Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)

A highly gifted composer, who died tragically young, Lili Boulanger won the Prix de Rome aged nineteenth for her 1913 cantata Faust et Hélène. She was the first female composer to win this honour. Likely owing to the lasting effects childhood bronchial pneumonia, her career being beset by illness, she died in 1918 aged 24. Lili was born into a musical family, with her father, Ernest Boulanger being a Paris Conservatoire music teacher; her grandfather was a cellist and her grandmother a singer. Her mother was a Russian Princess. Lili’s talent was spotted aged two and it must have been clear even then that she may have been destined for a musical career.

 

Lili’s education began by going with her sister to the Paris conservatoire to classes, before she had reached the age of five. Not long after she began sitting in on music theory lessons and studied the organ with the celebrated teacher Louis Vierne. Lili also took an interest in singing and played the violin, cello, piano and harp. Initially studying composition with her sister, she went on to take lessons with Paul Vidal, Georges Caussade and Gabriel Fauré, who held her works in high esteem. It was only after the death of her father that Lili’s mother encouraged her to pursue an actual occupation, with composing being the natural choice. This turning point, overshadowed by grief at the loss of her father, set her on a path towards winning the Prix de Rome several years later. Her victory brought her vital prominence among the musical world, as well as a contract with the important music publisher Ricordi. Her exceptional talent must have been a light in what was otherwise a dark tunnel of regular bouts of illness and resulting. As Léonie Rosenstiel writes: ‘Lili’s physical dependence on others, especially her immediate family and their servants, was often total, but she enjoyed complete intellectual and artistic autonomy.’

 

Her works stand out, in particular for their skilful instrumentation, harmonic colouring and effective use of timbre. Upon her death she left an unfinished opera, La Princesse Maleine, which had occupied much of her time in her last years.