The character arc of Nadia Boulanger

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 16 September 1887 in Paris, to a composer father and a Russian mother. Died 22 October 1979 in Paris, aged ninety two. Between the two sit the Conservatoire at nine, a second prize in 1908, a sister who won outright in 1913 and died in 1918, a decision to stop composing, teaching from 1904, Fontainebleau from 1921, orchestras no woman had conducted, and seven decades of students. The line below draws that whole life in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who was Nadia Boulanger?

She stopped writing music and taught everybody else.

Her father Ernest had won the Prix de Rome; her mother was a Russian princess; her younger sister Lili was a composer too. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at nine, in 1896, studied under Gabriel Faure, and took first prize in harmony in 1903. Then she went for the Prix de Rome, which was the thing that made a French composer. She failed to get past the preliminaries in 1906 and 1907, won the Second Grand Prix in 1908 for her cantata La Sirene, and failed to reach the final in 1909.

In 1913 Lili won it outright, the first woman ever to do so. In March 1918 Lili died, at twenty four. Nadia largely stopped composing, and told Faure why: if there is one thing of which she was certain, it was that she had written useless music. Whether that judgement was fair is not for this page. What she did next is the line.

She had been teaching from her family apartment since 1904. From 1921 she taught at the French school for Americans at Fontainebleau, where Aaron Copland was in the first year's intake, and she went on teaching for seven decades. More than two hundred and fifty students: Copland, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Astor Piazzolla, Daniel Barenboim. She refused to teach formulas, saying she could not give anyone inventiveness nor take it away, only the liberty to read, to listen, to see and to understand. She also conducted, as the first woman to take the London Philharmonic in 1936, the Boston Symphony in 1938 and the New York Philharmonic in 1939. Her line is worth reading because she gave up the thing she wanted and became something larger.

The moments

Nadia Boulanger's timeline.

The 1890s

Oct 1896

The Conservatoire at nine

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Nine years old, into the Conservatoire, taught by Faure.

The 1900s

Oct 1904

She began teaching at home

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Seventeen years before Fontainebleau, she was already teaching in her own front room.

Jul 1906

Twice she did not advance

Setback, and it changed her direction. The prize that made a French composer, and she did not get past the first round. Twice.

4 Jul 1908

Second Grand Prix

Milestone, and it changed everything. Second. The nearest she ever came.

Jul 1909

And then not even the final

Setback, and it changed her direction. After second place, out before the last round.

The 1910s

5 Jul 1913

Her sister won it outright

Setback, and it changed everything. The prize she had chased for years, taken by her younger sister, first woman ever.

15 Mar 1918

Lili died at twenty four

Setback, and it changed everything. Twenty four years old. The record gives the date; what it was like is not written here.

1 Apr 1918

Keep composing, or teach

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: stop writing, and teach, taken, or keep composing. She taught for seven decades and more than two hundred and fifty students, and conducted orchestras no woman had conducted before.

Jun 1918

She stopped composing

Milestone, and it changed everything. Her own judgement, in her own words. Whether it was fair is not for this page.

The 1920s

26 Jun 1921

Fontainebleau

Milestone, and it changed everything. The first intake included Copland. That is how the century started going through her front room.

The 1930s

Nov 1936

First woman at the podium

Milestone, and it changed everything. Three of the great orchestras, and in each case the first woman ever to stand in front of it.

The 1940s

6 Nov 1940

She arrived in New York

Setback, and it changed her direction. She got students out first, and then herself, by way of two other countries.

Jan 1946

Back to Paris

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Home, and then running the school she had taught at for twenty five years.

The 1960s

~1962

Two hundred and fifty students

Milestone, and it changed everything. Copland, Glass, Piazzolla, Quincy Jones. One teacher, seven decades, most of a century of music.

The line ends 22 Oct 1979, in Paris, at ninety two, buried beside the sister she outlived by sixty one years. What it set moving is most of a century of music: it is hard to find a major composer of that period who did not study with her or with somebody who did.

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Nadia Boulanger: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What was Nadia Boulanger's character arc?

A composer who chased the Prix de Rome through four attempts, watched her younger sister win it outright and then die at twenty four, decided her own music was useless, stopped writing it, and taught most of a century of music instead.

Why did Nadia Boulanger stop composing?

After her sister Lili died in March 1918 she largely abandoned composition, telling Gabriel Faure that if there was one thing of which she was certain, it was that she wrote useless music. That was her own judgement of her own work.

Who did Nadia Boulanger teach?

More than two hundred and fifty students across seven decades, among them Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Astor Piazzolla and Daniel Barenboim. Copland was in the first intake at Fontainebleau in 1921.

Did Nadia Boulanger conduct orchestras?

Yes, and she was the first woman to conduct several of them: the London Philharmonic in 1936, the Boston Symphony in 1938 and the New York Philharmonic in 1939. She also conducted premieres by Copland and Stravinsky.

Did Nadia Boulanger ever win the Prix de Rome?

No. She failed to advance past the preliminaries in 1906 and 1907, won the Second Grand Prix in 1908 for her cantata La Sirene, and failed to reach the final in 1909. Her sister Lili won it outright in 1913.

How did Nadia Boulanger teach?

By refusing formulas. She said she could not provide anyone with inventiveness nor take it away, only the liberty to read, to listen, to see and to understand, and she treated each student according to their own abilities.

What did Nadia Boulanger do during the war?

She helped students escape France, then left herself, arriving in New York by way of Madrid and Lisbon on 6 November 1940. She taught at the Longy School and the Peabody Conservatory, and returned to Paris in January 1946.

Where does this timeline of Nadia Boulanger's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Nadia Boulanger isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Nadia Boulanger, English Wikipedia biography.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nadia Boulanger.
Prix de Rome records, 1906 to 1913.