Cortège from Deux Morceaux by Juliette Marie Olga (Lili) Boulanger Orchestra - Sheet Music

SKU: CF.STR36

ISBN 9798299500387. UPC: 798408102982. 9x12 inches. Key: G major.

Lili Boulanger (1893–1918) was a gifted French composer whose amazing talent became evident at an early age. Cortège is the third movement in “Trois Morceaux,” a set of pieces first composed for solo piano, but later arranged for violin and piano by the composer. Some of Lili’s writing idioms appear in Cortège such as harmonic shifts, free use of chromatics, and even subtle use of a whole tone scale. A cortege is a kind of procession, sometimes for a funeral, but in this case the procession is more upbeat and cheerful. .
Lili Boulanger (1893–1918) was a gifted French composer whose amazing talent became evident at an early age. She was probably noticed while attending classes with her older sister Nadia. Nadia’s career became quite successful as a teacher to many soon to become famous composers such as Stravinsky, Copland, and many other American composers. But Lili’s composition abilities exceeded her older sister’s. Unfortunately, her career was cut short because she was plagued with illness. Her short life produced many award-winning compositions. Her style was uniquely late Romantic and leaning toward some Impressionist tendencies.Cortège is the second movement in the set of “Deux Morceaux” which was originally conceived as a piano solo. However, she shortly did an alternate version for violin and piano and that was how it was first performed in 1915. A few of Lili’s writing idioms appear in Cortège. There are harmonic shifts, free use of chromatics and even the use of a whole tone scale. A cortege is a kind of procession, sometimes for a funeral, but in this case the procession is more upbeat and cheerful. Lili became the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome for composition in 1913, a landmark achievement in French cultural history.