Paule Maurice
1910 - 1967
Paule Charlotte Marie Jeanne Maurice was a French composer born in Paris September 29, 1910 to Raoul Auguste Alexandre Maurice and Marguerite Jeanne Lebrun and died August 18, 1967 in Paris. Registration lists at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris report that her father was an office worker and state only that the two were married. Her most famous composition is Tableaux de Provence pour saxophone et orchestre written between 1948 and 1955 dedicated to saxophone virtuoso Marcel Mule. It was premiered on December 9, 1958 by Jean-Marie Londeix with the Orchestre Symphonique Brestois directed by Maurice's husband, and fellow composer, Pierre Lantier.
Maurice's other compositions include Suite pour quatour de flutes, Volio, Cosmorama, Concerto pour piano et orchestre, Memoires de un chat, Trois pièces pour violon, and many more. There are more titles catalogued in the library of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where Maurice studied and spent her professional life.
Paule Maurice's teachers included Jean Gallon (Harmony), Noël Gallon (Counterpoint and Fugue) and Henri Büsser (Composition). From 1933 to 1947 Maurice was Jean Gallon's teaching assistant. She received first prize of harmony in 1933, second prize of fugue in 1934, and in 1939 received first prize in composition. In 1942, Maurice was appointed Professor of Déchiffrage (sight-reading), and in 1965 became Professor of Harmonic Analysis at l'Ecole Normale de Musique. Maurice taught many students who became professors to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with some winning the Prix de Rome.
Paule Maurice and Pierre Lantier wrote a treatise on harmony entitled Complement du Traite d'Harmonie de Reber and became an important reference work in France and abroad. It was intended to be used in conjunction with the 1862 treatise of Napolean Henri Reber entitled Traite d'Harmonie. The impact of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel created the need to update harmonic analysis.
Biography taken from composer’s website.
Photo: Anthony's, Paris, collection Bernard Lantier
