Claude Arrieu


Louise-Marie Simon, professionally known as Claude Arrieu, was a French composer, pedagogue, and music producer.
Arrieu wrote hundreds of works in various formats, including incidental music, concert works, and film scores. She was also a teacher and worked as a producer and assistant head of sound effects at Radio France.

Early life and education

Born in Paris, Arrieu was the daughter of composer Cécile-Paul Simon. Arrieu was classically trained from an early age and became particularly interested in works by Bach and Mozart, and later, Igor Stravinsky. However, her contemporaries, such as Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel provided her the most inspiration.
She entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1924. She became a piano student of Marguerite Long and took classes from Georges Caussade, Noël Gallon, Jean Roger-Ducasse, and Paul Dukas. In 1932, she received the first prize in composition from the Conservatoire. She also became friends with Olivier Messiaen, who considered her a part of a core group of composers alongside himself, Elsa Barraine, and Jean Cartan, all students of Dukas.

Career

In 1935, Arrieu joined the Service des programmes de la Radiodiffusion française, where she remained employed until 1947. She participated in the development of a wide range of programming, including Pierre Schaeffer's experimental radio series, La Coquille à planètes.
In 1949, Arrieu won the RAI's Prix Italia for her score for Frédéric Général.
She wrote music in all styles, composing works of absolute music as well as music for theatre, film, radio, and music hall. Wise Music Classical describes her music as exhibiting "a sound with ease of flow and elegance of structure" and "vivacity, clarity of expression and a natural feel for melody."
Arrieu composed concertos for piano, two pianos, violin, flute, and trumpet and strings. She also wrote Petite suite en cinq parties, Concerto for wind quintet and strings, Suite funambulesque, and Variations for classical strings.
Among her chamber music compositions are her Trio for woodwinds, Sonatina for two violins, and Clarinet quartet. Her Sonatine for flute and piano was first performed for the radio in 1944 by flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and pianist H. Moyens.
Arrieu set many poems to music, including those by Joachim du Bellay, Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, Louis Aragon, Jean Cocteau, Jean Tardieu, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Paul Éluard. Examples include Chansons bas for voice and piano, based on poems by Mallarmé ; Candide, radio music on texts by Jean Tardieu based on Voltaire; and À la Libération, cantata of seven poems on love in war, on poems by Paul Éluard.
Her first opéra bouffe, Cadet Roussel with a libretto by André de la Tourasse after Jean Limozin, was presented at the Opéra de Marseille on 2 October 1953. In 1960, La Princesse de Babylone, an opéra bouffe after the work of Voltaire adapted by Pierre Dominica, was praised for its lyrical originality and spectacle.
Her noteworthy film scores include: Les Gueux au paradis, Crèvecoeur, Niok l'éléphant, Marchands de rien, Le Tombeur, and Julie Charles.

Death

She died in Paris on March 7, 1990.

Notable compositions

Trio en Ut / Reed Trio
1. Allegretto ritmico. 2. Pastorale et Scherzo. 3. Allegrement. 9 mins. Oboe, clarinet, bassoon.
Arrieu was thirty-three when she wrote this reed trio. The work was commissioned by the ensemble, Trio D’Anches de Paris. The opening Allegretto ritmico is a pseudo-march, with contrasting episodes. The Pastorale et Scherzo is tender and swaying, sometimes faster, and includes its own middle section. The Allègrement has a more militaristic sound. It's one of two works she composed for reed trio, the other being Suite en Trio.
Recorded by the Ambache ensemble on Liberté, Egalité, Sororité.
Dixtuor pour Instruments à Vent / Wind Dixtuor, 1967
1. Allegretto moderato. 2. Moderato - Allegro scherzando - Andante - Tempo primo. 3. Andante - Allegro scherzando. 4. Cantabile 5. Allegro Risoluto 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, horn, trumpet, trombone.
Arrieu’s Dixtuor pour Instruments à Vent is possibly the only published piece written for this combination of instruments. Composed in 1967, the work exhibits a structure typical of Parisian neoclassicism.

List of works

Opera
  • Noé, 1931–1934, f.p. Strasbourg Opéra, 29 January 1950
  • Cadet Roussel, 1938–1939, f.p. Marseilles, Opéra, 2 October 1953
  • La Coquille à planètes, RTF, 1944
  • Le deux rendez-vous, 1948, RTF, 22 June 1951
  • Le chapeau à musique, RTF, 1953
  • La princesse de Babylone, 1953–1955, Rheims, Opéra, 3 March 1960
  • La cabine téléphonique, RTF, 15 March 1959
  • Cymbeline, 1958–1963, ORTF, 31 March 1974
  • Balthazar, ou Le mort–vivant, 1966, Unperformed
  • Un clavier pour un autre, Avignon, Opéra, 3 April 1971
  • Barbarine, 1972, incomplete
  • Les amours de Don Perlimpin et Belise en son jardin, Tours, Grand Théâtre, 1 March 1980
Chamber musicCinq movements, 1964, premiered by the Belgian Clarinet Quartet in Aix-la-Chapelle, GermanyConcerto en ut, 1938 Deux pieces, 1966, premiered at ORTF under the direction of Freddy AlbertiFantaisie lyrique, 1959, contest piece for the Paris ConservatoryImpromptu II, 1985 Passe-pied, 1966 Quintette en ut, 1952, premiered by the French Wind Quintet in Sarrebrück, Germany, 1952Suite en trio, 1955
  • Suite en trio, 1980 Suite en quatre, 1980, premiered by the Soni Ventorum Ensemble in Washington, U.S., 19 January 1980Trio en Ut, por Hautbois, Clarinette et Bassoon
Vocal musicA traduire en esthionen, 1947 Ah! Si j'étais un oiseau, 1946 Attributs, 1947 Chanson de Marianne, 1947 Dix Chansons: Folklore de France, 1957 Rondeaux de Clément Marot, 1950 Rue des Ormeaux, 1953
Teaching piecesCaprice, 1976 Cerf-volant, 1976 Conte d'hiver, 1976 Escapade, 1976 Intermède, 1966 Introduction, scherzo et choral, 1986 La fête, 1976 La poupée casée, 1976 Le cœur volant, 1976 Lectures pour piano, 1968
  • * Volume 1: I. Nonchalance, II. L'hiver est fini, III. Bavardes, IV. Carnet de bal
  • * Volume 2: V. Ingénue, VI. Capricieuse, VII. Malicieuse, VIII. PéronelleL'enfant sage, 1976 L'étourdi, 1979 Manu militari, 1979 Ménétrier, 1965 Nocturne, 1976 Nostalgie, 1980 Pauvre Pierre, 1976 Petit choral, 1980 Petit récit, 1976 Prélude pastoral, 1976 Promenade mélancolique, 1976 Questionnaire, 1976 Retour au village, 1986 Rêverie, 1979 Sonatine for flute and piano 1946 premiered in 1944 by Jean-Pierre Rampal accompanied by Herman MoyensSix-huit, 1965 Trois duos faciles, 1977 Trois duos faciles, 1977 Trois duos faciles, 1977 Un jour d'été, 1976 Valse, 1948 Voyage en hiver, 1976

General references

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