Lili Boulanger for kids: her life, her music, and what to play first

Lili Boulanger was a French composer who lived from 1893 to 1918. In 1913, at 19, she became the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, the top prize in France for young composers. She was ill for most of her life and died at 24. In those few years she wrote music of great color and feeling. The best first piece for a child is “Of a Spring Morning,” five minutes of bright, quick music.

Quick facts

• Born: 1893, in Paris, France
• Died: 1918, near Paris
• Era: Modern
• Played: piano, violin, cello, and harp
• Known for: winning the Prix de Rome, “Of a Spring Morning,” and her settings of psalms for choir and orchestra

The life in short

Music filled the Boulanger home. Lili’s father was a composer who had won the Prix de Rome himself as a young man. Her mother was a singer. Her sister, Nadia, was six years older and a gifted musician.

When Lili was two, a family friend, the composer Gabriel Fauré, noticed that she could sing tunes back in perfect pitch.

That same year, she caught a serious illness of the lungs. It left her weak for the rest of her life, and she was often in bed for weeks.

She could not attend school every day, so she learned by tagging along. From the age of five, she sat in on Nadia’s classes at the Paris Conservatory.

Her father died when she was six. His prize remained a family legend. Nadia tried for the Prix de Rome four times and came second once. Lili decided she would win it.

In 1912, she entered and fell ill during the contest. In 1913, she tried again. The judges listened to her piece for voices and orchestra and gave her the first prize by a wide margin. No woman had won it for music in more than 100 years of the contest.

The prize brought a stay in Rome, and the First World War cut it short. Back in Paris, Lili and Nadia organized help for musicians who were serving as soldiers.

Her health grew worse. She kept composing, and when she could no longer write, she told Nadia which notes to put down. She died in March 1918.

What the music sounds like

Boulanger’s music glows. She learned from Fauré and Debussy, and she used their soft, shifting chords. Her serious music is darker than theirs.

Her bright pieces sparkle and dart. Her serious pieces move at a slow pace, in deep colors, with the low instruments of the orchestra at the front.

Pieces to play first

“Of a Spring Morning.” A flute dances over quick, light strings. She wrote it in her last year, and it is full of energy.

Nocturne for violin and piano. A slow, singing piece of about three minutes. She wrote it at 18. Flute players perform it too.

“Cortège.” A short, cheerful piece for violin or flute and piano. A cortège is a procession.

“Pie Jesu.” Her last piece, for a high voice, strings, harp, and organ. It is slow and peaceful. This is the one she dictated to her sister.

Things to do together

Morning or evening? She wrote a partner piece called “Of a Sad Evening.” Play one minute of each. Ask which is morning and which is evening, and how the music tells you.

Catch the flute. In “Of a Spring Morning,” raise a hand each time the flute takes the tune.

Write it down for me. One person hums a short tune. The other draws its shape as a line that goes up and down. This is a small version of what Nadia did for Lili.

Two sisters. Talk about Nadia. After Lili died, Nadia stopped composing and became one of the most famous music teachers of the century. One of her students was Aaron Copland.

What parents may want to say

Lili Boulanger’s story is sad and brave. For a young child, it is enough to say that she was often sick and kept writing music. An older child can hear that she died young and that her sister spent the next 60 years making sure her music was played.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for Lili Boulanger. Read about more composers in women composers for kids. For a French composer who shaped her sound, read Debussy for kids. For the era she lived in, read modern classical music for kids.

For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.