Georges Auric

Georges Auric

  • Birthday: 1899-02-15
  • Deathday: 1983-07-23
  • Place of birth: Lodève, Hérault, France

Biography

Georges Auric (15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, France. He was considered one of Les Six, a group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. Before he turned 20 he had orchestrated and written incidental music for several ballets and stage productions. He also had a long and distinguished career as a film composer. Georges Auric began his musical career at a young age, performing a piano recital at the Société musicale indépendante at the age of 14. Several songs that he had written were then performed in the following year by Société Nationale de Musique. Along with his early successes professionally, Auric studied music at the Paris Conservatoire, as well as composition with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and Albert Roussel. Having gained recognition as a child prodigy both in composition and piano performance, he became a protégé of Erik Satie during the following decade. During the 1910s and 20s, he was a significant contributor of avant-garde music in Paris and was significantly influenced by Cocteau and the other composers of Les Six. Auric's early compositions were marked by a reaction against the musical establishment and the use of referential material. Because of this and his association with Cocteau and Satie, Auric was grouped into Les Six by music critic Henri Collet, and was friends with the artist Jean Hugo. His participation led to writing settings of poetry and other texts as songs and musicals. Along with the other five composers, he contributed a piece to L'Album des Six. In 1921, Cocteau asked him to write the music for his ballet, Les Mariés de la tour Eiffel. He found himself short of time, so he asked his fellow composers of Les Six to contribute some music. All except Louis Durey agreed. During this time, he wrote his one-act opera Sous le masque (1927) (an earlier opera, La Reine de coeur (1919), is lost). It was also in 1927 that he contributed the Rondeau for the children's ballet L'Éventail de Jeanne, a collaboration between ten French composers. In 1952 he participated in yet another collaboration, the set of orchestral variations La Guirlande de Campra. Les Six, though an informal and short-lived group, became known for its reaction against the musical establishment of the time and the promotion of absurdism and satire; the group rebelled similarly against Wagner as it did against Debussy. The music of these composers, including Auric, represented the specific cultural scene of Paris at the time and rejected the international styles brought by Russian and German music, as well as the impressionism and symbolism of Debussy. Auric's later development as a populist composer was prefigured by many of the techniques and ideals of Les Six, especially the use of popular music and situations. Music of the circus or the dance hall played a significant role in the music of Les Six, especially in their actual collaborations. However, Les Six soon drew apart, with Auric and others taking different approaches to their art. ... Source: Article "Georges Auric" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Filmography

The Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice

1929

As Self (uncredited)

Entr'acte

1924

As A man following the hearse (uncredited)

Production

The Wages of Fear

1953

As Original Music Composer

Beauty and the Beast

1946

As Original Music Composer

Roman Holiday

1953

As Original Music Composer

Rififi

1955

As Original Music Composer

Bonjour Tristesse

1958

As Original Music Composer

The Witches of Salem

1957

As Original Music Composer

Moulin Rouge

1952

As Original Music Composer

Orpheus

1950

As Original Music Composer

Christine

1958

As Original Music Composer

The Burning Court

1962

As Original Music Composer

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1956

As Original Music Composer

Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!

1966

As Original Music Composer

Dead of Night

1945

As Original Music Composer

It Always Rains on Sunday

1947

As Original Music Composer

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

1957

As Original Music Composer

The Innocents

1961

As Music

The Good Die Young

1954

As Original Music Composer

Leathernose

1952

As Original Music Composer

The Mind Benders

1963

As Original Music Composer

The Journey

1959

As Music

Father Brown

1954

As Original Music Composer

The Bespoke Overcoat

1955

As Music

Silent Dust

1949

As Music

Orage

1938

As Music

Abdullah's Harem

1955

As Music

L'Âge heureux

1966

As Music

Ladies Lake

1934

As Original Music Composer

SOS Pacific

1959

As Music

The Eternal Return

1943

As Music

The Wages of Fear

1953

As Music Director

The Blood of a Poet

1932

As Original Music Composer

À Nous la Liberté

1931

As Original Music Composer

Next to No Time

1958

As Music

The Lavender Hill Mob

1951

As Music

Gambling Hell

1942

As Original Music Composer

The Divided Heart

1954

As Original Music Composer

Gervaise

1956

As Original Music Composer

Caesar and Cleopatra

1945

As Original Music Composer

The Century Is Fifty

1950

As Original Music Composer

The Titfield Thunderbolt

1953

As Original Music Composer

Passport to Pimlico

1949

As Original Music Composer

Mysteries of Paris

1935

As Music Director

The Lafarge Case

1938

As Original Music Composer

Bridge to the Sun

1961

As Original Music Composer

Thomas the Impostor

1965

As Original Music Composer

The Galloping Major

1951

As Original Music Composer

Dear Caroline

1951

As Music

Poppies Are Also Flowers

1966

As Original Music Composer

The Christmas Tree

1969

As Original Music Composer

The Respectful Prostitute

1952

As Original Music Composer

Corridor of Mirrors

1948

As Original Music Composer

Therese and Isabelle

1968

As Original Music Composer

Lola Montès

1955

As Original Music Composer

Goodbye Again

1961

As Original Music Composer

The Night Heaven Fell

1958

As Original Music Composer

The Queen of Spades

1949

As Original Music Composer

Bold Adventure

1956

As Music

The Chips Are Down

1947

As Music

The Storm Within

1948

As Original Music Composer

The Queen's Lover

1948

As Music

L'assassin a peur la nuit

1942

As Original Music Composer

The Spider and the Fly

1949

As Original Music Composer

He Who Must Die

1957

As Music

Another Shore

1948

As Music

Le Rendez-vous de minuit

1961

As Original Music Composer

Maya

1949

As Original Music Composer

The Messenger

1937

As Music

Flesh and Desire

1954

As Music

The Slave

1953

As Music

La Mode rêvée

1940

As Original Music Composer

Cage of Gold

1950

As Original Music Composer

The Curtain Rises

1938

As Original Music Composer

Chéri-Bibi

1955

As Music

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