Classical Music / Great Music Teachers
Brief biography of Nadia Boulanger, her life and career. One of the most influential women inall of music history, considered the greatest music teacher of the 20th century. Many of her students became prominent composers.
Nadia Juliette Boulanger (1887-1979), was one of the most influential figures in music during the twentieth century. A distinguished teacher of prominent composers, she was also a conductor and a composer. Although she initially became known as a composer and conductor of major orchestras, her role as music teacher is what she's most famous for.
French poet, playwright and film director Jean Cocteau said of her: “… It is rare that a young musician intrigues us, or that his work at least partially opens a door, without his disclosing that he is a pupil of Nadia Boulanger.”
Boulanger was born in Paris on September 16, 1887, coming from a musical family, with her father, Ernest Boulanger, like his father before him, taught singing at the Paris Conservatoire. Her mother Raissa, a Russian-born princess, was a pupil of her father. She was her first teacher.
At 5 years old, Boulanger could read music. She enrolled at the conservatory at 10 and completed training at 17, by this time, already winning awards for composing. She won second place in France's prestigious Prix de Rome for her cantata, "La Sirene."
Her turning point was at age 25, when Boulanger abandoned composition in favor of teaching music. Some biographers say that Nadia gave up composing in recognition of her younger sister Lili's greater talent. Lili was one of her first pupils and the first woman to win the Prix de Rome.
Below is a video of the late Nadia Boulanger with child prodigy Émile Naoumoff, a Bulgarian-born French pianist and composer, taking up taking up study of the piano and adding composition to his studies. At the age of eight, after a fateful meeting in Paris, he became the last "disciple" of Nadia Boulanger, who referred to him as "the gift of my old age." Naoumoff studied with her until her death in 1979.
In her long career, Boulanger taught at the École Normale, at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, where she was appointed director, and at the Paris Conservatoire. She also traveled to the U.S. to teach at Wellesley College, Radcliffe, and Juilliard School of Music.
Boulanger never pursued conducting as a major activity, but conducted regularly and became the first woman to conduct the Halle Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. She was instrumental in the revival of early music, and was created a Commander of the Legion of Honor.
Boulanger was a friend of Stravinsky. She was considered the most influential music teacher who attracted students worldwide. Her teaching regimen and discipline were legendary: started at 8:00 a.m., sometimes earlier, and continued until 10 p.m. The list of students she taught and influenced reads like a who’s who of modern music :
Aaron Copland
Virgil Thomson
Roy Harris
Elliott Carter
David Diamond(br> Jean Francaix
Walter Piston
and many others.
French Teacher, Conductor, Composer
Brief biography of Nadia Boulanger, her life and career. One of the most influential women inall of music history, considered the greatest music teacher of the 20th century. Many of her students became prominent composers.
Nadia Juliette Boulanger (1887-1979), was one of the most influential figures in music during the twentieth century. A distinguished teacher of prominent composers, she was also a conductor and a composer. Although she initially became known as a composer and conductor of major orchestras, her role as music teacher is what she's most famous for.French poet, playwright and film director Jean Cocteau said of her: “… It is rare that a young musician intrigues us, or that his work at least partially opens a door, without his disclosing that he is a pupil of Nadia Boulanger.”
Boulanger was born in Paris on September 16, 1887, coming from a musical family, with her father, Ernest Boulanger, like his father before him, taught singing at the Paris Conservatoire. Her mother Raissa, a Russian-born princess, was a pupil of her father. She was her first teacher.
At 5 years old, Boulanger could read music. She enrolled at the conservatory at 10 and completed training at 17, by this time, already winning awards for composing. She won second place in France's prestigious Prix de Rome for her cantata, "La Sirene."
Her turning point was at age 25, when Boulanger abandoned composition in favor of teaching music. Some biographers say that Nadia gave up composing in recognition of her younger sister Lili's greater talent. Lili was one of her first pupils and the first woman to win the Prix de Rome.
Below is a video of the late Nadia Boulanger with child prodigy Émile Naoumoff, a Bulgarian-born French pianist and composer, taking up taking up study of the piano and adding composition to his studies. At the age of eight, after a fateful meeting in Paris, he became the last "disciple" of Nadia Boulanger, who referred to him as "the gift of my old age." Naoumoff studied with her until her death in 1979.
In her long career, Boulanger taught at the École Normale, at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, where she was appointed director, and at the Paris Conservatoire. She also traveled to the U.S. to teach at Wellesley College, Radcliffe, and Juilliard School of Music.
Boulanger never pursued conducting as a major activity, but conducted regularly and became the first woman to conduct the Halle Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. She was instrumental in the revival of early music, and was created a Commander of the Legion of Honor.
Boulanger was a friend of Stravinsky. She was considered the most influential music teacher who attracted students worldwide. Her teaching regimen and discipline were legendary: started at 8:00 a.m., sometimes earlier, and continued until 10 p.m. The list of students she taught and influenced reads like a who’s who of modern music :
Aaron Copland
Virgil Thomson
Roy Harris
Elliott Carter
David Diamond(br> Jean Francaix
Walter Piston
and many others.
Aaron Copland, the celebrated American composer of Appalachian Spring and the Red Pony, said of Boulanger: "She knew everything there was to know about music; the oldest and the latest music; pre-Bach and post-Stravinsky, and knew it cold. All the technical know-how was at her fingertips.”
As a music teacher, Boulanger’s genius was to extract the original talent of her students measured against her own exacting standards. For 50 years she offered afternoons in her Paris apartment for musical discussion and performances. At the age of 80, when asked about retirement, her response was: “I never think of age. I have no time. I work. Retirement? I don’t know what that is." Until her death aged 92, Nadia Boulanger continued to work, though confined to a wheelchair and blind.
Related must-listen links:
Nadia Boulanger Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre. Accessed September 16, 2016.
Nadia Boulanger conducts Faure "Requiem" - Live from Carnegie Hall, 1962! Accessed September 16, 2016.
Nadia Boulanger: Three Pieces for Cello and Piano. Accessed September 16, 2016.
Image Credit:
Nadia Boulanger. en.wikipedia.org / Public Domain
Video Credit:
Nadia Boulanger with Emile Naoumoff (Age 10). YouTube, uploaded by mccafetst. Accessed September 16, 2014
Note: I originally wrote this piece for Suite101.com in 2007, Nadia Boulanger, a Tribute, republished (abridged) for Inspired Pen Web.
Resources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. (1994)
Latham, Alison, Ed. The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford: OUP (2002)
Martin, Jean, Gen. Ed. Who's Who of Women in the Twentieth Century. Bison Books (1995
Nadia Boulanger. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed September 16, 2007.
Martin, Jean, Gen. Ed. Who's Who of Women in the Twentieth Century. Bison Books (1995
Nadia Boulanger. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed September 16, 2007.
Ousby, Ian. Cambridge Guide to Literature. (1993)
Sadie, Stanley, Ed. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan (1994)
Sadie, Stanley, Ed. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan (1994)
(c) September 2006. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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