Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra asbl/vzw Concerts on 13 and 19 March 2005

fr | nl | de

A concise biography...

Jean Françaix was born on May 23rd, 1912 in Le Mans, where his father was director of the conservatoire and his mother was a singing teacher in charge of a local choir. Jean received his first music lessons from his parents. Soon, encouraged by Maurice Ravel, he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he obtained a piano qualification in 1932 and also studied composition with Nadia Boulanger. His composing career had a very precocious beginning with the publication of his first work for piano, entitled “Pour Jacqueline”, when he was only six. He was nine years old when Camille Saint-Saëns died and solemnly promised his father that he would take the great master’s place. By the time he was 20, his compositions were already demonstrating a perfect mastery of the art of composition. They had the natural grace and distinctiveness that were to remain his hallmark. His style did not change much in the course of his career: to the very end it retained a freshness and an elegance inspired by his own very personal way of writing and his inexhaustible melodic creativity.

(Source: Archives Family Françaix)

Jean Françaix was a prolific composer (with 250 known works to his credit). He wrote in all genres in a characteristically graceful, light and humorous vein. His works include operas, ballets, film scores, orchestral pieces, vocal music, piano pieces and a fantasy oratorio entitled “The Apocalypse according to St. John”. In 1992 he was awarded the Arthur Honegger international composition prize for his life’s work.

Jean Françaix has quickly become one of the most frequently played 20th-century French composers worldwide, though so far he has failed to earn the recognition he deserves in France: no-one is ever a prophet in their own home country! He was also an accomplished pianist and had a brilliant career as a soloist, making many concert tours in Europe and the United States. He played his own piano works both solo and on two pianos with his daughter Claude under the baton of some of the world’s greatest conductors, from Charles Munch to Herbert von Karajan.

Jean Françaix continued his activities as pianist and composer right up to his death on September 25th, 1997 in Paris.

 

The music of Jean Françaix ...	Jean Françaix by Jean Françaix...	Clarinet Concerto...
	Back

---

© BSO | Home | Version française | Nederlandse versie | Deutsche Fassung |