Pastorale for flute and piano

Germaine Tailleferre (1892 – 1983) was a French pianist and composer. She is mostly known as the only female member of the renowned Les Six, the group of six French composers: Auric, Durey,  Honegger, Milhaud, Poulenc, and Tailleferre. She changed her original surname Taillefesse to Tailleferre to break apart from her father’s influence and unwillingness to support her musical aspirations. Initially, she studied piano with her mother. At the age of 12, she started her studies at the Paris Conservatory with Charles Koechlin and Maurice Ravel where her musical talent was recognized with several prizes. She was praised for her phenomenal memory. Along with her classmates in the counterpoint class – Auric, Milhaud, and Honegger she actively participated in numerous concerts that led to forming Les Six, greatly influenced by their extravagant mentor Erik Satie who praised Tailleferre talents, especially her work Jeux de Plein Air (Play in Plain Air) and called her his “musical daughter”. In the 1920s she composed her most important works: The First piano concerto, Concertino for Harp, and several ballets from which La nouvelle Cythère was commissioned by the famous impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Even after her second marriage in the 1930s, she continued to compose, producing two piano concertos and several ballets, orchestral, and chamber music compositions, including Concertino for Flute, Piano, and Orchestra. Additionally, she wrote a substantial number of scores for film and television. Since 1976 she worked as an accompanist at the École alsacienne, a private school in Paris. Due to progressing arthritis in both hands she mostly performed in small-scale concerts.
The majority of her works were published only after her death in 1983.