Jean Françaix facts for kids

Jean René Désiré Françaix (pronounced like Frahn-SAY) was a French composer, pianist, and orchestrator. He was born on May 23, 1912, in Le Mans, France, and passed away on September 25, 1997, in Paris. Françaix was known for writing a lot of music with a lively and bright style. He often used a style called neoclassical music, which means he took ideas from older music styles but gave them a modern twist.

Early Life and Learning

Jean Françaix showed his amazing musical talent from a very young age. His family strongly supported him. His father was the director of the Conservatoire of Le Mans, a music school. He was also a music expert, a composer, and a pianist. Jean's mother taught singing.

Jean Françaix studied music at the Conservatoire of Le Mans. Later, he went to the famous Paris Conservatory. He started composing music when he was only six years old! His early music was greatly influenced by the famous composer Maurice Ravel.

In 1922, Jean's first published music caught the eye of a composer who worked for a music publishing company. This led Jean to study with a fantastic teacher named Nadia Boulanger. She was a very important music teacher who had taught many famous composers. Boulanger thought Jean was one of her best students and encouraged his career. Another well-known pianist and teacher, Isidor Philipp, also taught him.

A Busy Musician

Jean Françaix often played his own musical pieces in public, and people loved them. For example, he performed his Concertino for Piano and Orchestra for the first time at a festival in Baden-Baden in 1932.

By 1932, his Huit Bagatelles were played at the Vienna Festival. In Paris, his Concertino for piano and orchestra was heard in 1933. Throughout the 1930s, many of his compositions were performed in Paris. These included a string trio (1933), a fantasy for cello and orchestra, and a serenade for a small orchestra (1934). In 1935, his Quadruple Concerto for four different wind instruments and orchestra was first performed. A piano concerto followed in 1936.

Françaix's music was also used for ballets, which are dance performances with music. Some of his ballets included Le Roi nu and Les Malheurs de Sophie, both performed in Paris.

Playing the Piano and Composing

Jean Françaix was an excellent pianist from a young age. He won a top prize in piano at the Paris Conservatory. He traveled and performed all over Europe and the United States. He often played with the French cellist Maurice Gendron. He also performed the Two-Piano Concerto by Francis Poulenc with Poulenc himself. In 1964, Françaix even performed his own concerto for two pianos with his daughter, Claude Françaix, who was also a pianist.

Jean Françaix's main job was composing music. He wrote an incredible amount of music throughout his life. In 1981, he said he was "constantly composing," barely finishing one piece before starting another. He continued writing music until he passed away in 1997.

Françaix's Musical Style

The famous composer Maurice Ravel once told Jean's parents that Jean had a wonderful gift: curiosity. Ravel said they should never stop him from exploring his musical ideas. They didn't, and Jean truly blossomed! He wrote over 200 pieces of music in many different styles.

Since he was a brilliant pianist, many of his works feature the piano. He wrote many chamber pieces, which are for small groups of instruments. He wrote for almost every orchestral instrument and standard musical group. Françaix was also very good at orchestration, which means choosing and combining different instrument sounds. This skill made his music colorful and interesting.

Françaix wrote music in many big musical forms, like concerti (pieces for a solo instrument and orchestra), symphonies (large pieces for orchestra), opera (musical plays), theatre music, and ballet music. He also wrote pieces that used older musical traditions.

His music style is known for being light, clever, and witty. It often sounds like the different musical parts are having a conversation with each other. His style didn't change much throughout his career. While he was influenced by composers he admired, like Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc, he always made their ideas fit his own unique sound. He also wrote ten film scores for the director Sacha Guitry.

Selected Works

For a full list of his compositions, you can see List of compositions by Jean Françaix.

• Scherzo (1932), his first important piece for solo piano
• Huit Bagatelles, for piano and string quartet (1932)
• Concertino for piano and orchestra (1932)
• String trio (1933)
• Quartet for winds (1933)
• Beach, ballet (1933)
• Sonatine, for violin and piano (1934)
• Quintet, for flute, harp and string trio (1934)
• Sérénade, for small orchestra (1934)
• Petit quatuor, saxophone quartet (1935)
• Le Malheurs de Sophie, ballet (1935)
• Piano concerto (1936)
• Le Diable boiteux, Opera (1937)
• L'apocalypse selon Saint-Jean, Oratorio (1939)
• Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet, or orchestra (1942)
• L'Arlequin blanc, ballet (1944)
• L'Heure du Berger, sextet for piano and wind quintet (1947)
• Wind quintet No.1 (1948)
• Les demoiselles de la nuit, ballet (1948)
• Symphony in G (1953)
• Divertimento, for horn and piano (1953)
• Divertimento, for flute and piano (1953)
• Napoléon, film score (1954)
• Si Paris nous était conté film score (1956)
• L'horloge de flore, for oboe and orchestra (1959)
• Harpsichord concerto (1959)
• Suite for solo flute (1962)
• Double piano concerto (1965)
• La princesse de Clèves, Opera (1965)
• Flute concerto (1966)
• Clarinet concerto (1967)
• Violin concerto No.1 (1968)
• Concerto for double bass and orchestra (1974)
• Le gai Paris, for trumpet and winds (1974)
• Cassazione, for three orchestras (1975)
• Quintet for clarinet and string quartet (1977)
• Serenade, for guitar (1978)
• Concerto for bassoon and 11 strings (1979)
• Impromptu, for flute and 11 strings (1983)
• Concerto, for trombone and 10 wind instruments (1983)
• Sonata for recorder and guitar (1984)
• Double concerto for flute, clarinet, and orchestra (1991)
• Accordion concerto (1993)
• Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano (1994)
• Sonate for flute and piano (1996)
• Neuf historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux for baritone voice, tenor saxophone, and piano (1997) - This was Françaix's last completed work.
• Marche triomphale for 4 trumpets and organ

See also

In Spanish: Jean Françaix para niños