Charlotte Sohyaus modern

Charlotte Sohy (* 7 July 1887 in Paris as Charlotte Marie Louise Durey; † 19 December 1955 ibid.) was a French composer.

Life

Charlotte Durey is the cousin of the later composer of the Groupe des Six, Louis Durey.

As the daughter of an industrialist and a precocious child, she received a comprehensive education, including musical training with Georges Marty in piano and harmony. She was introduced to the world of music at a very early age and was friends with Nadia Boulanger and Mélanie Bonis. She continued her education at the Schola Cantorum (Paris), where she was taught the organ by Alexandre Guilmant and later by Louis Vierne, as well as writing and composition by Vincent d’Indy.

On 12 June 1909, she married the composer Marcel Labey, with whom she had seven children. In their flat at 24 rue Greuze, they organised music sessions to which personalities from the world of the arts were invited. She wrote the libretto for her husband’s lyrical drama Bérengère, which was published in 1912 under the name Charles Sohy.

As a composer, Charlotte Sohy wrote masses, songs, piano pieces, trios, string quartets as well as a symphony and the lyrical drama L’Esclave couronnée, which was written between 1917 and 1921. She signed her works Sohy, Charlotte Sohy, Charles Sohy, Ch. Sohy or Charlotte Sohy-Labey, but also under other pseudonyms such as Louis Rivière or Claude Vincent.

She also writes theatre plays and a novel. Her music was performed by Paul Dukas, Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré in the Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux salon, where she and her husband were regular guests at the Music Fridays, he since 1908 and she since 1913. Charlotte Sohy’s music was performed less and less after the First World War.

In the table compiled by Florence Launay of the most important female composers active in France in the 19th century, her lifetime and creative period are ranked between those of Lili and Nadia Boulanger, of whom she was a contemporary. She was one of the 20 or so female composers who achieved professional status between 1789 and 1914, enjoyed the respect of their colleagues, had access to musical institutions and were publicly successful.

Source Wiki: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Sohy