Imagine that you are a young composer in your early twenties, studying composition with a world- renowned composition teacher, who happens to be female in this case. One afternoon, you are at this teacher’s apartment, which also houses her studio, having a lesson, and that lesson is interrupted by a knock on the door. Your teacher sends her housekeeper to the door. The housekeeper opens it, and there is none other than Igor Stravinsky standing there! He walks in with a manuscript of music that he is currently working on. When I say working, I mean composing. Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, conductor and pianist who was, and still is, considered to be one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th Century.
Now, who on earth would you be studying with that would have such prominence as to have someone like Stravinsky just pop in . . . unannounced . . . with a composition in hand to explore and critique? How about the famed French composer, conductor and teacher, Nadia Boulanger! Boulanger was also known as “one of the most;" she was one of the most influential teachers of composition of the 20th Century!
Everyone wanted to study with Madame Boulanger. Even George Gershwin, a legendary American composer in his own right, wanted to study with her but was not accepted into her prestigious studio.
Who are you that you would be privileged enough to study with the amazing Juliette Nadia Boulanger?
In this case, you are the Birmingham composer/piano teacher, Eleanor Trafton. Eleanor received a scholarship to study with Madame Boulanger in Paris, France, in 1951, when she was only 22 years old!
The scholarship came about when Eleanor was doing post-college study at the University of Miami under Robert MacArthur Crawford, another gifted composer who also had claim to fame brought about by his writing of the official U.S. air force song in 1938. It was entitled “Air Force Song,” also known as “Wild Blue Yonder." Crawford sent one of Eleanor’s compositions to a committee in New York to see if she could be chosen to study for a 4-month long summer session at the American School of Fine Arts, located just outside of Paris, France. Obviously impressed with Eleanor’s composing, the committee did choose her to go to Paris for the summer to study with the best of the best composition teachers, one of them being Nadia Boulanger, perhaps the MOST hailed of all instructors of composition at that time.
Madame Boulanger taught many of the leading musicians and composers of the 20th Century, including Stravinsky, which is why he just happened to unexpectedly knock on the door of her Paris apartment one afternoon while Eleanor was having a lesson. According to Eleanor, Stravinsky was working on his “Symphony in C” and wanted to show it to Madame Boulanger.
Stravinsky and Boulanger were reading through the score and, as luck would have it, asked Eleanor to read along the oboe part with them. Eleanor said she very softly sang the part under her breath, desperately trying to keep up with her two counterparts who, to use her words, were both geniuses. Did she succeed in keeping up with them?
“I butchered it!” Eleanor exclaimed. She said they finished way before she did.
Who wouldn’t be nervous sight-reading the fresh, hand-written manuscript of a legendary composer such as Stravinsky as he stood right there following along with you! In my opinion, it is not a bad day when you can say that you panicked and butchered the music of Igor Stravinsky while he was in earshot! Luckily, he never knew a thing because Eleanor said she didn't sing loudly enough for him or Madame Boulanger to hear.
Compositionally speaking, I doubt seriously that Eleanor butchered the music that she was writing that summer. I have heard some of Eleanor’s compositions and it is easy to see why she was chosen to go to Paris to study – her pieces are outstanding!
Still going strong today both physically and mentally at age 92, Eleanor continues to compose and teach. I first heard about her from David Ellis. She came to Ellis Piano one day a few years ago, on my day off, actually, and bought a new grand piano for her home. David told me how fascinating she was, being a composer and having studied with Nadia Boulanger. He said to me, "Loretta, you would really like this lady and enjoy spending time with her. You and she need to get together."
Finally, a few months later, Eleanor came back to the store again, this time, to buy music. I was able to meet and talk with her, and we became fast friends, just as David had predicted. We hit it off immediately, both being composers and having similar personalities. I was so amazed when she starting telling me about her background and study with Madame Boulanger – AND her encounter with Stravinsky.
She also told me that the apartment where Nadia Boulanger lived and taught was actually located in a castle! Not just any castle, mind you, although, any castle would do for most of us; Boulanger’s apartment was in Napoleon’s Palace! That was icing on the cake!
On a more serious note, no pun intended, Eleanor stated, “It was grueling to study with Boulanger." Eleanor said that Boulanger was always completely honest with her students about the quality of their work, whether it was good or bad. In other words, you had to be thick-skinned to study with Boulanger and be able to withstand her sometimes blunt criticisms about your music. Eleanor added that, even though Boulanger was a genius and tough critic, she was also very caring about her students on a personal level and was truly passionate about teaching.
Another monumental experience for Eleanor that summer was when she participated as a vocalist in the performance of "Bach’s “B minor Mass” in the chapel at Napoleon’s Palace under the direction of Madame Boulanger herself. Yes, Nadia was also a famous conductor; in fact, she was the first woman to conduct many major orchestras in America and Europe, including the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony.
“The sound was incredible,” Eleanor said, regarding the performance of the mass in that special chapel. She added that Boulanger, while conducting the mass, wore her black onyx ring with a diamond in the middle that had been given to her by none other than famous French composer Gabriel Faure. Eleanor said they were mesmerized watching Boulanger’s hand move back and forth as she conducted with the beautiful ring on her finger.
When Eleanor flew back home to America at the end of her sabbatical, there were reporters waiting at the airport when she got off the plane to interview her about her study in Paris. One of them asked her what she had learned. Her response was, “I have learned what geniuses are, and it is NOT Eleanor Trafton.” She also said, “I learned how much I don’t know, and how far I need to keep going.”
And “keeping going” is exactly what Eleanor is doing today. Always an inspiring and uplifting soul, she is still very active physically and mentally, and, as I said earlier, continues to teach AND compose. In fact, she and I have enjoyed getting together a few times to collaborate with each other compositionally and have plans to do more of that in the future. I am truly in awe of her compositions and am very sincere when I say, “Eleanor’s music is what my music WANTS to be when it grows up.”
I look forward to growing up!
Enjoy photos and a video of my interview with Eleanor as she talks about her study with Nadia Boulanger and her encounter with Igor Stravinsky. This interview took place 1/29/2020.
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