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Marius Constant
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Marius Constant was a French-Romanian composer and conductor, born in Bucharest in 1925. He studied piano and composition at the Bucharest conservatory and in 1944 received the George Enescu Prize. In 1946 he moved to Paris, where he studied with Olivier Messiaen, Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boulanger. In 1952 he won the Prix Italia with Le joueur de flûte, and from 1950 he became involved in the electronic music of Pierre Schaeffer's Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète.
Music and breakthrough
From 1956 to 1966 he conducted for the Ballets de Paris of Roland Petit. During that time he wrote a great deal of ballet music for Petit and Maurice Béjart, such as Cyrano de Bergerac in 1959 and Éloge de la folie in 1966. His 24 Préludes pour Orchestre from 1958 were first performed under Leonard Bernstein and brought him fame. In the late 1950s he made short pieces for the music library of the American broadcaster CBS. For the second season of The Twilight Zone, a new signature tune was sought in 1960. The producer Lud Gluskin pasted two pieces by Constant together, Étrange No. 3 and Milieu No. 2, with repeating notes on electric guitar, bongos, brass and flutes. The result became Constant's best-known work.
Influence
He died in 2004. In the classical world he is known mainly for his ballet, but the guitar melody of The Twilight Zone has been heard by millions of viewers.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1961Black Tights (soundtrack)
- 1969Syrmos / Polytope / Medea
- 1972Le martyre de Saint-Sebastien / Deux rhapsodies pour clarinette, pour saxophone
- 1986Stances / Points d'aube / J.D.E. / D'un opéra de voyage
- 1988Nana Symphonie / 103 Regards dans L'eau
- 1990Nuit étoilée / Concerto pour piano et orchestre
- 1992Prélude, Fugue, Postlude / Monopartita / Prélude pour la Tempête / Les Ombres / Le Chant de Nigamon / Phædre
- 1993Couleurs de la Cité céleste / Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum / L'Ascension
- 1993Visions de l'Amen / Hymne
- 2004Satie: Relâche / Vexations / Musique d’ameublement / Hindemith: Concertpiece for Trautonium & Strings
- 2005Le Roi David / Prélude, Fugue et Postlude / Monopartita - Napoléon / Le Chant de Nigamon
- 2012L'oeuvre pour Trompette
- 2024Napoléon d'Abel Gance
- ?Des Canyons aux Étoiles... / Sept Haïkaï
- ?Strings
In School of Rock
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- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 8NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Classic television music Genre
Bernard Herrmann wrote the first title music for The Twilight Zone (1959); the well-known guitar riff by Marius Constant followed a season later.