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Nadia Boulanger

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Nadia Boulanger (1887 to 1979) was a French teacher, conductor and composer. She was born in Paris, into a musical family: her father Ernest and her sister Lili were respected composers. Her mother was a Russian princess. She entered the Conservatoire de Paris at an early age, but because she believed she had no special talent for composition, she stopped composing and became a teacher.

Music and breakthrough

As a teacher she influenced generations of young composers, especially from the United States and other English-speaking countries. Her pupils included more than two hundred and fifty important composers, soloists, arrangers and conductors, among them Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Astor Piazzolla, Daniel Barenboim and John Eliot Gardiner. She taught at, among others, the Juilliard School, the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, but her most important place was her parents' apartment in Paris, where she taught for almost seventy years, until her death at the age of ninety-two.

Influence

Boulanger was the first woman to conduct many major orchestras in America and Europe, including the BBC Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Hallé and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She also led world premieres, including of work by Copland and Stravinsky. Her influence extends to pop music: her pupils helped write the film music, the jazz and the pop music of the twentieth century, and a tribute record calls her by her nickname, Dear Mademoiselle.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Faure: Requiem or to the recording In Memoriam Lili Boulanger and notice how restrained and clear the voices are brought together.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists