Louise-Marie Simon (30 November 1903 â 7 March 1990), professionally known as Claude Arrieu, was a French composer, pedagogue, and music producer.
Arrieu wrote hundreds of works in various formats, including incidental music, concert works, and film scores. She was also a teacher and worked as a producer and assistant head of sound effects at Radio France.
Born in Paris, Arrieu was the daughter of composer Cécile-Paul Simon. Arrieu was classically trained from an early age and became particularly interested in works by Bach and Mozart, and later, Igor Stravinsky. However, her contemporaries, such as Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel provided her the most inspiration.
She entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1924. She became a piano student of Marguerite Long and took classes from Georges Caussade, Noël Gallon, Jean Roger-Ducasse, and Paul Dukas. In 1932, she received the first prize in composition from the Conservatoire. She also became friends with Olivier Messiaen, who considered her a part of a core group of composers alongside himself, Elsa Barraine, and Jean Cartan, all students of Dukas.
In 1935, Arrieu joined the Service des programmes de la Radiodiffusion française, where she remained employed until 1947. She participated in the development of a wide range of programming, including Pierre Schaeffer's experimental radio series, La Coquille àplanètes (1943âÂÂ1944).
In 1949, Arrieu won the RAI's Prix Italia for her score for Frédéric Général.
She wrote music in all styles, composing works of absolute music as well as music for theatre, film, radio, and music hall. Wise Music Classical describes her music as exhibiting "a sound with ease of flow and elegance of structure" and "vivacity, clarity of expression and a natural feel for melody."
Arrieu composed concertos for piano (1932), two pianos (1934), violin (1938 and 1949), flute (1946), and trumpet and strings (1965). She also wrote Petite suite en cinq parties (1945), Concerto for wind quintet and strings (1962), Suite funambulesque ("Tightrope Walker's Suite") (1961), and Variations for classical strings (1970).
Among her chamber music compositions are her Trio for woodwinds (1936), Sonatina for two violins (1937), and Clarinet quartet (1964). Her Sonatine for flute and piano (1946) was first performed for the radio in 1944 by flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and pianist H. Moyens.
Arrieu set many poems to music, including those by Joachim du Bellay, Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, Louis Aragon, Jean Cocteau, Jean Tardieu, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Paul ÃÂluard. Examples include Chansons bas for voice and piano, based on poems by Mallarmé (1937); Candide, radio music on texts by Jean Tardieu based on Voltaire; and àla Libération, cantata of seven poems on love in war, on poems by Paul ÃÂluard.
Her first opéra bouffe, Cadet Roussel with a libretto by André de la Tourasse after Jean Limozin, was presented at the Opéra de Marseille on 2 October 1953. In 1960, La Princesse de Babylone, an opéra bouffe after the work of Voltaire adapted by Pierre Dominica, was praised for its lyrical originality and spectacle.
Her noteworthy film scores include: Les Gueux au paradis (1946), Crèvecoeur (1955), Niok l'éléphant (1957), Marchands de rien (1958), Le Tombeur (1958), and Julie Charles (for television, 1974).
She died in Paris on March 7, 1990.
Trio en Ut / Reed Trio (1936)
1. Allegretto ritmico. 2. Pastorale et Scherzo. 3. Allegrement. 9 mins. Oboe, clarinet, bassoon.
Arrieu was thirty-three when she wrote this reed trio. The work was commissioned by the ensemble, Trio DâÂÂAnches de Paris. The opening Allegretto ritmico is a pseudo-march, with contrasting episodes. The Pastorale et Scherzo is tender and swaying, sometimes faster, and includes its own middle section. The Allègrement has a more militaristic sound. It's one of two works she composed for reed trio, the other being Suite en Trio (1980).
Recorded by the Ambache ensemble on Liberté, Egalité, Sororité.
Dixtuor pour Instruments ÃÂ Vent / Wind Dixtuor, 1967 (rev. 1989)
1. Allegretto moderato. 2. Moderato - Allegro scherzando - Andante - Tempo primo. 3. Andante - Allegro scherzando. 4. Cantabile 5. Allegro Risoluto 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, horn, trumpet, trombone.
ArrieuâÂÂs Dixtuor pour Instruments àVent is possibly the only published piece written for this combination of instruments. Composed in 1967, the work exhibits a structure typical of Parisian neoclassicism.
Opera
Chamber music
Vocal music
Teaching pieces