Jean-Michel Damase

Damase was born in Bordeaux, the son of harpist Micheline Kahn.[2] He was studying piano and solfège with Marcel Samuel-Rousseau at the age of five and composing by age nine.[3] His first work (at the age of nine) was a setting of some poems by Colette, whom he had met at a Parisian salon.[1] In 1940, Damase began studying studying piano with Alfred Cortot at the École Normale de Musique.[4] The next year, he was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris, entering Armand Ferté’s piano classes[4] and winning first prize for piano in 1943,[3] afterwards studying with Henri Büsser, Marcel Dupré and Claude Delvincourt for composition[3] and winning first prize for composition in 1947 for his Quintet for flute, harp, violin, viola, and cello.[4] In the same year, he won the Grand Prix de Rome[5] for his cantata Et la belle se réveilla.[4] Meanwhile, he appeared as a piano soloist in the Colonne and Conservatoire concerts, and with the Orchestre National of the ORTF.[4]

He made the first complete recording of Gabriel Fauré's nocturnes and barcarolles, for which he received the Grand Prix du Disque.[6]

Orchestral

• Symphony (1952)[7]
• Serenade for strings (1959)[7]

Orchestrations

• La fille mal gardée (1985) (of Peter Hertel's 1864 ballet score) [8]

Concertante

• Concerto for harpsichord or harp and small orchestra (1984)[8]
• Concerto for viola, harp and string orchestra (1990)

Chamber music

• Trio for flute, cello and harp (1947)[9]
• Trio for flute, viola and harp (1947)[9]
• Quintet for flute, harp and string trio, op. 2 (1948)[9]
• Aria for cello (or viola, or alto saxophone) and piano, op. 7 (1949)
• 17 variations for wind quintet, op. 22 (1951)
• Sonate en concert for flute, piano and cello (ad libitum), op. 17 (1952)[9]
• Trio for flute, oboe and piano (1961)
• String Trio (1965)[9]
• Sonata for clarinet and harp (1984)[9]
• Vacances for alto saxophone and piano (1990)
• Intermède for viola and piano (1990)
• Épigraphe for viola and piano (1991)
• Ostinato for viola and piano (1991)
• Prélude, élégie et final for bass trombone (or tuba) and piano (1993)
• Trio for oboe, horn, and piano (1993)
• Trio for two flutes and piano (1997)
• Sonata for cello and harp (2002)[9]
• Hallucinations for viola and harp
• Berceuse for horn and piano
• Pavane variée for horn and piano

Operas

• La tendre Eléonore (1958, premiered 1962 Marseilles, libretto L. Masson)[4][10]
• Colombe (1958, premiered 1961 Bordeaux, libretto Jean Anouilh with Maria Murano)[4][10]
• Eugène le mystérieux (1963, premiered 1964 Paris, libretto Marcel Achard after Eugène Sue)[4][10]
• Le matin de Faust (1965, premiered 1966 Nice, libretto Y. Gautier and F. Dereyne)[4][10]
• Madame de ... (1969, premiered 1970 Monte Carlo, libretto Jean Anouilh after L. de Vilmorin)[4][10]
• Eurydice (1972, premiered 1972 Bordeaux, libretto Jean Anouilh)[4][10]
• L'héritière (1974, premiered 1974 Nancy, libretto L. Durcreux after adaptation by R. and A. Goetz of H. James: Washington Square)[4][10]

Film scores

• Term of Trial (1962)[8]

• Greene, David Mason (1985). Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers at Google Books. Reproducing Piano Roll Fnd. page 1512. ISBN 0-385-14278-1.
• Lasser, Michael. "Chez DAMASE: The Unofficial Webpage of Jean-Michel Damase". Retrieved 2008-12-26.