Paule Maurice facts for kids

Paule Maurice (born September 29, 1910, died August 18, 1967) was a talented French composer. A composer is someone who writes music.

Life and Music Journey

Paule Maurice was born in Paris, France. Her father was an office worker. She studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, a famous music school in Paris.

Her Most Famous Music

Paule Maurice is best known for her music piece called Tableaux de Provence. This suite, or collection of musical pieces, was written between 1948 and 1955. It was created especially for a very skilled saxophone player named Marcel Mule. Even though it was written for saxophone and orchestra, you often hear it played with a saxophone and a piano. This is called a "piano reduction," meaning the orchestra parts are arranged to be played on a piano.

The Tableaux de Provence was first performed on December 9, 1958. It was played by Jean-Marie Londeix with the Brest Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was led by Paule's husband, Pierre Lantier, who was also a composer.

Other Compositions

Paule Maurice wrote many other musical works. Some of these include:

• Suite pour quatuor de flûtes (a suite for four flutes)
• Volio (a study piece for saxophone)
• Cosmorama
• Concerto pour piano et orchestre (a concerto for piano and orchestra)
• Mémoires d'un chat (Memories of a Cat)
• Trois pièces pour violon (Three Pieces for Violin)

Many more of her works are kept in the library of the Conservatoire de Paris, where she studied and worked for most of her life.

Her Teachers and Teaching Career

Paule Maurice learned from some great music teachers. Her harmony teacher was Jean Gallon. She studied counterpoint and fugue with Noël Gallon, and composition with Henri Büsser.

From 1933 to 1947, Paule Maurice worked as Jean Gallon's teaching assistant. She won several awards for her studies:

• First prize in harmony in 1933
• Second prize in fugue in 1934
• First prize in composition in 1939

In 1942, she became a professor of "Déchiffrage" (which means sight-reading music) at the Conservatoire. Later, in 1965, she became a professor of harmonic analysis at l'École Normale de Musique. Many of her students later became professors themselves at the Conservatoire de Paris. Some even won the famous Prix de Rome, a prize for artists and musicians.

Writing About Music Theory

Paule Maurice and her husband, Pierre Lantier, also wrote an important book about harmony. It was called Complément du Traité d'Harmonie de Reber. This book became a key reference for music students in France and other countries. It was meant to be used with an older book from 1862 by Napoléon Henri Reber.

They wrote their book because the music of composers like Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel had changed how music was written. This created a need for new ways to understand and teach harmony.

Paule Maurice passed away in Paris at the age of 56.

Notable Works

Here are some of Paule Maurice's important musical works:

• Symphonie (1939)
• Concerto giocoso for piano and orchestra (1950)
• Tableaux de Provence, a suite for saxophone and orchestra (1948-1955)
• Quatuor de flûtes (a quartet for flutes)
• Quatuor à cordes (a string quartet)
• Suite pour 2 pianos (a suite for two pianos)
• 5 Pièces pour piano (Five Pieces for Piano)
• 3 Pièces violon piano (Three Pieces for Violin and Piano)
• Musiques de scène (music for plays like "Les caprices de Marianne")

Awards and Recognition

Paule Maurice received several awards for her musical talents:

• Prix Halpheu for Composition
• Prix du Congrès Marial de Boulogne for a Cantata (a type of vocal music)
• Prix for her overall work as a female composer
• Prix from the public and the Jury of the Pasdeloup Orchestra
• Prix Georges Hüe for melody (a type of song)

See also

In Spanish: Paule Maurice para niños