Composers from Paris

Edgar_Varese

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (French: [ɛdɡaʁ viktɔʁ aʃil ʃaʁl vaʁɛz]; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined the term "organized sound" in reference to his own musical aesthetic. Varèse's conception of music reflected his vision of "sound as living matter" and of "musical space as open rather than bounded". He conceived the elements of his music in terms of "sound-masses", likening their organization to the natural phenomenon of crystallization. Varèse thought that "to stubbornly conditioned ears, anything new in music has always been called noise", and he posed the question, "what is music but organized noises?"Although his complete surviving works only last about three hours, he has been recognised as an influence by several major composers of the late 20th century. Varèse saw potential in using electronic media for sound production, and his use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music" whilst Henry Miller described him as "The stratospheric Colossus of Sound".Varèse actively promoted performances of works by other 20th-century composers and founded the International Composers' Guild in 1921 and the Pan-American Association of Composers in 1926.

Lili_Boulanger

Marie-Juliette Olga "Lili" Boulanger (French: [maʁi ʒyljɛt lili bulɑ̃ʒe] ; 21 August 1893 – 15 March 1918) was a French composer and the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted composer and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.

Gérard_Calvi

Gérard Calvi (born Grégoire Krettly; 26 July 1922 – 20 February 2015) was a French composer.
Interested in music from an early age, Calvi's first composing work was for the French production The Patron in 1949. From here he provided music for various French films, most notably Gangster Boss, as well as the show La Plume de Ma Tante, which was nominated for Best Musical at the 13th Tony Awards.He composed music for three Asterix films: Asterix the Gaul, Asterix and Cleopatra and The Twelve Tasks of Asterix.He also composed the memorable Asterix theme for the first film, which was dispensed with by the time the music for The Twelve Tasks of Asterix was composed in 1976.
His last work was for the feature film The Crab Revolution in 2004. He died in 2015, aged 92.