Isabelle Aboulker
Encyclopedia
Isabelle Aboulker is a French composer, particularly known for her operas and other vocal works. In 1999 she gained a prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts
and in 2000 the music prize of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques
for her numerous lyric pieces.
. Her father was the Algerian-born film director and writer Marcel Aboulker and her maternal grandfather was the composer Henry Février
. While following a course in composition and keyboard studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
in Paris, she started composing for the theatre, the cinema and television. She then worked for the Conservatoire as their chief accompanist and voice teacher and authored several educational works. In 1980 she turned to composing operas and subsequently many other vocal works.
Because of her work with children, Isabelle Aboulker made a particular speciality of composing pieces which would appeal to them or in which they could participate, as they do in Les Fables Enchantées, based on the work of Jean de la Fontaine
. Other subjects have included Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Tom Thumb (Petit Poucet). Among her work for adults are two operas based on plays by Eugène Ionesco
and settings of poems by Guillevic and Charles Cros
. In 1998 she was commissioned by the Orchestre de Picardie to write the oratorio
L’homme qui titubait dans la guerre to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the ending of World War I
and this was subsequently chosen to represent France when Weimar
became European city of culture in 1999. To celebrate the second centenary of Honoré de Balzac
’s birth that same year she was commissioned by the Grand Theatre in Tours
to write the comic opera Monsieur de Balzac fait son theatre.
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
and in 2000 the music prize of the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques
SACD
SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors...
for her numerous lyric pieces.
Life and work
Isabelle Aboulker was born on 23 October 1938 in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-BillancourtBoulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....
. Her father was the Algerian-born film director and writer Marcel Aboulker and her maternal grandfather was the composer Henry Février
Henry Février
Henry Février was a French composer.-Biography:Henry Février studied at the Paris Conservatoire where his teachers included Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré. He also took private lessons with André Messager...
. While following a course in composition and keyboard studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
in Paris, she started composing for the theatre, the cinema and television. She then worked for the Conservatoire as their chief accompanist and voice teacher and authored several educational works. In 1980 she turned to composing operas and subsequently many other vocal works.
Because of her work with children, Isabelle Aboulker made a particular speciality of composing pieces which would appeal to them or in which they could participate, as they do in Les Fables Enchantées, based on the work of Jean de la Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
. Other subjects have included Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Tom Thumb (Petit Poucet). Among her work for adults are two operas based on plays by Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
and settings of poems by Guillevic and Charles Cros
Charles Cros
Charles Cros was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude, France, 35 km to the East of Carcassonne....
. In 1998 she was commissioned by the Orchestre de Picardie to write the oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
L’homme qui titubait dans la guerre to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the ending of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and this was subsequently chosen to represent France when Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
became European city of culture in 1999. To celebrate the second centenary of Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
’s birth that same year she was commissioned by the Grand Theatre in Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
to write the comic opera Monsieur de Balzac fait son theatre.