Elsa Barraine facts for kids
Elsa Jacqueline Barraine (born in Paris on February 13, 1910 – died in Strasbourg on March 20, 1999) was a talented French composer. She created music after a style called neoclassicism, which was popular with composers like Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. Even though many considered her "one of the best French composers of the mid-20th century," her music is not often played today. In 1929, she won the famous Prix de Rome award for her work La vierge guerrière. This piece was a sacred trilogy about Joan of Arc. Elsa Barraine was only the fourth woman ever to win this important award.
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A Young Composer's Life
Elsa Barraine was born in Paris. Her father, Alfred Barraine, was a main cellist at the Paris Opera. Elsa started learning piano when she was very young. She went to the Conservatoire de Paris, a famous music school. There, she studied composition with Paul Dukas. Many other famous composers, like Olivier Messiaen, also studied with Dukas. Elsa and Messiaen became good friends and stayed in touch throughout their lives.
Elsa was a very gifted student. At age fifteen (1925), she won First Prize in harmony at the Conservatoire. Two years later, at seventeen (1927), she won prizes in fugue and accompaniment. In 1929, she won the Prix de Rome for her cantata La vierge guerrière. This made her the fourth woman to win this award since it began in 1803. Her piece Harald Harfagard (1930) was based on poems by Heinrich Heine. This was the first of her works to become well-known. Many of her later works, like Avis (1944) and L’homme sur terre (1949), were also inspired by literature.
Working in Music and Beyond
From 1936 to 1940, Elsa Barraine worked at the French National Radio. She was a pianist, a sound recordist, and the head of singing. After World War II, she worked there as a sound mixer. During the war, Barraine was very active in the French Resistance. This was a group that fought against the German occupation. She was part of the Front National des Musiciens.
Between 1944 and 1947, she was a Recording Director at Le Chant du Monde, a well-known record company. In 1953, Barraine became a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. She taught music analysis and sight-reading until 1972. After that, the Ministry of Culture made her the Director of Music. This meant she was in charge of all French national opera and theater houses.
What Her Music Sounds Like
Elsa Barraine's music is known for its clear and independent musical lines. It is also very expressive and full of energy. She learned from her teacher Dukas and from composer Claude Debussy. This helped her become very good at using different instrument sounds and colors. She used classic musical forms but made them her own. Most of her music used a tonal harmonic language, which means it had a clear musical key.
However, there was one special exception. Her chamber work Musique rituelle (1967) was written for organ, gongs, and xylorimba. This piece used serialism, a different way of organizing notes. It was inspired by the ancient Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Authors of The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers said that Barraine was deeply affected by the big changes happening in her time. They noted that she could not separate her creative work from her personal feelings, her belief in human rights, and her social and political concerns.
Music for the Human Condition
In all of Elsa Barraine's works, there is a strong focus on what it means to be human. She, along with other composers like Olivier Messiaen, wanted to bring human feelings back into music. This was at a time when music was becoming more abstract. Some of her pieces dealt with specific social and political issues. For example, her ballet Claudine à l’école (1950) was based on a book by Colette. Her anti-fascist symphonic poem Pogromes (1933) spoke out against violence.
Other pieces explored different emotions or psychological states. An example is her woodwind quintet Ouvrage de Dame (1931). This piece has eight movements, a main theme and seven variations. Each variation is named after a fictional woman with a different personality. Barraine used her skill with different instrument sounds to show the unique temperaments of these women. Music experts believe that Elsa Barraine's contributions to music are very important and are still waiting to be fully discovered.
List of Compositions
- Chamber music
- Quintet: piano-strings
- Quintet: winds • (1931) • chamber music for winds
- Musique Rituelle: organ-gongs-xylorimba • (1967) • Trio
- Variations: piano percussion • (1950) • Duo
- Suite Juive: violin-piano • (1951) • Duo
- Improvisation: saxophone-piano • (1947) • duo
- Ouvrage de Dame • (1937) • chamber music with diverse instruments
- Opera and lyrical music
- Vierge Guerriere (La) • profane cantata : solo-choir-orchestra
- Roi Bossu (Le) • (1932) • Comic opera
- Mur (Le): ballet • (1947) • Ballet
- Printemps de la Liberte: play music • (1948)
- Chanson du Mal-Aime (La): ballet • (1950)
- Claudine à l'Ecole: ballet • (1950)
- Christine • (1959) • solo-choir-orchestra
- Film scores
- White Paws • (1949)
- Sabotier du Val de Loire (Le) • (1956)
- Vocal music
- Melodies • (1930)
- Chansons Hebraiques • (1935)
- Chants Juifs • (1937)
- Avis • (1944) • Choir-orchestra
- Poesie Ininterrompue • (1948) • Cantata : 2 voices-orchestra
- Homme sur Terre (L') • (1949) • Choir-orchestra
- Paysans (Les) • (1958) • Cantates : 2 voices-orchestra
- De Premier en Premier Mai • (1977) • Choir
- Instrumental music
- Prelude: piano • (1930) • character piece
- Hommage à Paul Dukas: piano • (1936)
- Marche du Printemps sans Amour: piano • (1946)
- Boite de Pandore (La): piano • (1955)
- Fantaisie: cembalo • (1961) • character piece
- Preludes et Fugues: organ
- Symphonic music
- Symphony 1 • (1931)
- Symphony 2 • (1938)
- Suite 'Astrologique': small orchestra • (1945)
- Variations sur "Le fleuve rouge": orchestra • (1945)
- Concertante music
- Hommage à Prokofiev: cembalo-orchestra • (1953)
- Atmosphere: oboe-10 strings • (1966)
- Sacred music
- Cantique du Vendredi Saint • (1955) • Hymns
Her Role in the French Resistance
Elsa Barraine was an active member of the Front National des Musiciens. This was a group of musicians who joined the French Resistance during the German Occupation of France (1940-1944). The group had several important goals. They wanted to hold concerts featuring new and forbidden French music. They also aimed to help Jewish musicians by offering them safe places or money. They organized protests against the German forces and those who worked with them. They used music in many ways to resist the occupation.
Elsa Barraine, along with conductor Roger Désormière and composer Louis Durey, even released a statement. It called for the "defense of French music" and spoke out against any cooperation with the Nazis. Her strong involvement in the Resistance was very brave, especially because she may have had a Jewish background.
See also
In Spanish: Elsa Barraine para niños
