the traditional French "voice" as passed down from Fauré through Ravel, and the seductive grace and charm of her work are perhaps best summed up by Cocteau's famous assessment of Tailleferre as the musical equivalent to painter Marie Laurencin. The Chansons françaises for voice and piano (1930), and the well-known Overture for orchestra (1932) are sparkling and quintessentially French in their lighthearted, rather humorous use of modernist techniques. In later years, she experimented with serialism; however, these works are not regarded as highly as her earlier compositions.
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YARDENA ALOTIN - ISRAEL
BORN 19 APRIL
Yardena Alotin, composer, pianist and teacher, was born in Tel Aviv Oct. 19, 1930 and died in New York Oct. 4, 1994. She studied at the Tel Aviv Music Teachers' College (1948-1950) and at the Israel Music Academy (1950-1952) with A. U. Boskovich (theory), M. Seter (harmony, counterpoint), P. Ben-Haim (orchestration), I. Vincze-Kraus (piano) and O. Partos (composition, privately).
Alotin's works (including didactic and commissioned works) are based generally on baroque and classical forms. Changing meters and rhythms, so typical for her, appear already in her first work Yefei Nof for mixed choir, which won the Nissimov Prize and was premiered by the Rinat Choir, of which she was a member, in Tel Aviv and at the Paris International Festival, 1956. In addition to the above, Biblical canticles appear in her Cantata for choir a cappella (1958), performed at the Perugia Religious Music Festival, 1960 and in her frequently performed Sonatas for violin and piano (1960) and for cello solo (1976; MII-CD-07). In several of her works Alotin used polyphonic techniques (Lament for string trio [1960]; Piano Trio [1979]), heterophony can be found in others (Festive Song for mixed choir [1984], commissioned by the Tel Aviv Foundation for Culture and Art on the 75th Anniversary of Tel Aviv). Her Yefei Nof for solo flute (1978; IMI 6543) was commissioned and often performed by James Galway. Rich lyric melodic lines, dramatic developments and natural optimism characterize most of Alotin's music.
In 1998, Mr. Yohanan Riverant, Alotin's husband, donated a fund after her name for the support of Israeli music performance. Thanks to his donation, one concert in each season is dedicated to the performance of Alotin's music, together with works written by other Israeli composers
Alotin's works (including didactic and commissioned works) are based generally on baroque and classical forms. Changing meters and rhythms, so typical for her, appear already in her first work Yefei Nof for mixed choir, which won the Nissimov Prize and was premiered by the Rinat Choir, of which she was a member, in Tel Aviv and at the Paris International Festival, 1956. In addition to the above, Biblical canticles appear in her Cantata for choir a cappella (1958), performed at the Perugia Religious Music Festival, 1960 and in her frequently performed Sonatas for violin and piano (1960) and for cello solo (1976; MII-CD-07). In several of her works Alotin used polyphonic techniques (Lament for string trio [1960]; Piano Trio [1979]), heterophony can be found in others (Festive Song for mixed choir [1984], commissioned by the Tel Aviv Foundation for Culture and Art on the 75th Anniversary of Tel Aviv). Her Yefei Nof for solo flute (1978; IMI 6543) was commissioned and often performed by James Galway. Rich lyric melodic lines, dramatic developments and natural optimism characterize most of Alotin's music.
In 1998, Mr. Yohanan Riverant, Alotin's husband, donated a fund after her name for the support of Israeli music performance. Thanks to his donation, one concert in each season is dedicated to the performance of Alotin's music, together with works written by other Israeli composers
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