Darius Milhaud was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and Brazilian music and make extensive use of polytonality. Milhaud is considered one of the key modernist composers. A renowned teacher, he taught many future jazz and classical composers, including Burt Bacharach, Dave Brubeck, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis among others.
La Création du monde, Op. 81a, is a 15-minute-long ballet composed by Darius Milhaud in 1922–23 to a libretto by Blaise Cendrars, which outlines the creation of the world based on African folk mythology. The premiere took place on 25 October 1923 at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Jacques Jansen was a French baryton-martin singer, particularly associated with the role of Pelléas in the opera by Debussy, but also active in operetta and on the concert platform, and later as a teacher.
Christophe Colomb is an opera in two parts by the French composer Darius Milhaud. The poet Paul Claudel wrote the libretto based on his own play about the life of Christopher Columbus, Le Livre de Christophe Colomb. The opera was first performed at the Staatsoper, Berlin, on 5 May 1930 in a German translation by Rudolph Stephan Hoffmann. Milhaud thoroughly revised the work and produced a second version around 1955. The opera is on a large scale and requires many resources for its staging. As in many of his other works, Milhaud employs polytonality in parts of the score.
Jean Desailly was a French actor. He was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1942 to 1946, and later participated in about 90 movies.
La cheminée du roi René, Op. 205, is a suite in seven movements for wind quintet, composed in 1939 by the French composer Darius Milhaud. The title alludes to a Provençal proverb playing on words for 'fireplace', 'chimney' and 'promenade': the 15th-century King of Sicily René d'Anjou is said to have enjoyed walks in the winter sun of Provence.
Simon Basinger is a French musicologist and essayist.
This is an incomplete list of plays for which incidental music has been written.
Les mariés de la tour Eiffel is a ballet to a libretto by Jean Cocteau, choreography by Jean Börlin, set by Irène Lagut, costumes by Jean Hugo, and music by five members of Les Six: Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre. The score calls for two narrators. The ballet was first performed in Paris in 1921.
Jean Giraudeau, was an artist and French tenor, and later theatre director, particularly associated with the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and described in Grove as having a “lyrical voice” as well as being “a superb character actor”. He left a wide selection of recordings from both his operatic and concert repertoire, and created roles in several contemporary operas.
Gisèle Casadesus was a French actress, who appeared in numerous theatre and film productions. She was an honorary member of the Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and Grand-Croix of the National Order of Merit. In a career spanning more than 80 years, Casadesus appeared in more than a dozen films after turning 90.
The théâtre Récamier was a Parisian theatre located at 3 rue Récamier in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, inaugurated in 1908 and closed in 1978.
Jean-Pierre Granval, stage name of Jean-Pierre Charles Gribouval, was a 20th-century French stage and film actor as well as a theatre director.
Disques Montaigne was a French classical record company founded in 1987 by Pierre Lebaillif, an official in charge of cultural sponsorship at the state owned bank Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, and also vice-président of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Lebaillif's intention was to make available to a wider public some valuable archive and live recordings. Lebaillif, had the original radio tapes from the 1950s and 60s cleaned up and digitally remastered by a renowned French recording engineer Pierre Verany, but rather than release them on Verany's own label, he created a new label for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Although specialized the label's releases were well received. Among the rarities recovered by Labaillif was Manuel Rosenthal's performance of Darius Milhaud's rare opera Christophe Colomb and D. E. Inghelbrecht's performance of Pelleas et Melisande sung by Jacques Jansen and Micheline Grancher. Lebaillif died three years after founding the label, but the label continued to be active during the 1990s releasing mainly contemporary classical music such as the Arditti Quartet's recordings of György Kurtág, but also occasional older music such as Malgoire's recording of Lully's opera Alceste. The catalogue of Montaigne was later acquired by Louis Bricard's independent label Auvidis, which then itself was acquired by Naive Records.
Yvonne Gouverné, née Yvonne Marcelle Gouverné, was a 20th-century French pianist by training, who went on to become an accompanist and choir conductor.
Jean-François Gardeil is a French baritone and theatre director. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Chants de Garonne.
Florence Katz is a contemporary French a mezzo-soprano, graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris, she is also a singing teacher at the Conservatory of Bourg-la-Reine/Sceaux. She specializes in the French repertoire. She is a recipient of the Darius Milhaud Prize.
Louis-Jacques Rondeleux was a 20th-century French lyrical artist (baritone).
Étienne Bertrand Weill (1919-2001) was a French photographer. His primary works were abstract Metaforms.
