Germaine Tailleferre (1892 – 1983)
Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse was born at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, France. She changed her name in an attempt to dissociate herself from her father, who had refused to let her study music. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 12 and supported herself by giving music lessons. She began composing as a teenager.
Over the years Germaine Tailleferre associated with many other French composers. Erik Satie once called her his “musical daughter,” and Maurice Ravel was another influence on her work. In 1920 a journalist referred to a group of six composers living and working in Montparnasse as “Les Six.” Germaine Tailleferre was the only woman in the group, which also included Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Francis Poulenc. She wrote this short but fascinating string quartet between 1917 to 1919:
Germaine Tailleferre had a long compositional career. Her works date from 1909 to 1982, including some orchestral music, but much more for piano, voice and piano, and small ensembles. She lived in Philadelphia during WW II but moved back to France afterwards. In the 1950s, she composed some operas and chamber operas.
Germaine Tailleferre composed this three-movement Sonata for Harp in 1953 and then revised it in 1957. The first movement incorporates some habanera rhythms, while the slow second movement begins inauspiciously but becomes quite captivating. The final movement is an intricate and energetic perpetuum mobile.