Marguerite Monnot
| Marguerite Monnot | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
28 May 1903 Decize, Nièvre |
| Died | 12 October 1961 (aged 58) Paris |
| Genres | popular music |
| Occupation(s) | songwriter and composer |
Marguerite Monnot (28 May 1903 – 12 October 1961) was a French songwriter and composer best known for having written many of the songs performed by Édith Piaf ("Milord", "Hymne à l'amour") and for the music in the stage musical Irma La Douce.
As a female composer of popular music in the first half of the twentieth century, Monnot was a pioneer in her field. Classically trained by her father and at the Paris Conservatory (her teachers included Nadia Boulanger, Vincent d’Indy, and Alfred Cortot), Monnot made the unusual switch to composing popular music after poor health ended her career as a concert pianist when she was eighteen. Soon after writing her first commercially successful song, "L'Étranger", in 1935, she met Édith Piaf, and in 1940 they became the first female songwriting team in France, remaining friends and collaborators throughout most of their lives.
Monnot worked with some of the best lyricists of her day, including Raymond Asso, Henri Contet, and Georges Moustaki, and she also knew and collaborated with musicians and writers like Charles Aznavour, Yves Montand, Boris Vian, and Marlene Dietrich, who gathered in Piaf's living room on a regular basis to play and sing. In 1955, she achieved major success with her setting of Alexandre Breffort's book Irma la Douce, which was translated into English and had long runs in London and on Broadway under the direction of Peter Brook. The original French version continues to enjoy revivals in France and a number of other countries today. She also wrote the music for several films and an operetta.
Marguerite Monnot was born in Decize, Nièvre, a small city on the Loire River. Her father, Gabriel Monnot, who had lost his sight at the age of three, was a musician and composer of religious music. He was the organist at the Saint-Aré church in Decize and gave piano and harmonium lessons. Monnot's mother, Marie, also gave music lessons and was a teacher of French literature and a writer. Every evening, pupils and friends gathered in their home to play and sing, and the Monnots sometimes invited well-known musicians to join them. Marguerite thus grew up in an atmosphere of music. She rarely attended school: her mother taught her at home, she was tutored in music by her father, and she practiced piano several hours a day.
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