Maurice Thiriet

Maurice Thiriet (French: [tiʁje]; 2 May 1906 – 28 September 1972) was a French composer of classical and film music.

Biography

Born in Meulan, Yvelines, he entered the Paris conservatory in 1925 to study counterpoint and fugue with Charles Koechlin and orchestration and arrangement under Alexis Roland-Manuel. He graduated in 1931. During the forties Thiriet carved his career within film music, inspired by fellow composer Maurice Jaubert (who died in World War II), and wrote something like seventy scores from 1942 to 1960. Apart from his film work, Thiriet also composed several concert works, including a Flute concerto, twelve ballets and three operas. His style, which was influenced by Jaubert and Roland-Manuel, is characterized by taught construction and modest, nearly impressionistic harmonization and often bears a classical grace not unlike that of Francis Poulenc and Jean Françaix. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

List of works

Stage and dramatic

• La Bourgois de Falaise – opera (1937)
• Psyché – ballet (1950)
• Herakles – ballet (1953)
• Œdipe-roi – sur le texte de Jean Cocteau for speaker and orchestra (1940–41) and on stage (1963)
• La véridique histoire du docteur – opéra comique (1937)
• La Locandiera – opéra-bouffe (1960)
• L'œuf à la coque – ballet (1949)
• Deuil en 24 heures – ballet (1953)
• La nuit vénitienne – ballet (1939)
• La chaloupée – ballet (1960)
• La chambre noire – ballet-bouffe (1955)
• La précaution inutile (sur des thèmes de Rossini) – ballet (1946)
• La reine des iles – ballet (1955)
• Le maure de Venise – ballet (1958)
• Les amants de Mayerling – ballet (1960)
• Les jeux de l'amour et du placard – ballet-opérette (1953)
• Messaline – théatre (1947)
• Vogue la galère – théatre (1952)

Orchestra

• Le Livre pour Jean (1929)
• Rhapsody on Inca Themes (1935)
• Poem, for strings (1936)
• La Nuit Fantasque (1941)
• Les visiteurs du soir (1947)

Concertante

• Introduction, Chanson et Ronde, harp and orchestra (1936)
• Flute Concerto, flute and string orchestra (1959)

Selected filmography

• Once Upon a Time (1933)
• Southern Mail (1937)
• Adrienne Lecouvreur (1938)
• Pamela (1945)
• Not So Stupid (1946)
• Eternal Conflict (1948)
• Three Boys, One Girl (1948)
• The House on the Dune (1952)
• The Air of Paris (1954)
• La Tour, prends garde ! (1958)

Sources

^ Mark Brill "Maurice Thiriet" in The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

External links

• Maurice Thiriet at IMDb