Lili Boulanger 1893-1918

Author(s): Christopher Palmer

Source: The Musical Times , Mar., 1968, Vol. 109, No. 1501 (Mar., 1968), pp. 227-228
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/953482

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 LILI
BOULANGER

1893-1918

by

Christopher Palmer

"Everyone knows', wrote Aaron Copland in Copland readily discernible in her work; but she was far from
on Music, 'that the high achievement of women being a mere Debussyiste and a large proportion of
musicians as vocalists and instrumentalists has no her music shows preoccupations with pedal-points
counterpart in the field of musical composition'. and Itostinati, both decidedly un-Debussyan. In
is a curious fact that until comparatively recently certain of her later works (notably Psalm 129 and
few women composers have been able to establish the song Dans I'immense tristesse) we find consider-
themselves. In this country it was Ethel Smythable whoexploitation of free dissonance, obviously
first made it clear that the woman composer was takinga its cue from The rite of spring, which she
force to be reckoned with; her counterpart in France knew and admired. The works of her final years,
was Augusta Holmes, but in the words of Rollo however, testify to the emergence of a distinctive
Myers 'the quality of her inspiration was certainly musical personality and are clearly the product of a
inferior to that of Lili Boulanger, France's other distinguished, markedly individual creative intel-
most notable woman composer, whose premature ligence.
death cut short the development of a most excep- Lili Boulanger's works up to 1913 are mainly
tional talent'.' Lili Boulanger, who died 50 years apprentice efforts, although three pieces for soloists,
ago, was the first female recipient of the Prix chorus,
de and orchestra deserve to be mentioned.
Rome for composition. Pour les fundrailles d'un soldat, a de Musset setting,
The Boulanger family had been carrying off prizes looks forward to Du fond de l'abime, the greatest of
from the Paris Conservatoire for nearly a century the trilogy of psalm-settings which occupied the
before the birth of Lili, who with her sister Nadia composer in her last three years; similarly, Hymne
upheld the family tradition. At the age of six au Lili
soleil anticipates the setting of Psalm 24 and
was singing Faur6's songs with the master himself exhibits for the first time a streak of sturdy mascu-
at the piano, but her health began to prove so linity, inexplicably at variance with the composer's
troublesome that another ten years elapsed before she character and temperament. Soir sur la plaine is
was able to study systematically; even then she was more overtly impressionistic, with a preponderance
never able to work for long spells. But once her of ninth chords, the voices used principally as an
vocation as a composer had asserted itself she extra colour dimension, and an elusive but logical
applied herself ruthlessly, and worked at composi- formal structure.
tion up to the time of her death. Little more than Faust et HdlIne, for contralto, tenor, and baritone
a third of her cantata Faust et Hdline, submitted for soloists and large orchestra, is more problematical.
the Prix de Rome in 1913, had been played before Despite many melodic beauties and masterful
she was unanimously voted the winner; second place orchestration, the score is heavily saturated with
was awarded to Claude Delvincourt. Her happy Wagnerisms, and the love-duet for Faust and Helen
sojourn in Rome was cut short by the outbreak ofis stylized and lacking in spontaneity (for which the
war; back in Paris, she helped her sister with relieflibretto may be in part to blame). The best, least
work until her health broke down under the strain. derivative music is in the final section, where the
An operation proved ineffectual, and she died, agedlovers' rapture is interrupted by the sudden appear-
24, on March 15, 1918, some ten days before ance of legions of soldiers covered in blood-the
Debussy. ghosts of the Trojan warriors who have given their
The Paris musical scene being dominated by lives for Helen. This is graphically portrayed by a
Debussy during Lili Boulanger's formative years, it sullen march which builds up over an ostinato.
is scarcely surprising that his is the influence most The song-cycle Clairidres dans le ciel is a different
1'Augusta Holms--a meteoric career', MQ, July 1967 proposition: it combines the lyrical fragrance and
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innocence of Pellkas with a disarming femininity taining something of its original character--plus
readily associable with the young composer's (a change ... The music preserves a certain granitic
personality. The essential qualities of Francis impassivity in keeping with the implications of the
Jammes' verse-simplicity, lucidity, sincerity-are subtitle, 'Daily prayer for the whole universe', and
matched by the music, which resolutely steers clear is permeated by an elusive oriental aroma. In the
of rhetoric and false pathos. Nevertheless its seem-middle section this intransigent atmosphere is
ing naivety is belied by flashes of violence, especially relaxed; after an exquisite instrumental interlude the
in the last song, which gathers up the threads and soloist brings back the theme, as if from afar, and
bears the emotional weight of the sequence. joined by the chorus entering imitatively, echo-like,
The composer's best work is to be found in the evokes an awe-inspiring sense of illimitable desert
three psalm-settings; together they form a triptychsolitudes-a passage of great poetry and vision.
of epic proportions. Taking pride of place is Du Lili Boulanger's last work, dictated on her death-
fond de l'abime (a French version of the De pro- bed to her sister, was a setting of the Pie Jesu for
fundis, for contralto and tenor soloists, chorus, soprano, string quartet, harp, and organ, in which
large orchestra, and organ). After a long orchestralthe tortuous, questioning chromaticism of the
introduction which seems to open in the very bowels opening resolves eventually into the transfigured
of the earth, a large-scale structure subjected to diatonic radiance of the closing bars-a final utter-
scrupulous motivic control is unfolded; despair, ance, touching in its simplicity, and unmarred by
entreaty and terror in the first part yield to a serene self-pity or sentimentality.
confidence in the second, although the Hebraic The composer left unfinished at her death a
severity of the closing pages negates any suggestionsetting of Maeterlinck's La Princesse Maleine, and
of facile optimism. her output also included numerous piano pieces and
The setting of Psalm 24 ('The earth is the Lord's') music for chamber ensembles of varying specifica-
is conceived in monumental alfresco style for bari-tions, much of it unpublished. Yet from this general
tone solo, chorus, brass, timpani, harp, and organ. survey of her major works it should be clear that
The protracted series of ostinati generates great Lili Boulanger's music is by no means the effete,
rhythmic energy, and the predominance of open circumscribed, colourless affair such as might have
fourths and fifths in the harmony gives the music a been expected from a frail and sickly schoolgirl
brazen splendour in keeping with the tone of the whose worldly experience was limited, to say the
text. On the other hand Psalm 129 (for baritone and least. The healthy vitality of Psalm 24 is as indis-
orchestra) is for the most part aggressive and un- putable as the innate tenderness of the Clairidres
compromising, with the element of stoic pride in the dans le ciel, and the composer's prescience of human
text-'Many a time have they fought against memisery is movingly reflected in Du fond de l'abime.
from my youth up: but they have not prevailed She had never known the mystic isolation of the
against me'-well brought out. Harmonically this 'wide open spaces' nor the devouring intensity of
is the most advanced of Lili Boulanger's composi- passion; yet both are vividly re-created in the Vieille
tions; the idiom is pungently dissonant, the climaxesPridre Bouddhique and Faust et H?klne respectively.
brutal in the extreme. But the clouds dissolve in theThe intrinsic quality of her finest creations justifies
closing bars, when wordless women's voices join in. us in regarding her not as a composer who 'might
The Vieille Prikre Bouddhique for tenor, chorus, have been' but as one who quite definitely 'was'.
and orchestra, is on a similarly high level. Basically
it consists of a single, simple theme subjected to I should like to thank Mile Nadia Boulanger for her
perpetually renewing variation while always re- assistance in the preparation of this article.

Amateurs' exchange Summer courses

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Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra rehearses on Wednesdays, July 26-Aug 3. Details and application forms from 151 King
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London Transport Orchestra has vacancies for string players A Summer Course for Vocalists will be held at Huize Bergen,
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Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra has a few vacancies in all
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228

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