family roots
Music flowed through her genes: her mother, Raissa Myshetskaya, was a mezzo-soprano at the Opéra Comique and her father, Ernest Boulanger, was a voice teacher at the Paris Conservatoire and a cellist with the Chapelle royale. He won the Prix de Rome when he was only 19. Her sister, Nadia Boulanger, became famous as a music teacher: great talents like Bernstein, Darius Milhaud and Philip Glass had studied with her.
Prix de rome at 19
Lili Boulanger won the Prix de Rome in 1913, as the first woman composer, for her cantata Faust et Hélène. No fewer than 31 of the 36 votes were in favour of her submission. Claude Debussy, too, expressed his admiration: “Lili Boulanger… is only 19, but her experience of the technical aspect of writing music seems much older!”
about her health
Lili Boulanger struggled with poor health: when she was two years old, she caught bronchial pneumonia that damaged her immune system, and she also suffered from Crohn’s disease. Because of her illnesses, she was often bedridden and tired. But thanks to her perseverance and curiosity, she was able, in just ten years’ time, to create an impressive body of work that included some chamber music as well as large-scale compositions for choir and/or orchestra. Her best-known work is the Pie Jesu that she dictated to her sister Nadia on her deathbed.
an unfinished opera
In 1916, she met the playwright Maurice Maeterlinck and asked him for permission to use his play La princesse Maleine for an opera. Maeterlinck gave his consent, but because of her premature death she was never able to finish the work.
social work
Lili Boulanger was also socially engaged. With her sister and a few friends, during the First World War she founded the Franco-American Committee of the Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire National de Musique et de Déclamation). Via this network, they supported musicians who were sent to the front. They distributed letters, food, clothing and money and even published a musical newspaper. Musicians like Maurice Ravel received care packages from this organization.
the number 13
She had an affinity with the number 13: her name is made up of exactly 13 letters, the initials ‘LB’ printed on the cover of her published works resemble the number, and for her song cycle Clairières dans le ciel, she deliberately chose 13 poems by Francis Jammes.
