Paule Charlotte Marie Jeanne Maurice was born in Paris on September 29, 1910 and died August 18, 1967 in Paris. Her parents were Raoul Auguste Alexandre Maurice and Marguerite Jeanne Lebrun. The archivist of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Sophie Levy, stated that the registration list for Paule Maurice showed her father’s occupation as an office worker with no other details, and that they were married. It is unknown if her parents were musically inclined, or, as was the case with many women of the time, her mother may have played piano.
Her most famous composition is the suite Tableaux de Provence pour saxophone et orchestre written between 1948 and 1955 dedicated to saxophone virtuoso, Marcel Mule. It is most often heard as a piano reduction. It was premiered on 9 December 1958 by Jean-Marie Londeix with the Orchestre Symphonique Brestois directed by Maurice's husband, and fellow composer, Pierre Lantier.
Maurice's other compositions include Suite pour quatuor de flûtes, Volio, Cosmorama, Concerto pour piano et orchestre, Mémoires d'un chat, Trois pièces pour violon, and many more. There are more titles catalogued in the library of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where Maurice studied and spent her professional life. Paule Maurice's teachers included Jean Gallon (Harmony), Noël Gallon (Counterpoint and Fugue) and Henri Büsser (Composition). From 1933 to 1947 Maurice was Jean Gallon's teaching assistant. She received first prize of harmony in 1933, second prize of fugue in 1934, and in 1939 received first prize in composition. In 1942, Maurice was appointed Professor of Déchiffrage (sight-reading), and in 1965 became Professor of Harmonic Analysis at l'École Normale de Musique. Maurice taught many students who became professors to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with some winning the Prix de Rome.
Maurice and Pierre Lantier wrote a treatise on harmony entitled Complément du Traité d'Harmonie de Reber that became an important reference work in France and abroad. It was intended to be used in conjunction with the 1862 treatise of Napoléon Henri Reber entitled Traité d'Harmonie. The impact of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel had created the need to update harmonic analysis.
Paule Maurice died at age 56 in Paris.
The image before the music is from G. P., and we would like to thank her for her kind permission to reproduce her painting.
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