Nadia Boulanger Brief Biography
French Composer, Conductor, Famous Music Teacher
Nadia Boulanger, French composer and conductor turned music teacher, was one of the most influential music professor of the 20th century. An older sister of composer Lily Boulanger, she gave up composing at 25, and concentrated on teaching music.
Among her prominent students were Copland, Harris and Thomson. She was a longtime friend of Igor Stravinsky.
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.”
Early Life of Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was born in Paris on September 16, 1887, into a musical family. 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 Nadia's first teacher.
At 5 years old, Boulanger could read music. She enrolled at the conservatory at 10 and completed training at 17, already winning awards for composing. She was a pupil of Fauré. Boulanger won second place in France's prestigious Prix de Rome for her cantata, La Sirene. She was a
Boulanger's Turning Point - from Composer to Influential Music Teacher
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 Boulanger was one of her first pupils and the first woman to win the Prix de Rome.
In her long career, she 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 the Conductor
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 the Composers' Teacher
Considered the most influential music teacher, Boulanger 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
- 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.”
Boulanger's Last Years
As a music teacher, Boulanger’s genius was to extract the 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 at age 92, Nadia Boulanger continued to work, though blind.
Sources:
The Giant Book of Influential Women by Deborah G. Felder, The Book Company (!997)
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
The Oxford companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham (2002)
Who’s Who of Women in the Twentieth Century, Jean Martin (General Editor), Bison Books (1995)
Nadia Boulanger, French Music Teacher, Composer
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