Introducing Lili Boulanger
Two blog posts ago, I intended to research on and write about Lili Boulanger. But I decided to focus instead on the eerie similarities of the 1918 Spanish flu and the present day Covid-19 pandemic and how both events affected the musical realm. (As a side note, Lili Boulanger died in 1918 and I wonder if the Spanish flu had any role in her passing despite her history of chronic illness and intestinal tuberculosis).
So, to use the old idiom, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”, I return this week to introduce you to Lili Boulanger. Lili, whose full name is Marie-Juliette Olga “Lili” Boulanger, was a French composer who lived a very short life, from August of 1893 to March 1918. She is not the most well-known composer so I would like to bring her to light in this post.
The Boulanger sisters, born into a musical family
Lili Boulanger was born into a musical family with both of her parents being musicians and composers. Her father, Ernest, won the esteemed Prix de Rome music composition contest in 1835. Lili’s sister, Nadia, was also a composer. Here is a photo of the Boulanger sisters, with Nadia on the left and Lili on the right:
Large amount of compositional output during Lili’s short life
Lili only lived 24 years on this earth but she composed quite a few pieces during that time period. In Caroline Potter’s book, Nadia and Lili Boulanger (2006), a total of 34 works by Lili are listed, composed between the years of 1910 and 1918. Potter also lists 15 works by Lili that have either been lost or destroyed.
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome was a competition for the arts. sponsored by the French government, with music as one of the categories. Winning the Prix de Rome was a big deal as the grand prize was a subsidized year of study in Rome, Italy. The Prix de Rome was a very esteemed contest in the musical world.
Not only did Lili Boulanger’s father, Ernest, win the Prix de Rome but Lili Boulanger won the grand prize as well! On July 5, 1913, Lili premiered her piece, Faust et Hélèn, at the Prix de Rome contest (you’ll notice that the photo above of Lili and her sister, Nadia, was taken the same day). This is a defining moment in history as it is the first time that a female composer was awarded the grand prize in the Prix de Rome.
A concert honoring Lili’s accomplishment as the first female composer to win the music category of the Prix de Rome was held in 1923. She was not able to appreciate the event as, tragically, she died at the age of 24 in 1918.
Composing even on her deathbed
One remarkable story of Lili Boulanger was that she continued to compose even in her last days of life. Fittingly, the piece Lili was composing was Pie Jesu, a part of a requiem. Lili was too weak to compose, so she dictated the score as she lay on her deathbed, to her sister, Nadia:
Pie Jesu is absolutely my favorite piece of all of Lili Boulanger’s repertoire. I never tire of listening to this beautiful, lilting, mystical and somewhat haunting (but in a good way) composition.
I hope you’ll take a listen… it is only about four minutes long. Notice the organ playing chromatically up and down, over and over again, throughout the first half of the piece, as if to represent the soul lilting back and forth from the body and almost to the next realm (heaven or whatever term you prefer to use for the next realm), not quite ready to cross over. Likewise, the strings in the beginning have an up and down motion, albeit slower than the organ.This continues until the harsh and dissonant chord at the 2:05 time marker. The musical mood then becomes lighter… did Lili intend for this harsh chord to represent one’s passing, the moment of crossing over? In my own interpretation of Pie Jesu, I find that Lili is masterful in musically representing a requiem.
A life too short…
In listening to the various pieces composed by Lili Boulanger, I really wish that she had lived longer. If she had, I believe that Lili would have become a very well-known composer. If Pie Jesu is any indication, I would have loved to have heard what her planned piece, Apocalypse, would sound like. I also really wish the score for her version of Ava Maria had not been lost.
The best we can do is appreciate what music she was able to compose in her short life.
I’d be curious what readers think of Pie Jesus! I hope you’ll check out Lili Boulanger’s many other works that are available on youtube.
