GEORGES AURIC

Composer

1899 - 1983

Biography Film Scores La Belle et la Bête Cocteau Index

Biography

Georges Auric

As a young musician, Georges Auric became friends with Erik Satie. He studied under D'Indy and attended the Paris Conservatory.

He became a member of the group known as Les Six including Milhaud, Poulenc, Honegger, Tailleferre and Durey. He was a music critic for a time and of course a composer. His early works were largely in a classical vein, for concert performances, opera and ballet. His membership of Les Six brought him into contact with Jean Cocteau (at that time a playwright) and that relationship led to writing settings of poetry and other texts as songs and musicals. When Cocteau turned to film making, it was natural that Auric would also turn to film music.

He wrote soundtracks for a large number of French films before finding work across the Channel which quickly led to his becoming the resident composer for the series of films commonly known as the Ealing Comedies after the studio which produced them. Since these films are widely known and fondly remembered among English speakers, the name of Auric is most closely associated with these films. These films included the likes of Passport to Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Titfield Thunderbolt starring actors like Alistair Sim and Alec Guinness.

With Moulin Rouge, Auric had the opportunity to portray his native country in an English-language film, and also wrote the successful song for this movie Where is your Heart.

Auric's style is very much in the classical tradition, his formal musical education being quite evident, and the orchestration frequently transparent using only a handful of instruments. He was particularly adept at spanning the entire breadth of a symphony orchestra in the space of a minute using combinations of only 2 or 3 instruments at a time. While his comedy scores are necessarily lighter in nature like Johann Strauss or Offenbach, he also created some darker more complex scores perhaps nearer to Richard Strauss or Stravinsky in feel, such as for the horror movie Dead of Night.

Auric was to become director of the Paris Opera and also chairman of SACEM the French Music Copyright Society.

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Film Scores

  1. Clockwatchers (1997) (song "Where is Your Heart")
  2. Au théâtre ce soir: Volpone (1978) (TV)
  3. Zingari, Les (1975) TV Series
  4. Arbre de Noël, L' (1969) / The Christmas Tree
  5. Trésor des Hollandais, Le (1969) TV Series
  6. Therese und Isabell (1968) / Therese and Isabelle
  7. Grande vadrouille, La (1966) / Don't Look Now - We're Being Shot at
  8. Poppies Are Also Flowers (1966) / The Poppy Is Also a Flower
  9. Communale, La (1965) / Public School
  10. Marc et Sylvie (1965) TV Series
  11. Thomas l'imposteur (1964) / Thomas the Imposter
  12. Kremlin, The (1963) (TV)
  13. Mind Benders, The (1963)
  14. Chambre ardente, La (1962) / The Burning Court
  15. Bridge to the Sun (1961)
  16. Croulants se portent bien, Les (1961)
  17. Innocents, The (1961)
  18. Rendez-vous de minuit, Le (1961) / Midnight Meeting
  19. Goodbye Again (1961) / Aimez-vous Brahms?
  20. Next to No Time (1960)
  21. Princesse de Clèves, La (1960) / Princess of Cleves
  22. Schlußakkord (1960)
  23. Sergent X (1960) / Sergeant X of the Foreign Legion
  24. Testament d'Orphée, Le (1960) / Testament of Orpheus
  25. SOS Pacific (1959)
  26. Journey, The (1959)
  27. Christine (1958)
  28. Bonjour tristesse (1958)
  29. Bijoutiers du clair de lune, Les (1957) / The Night Heaven Fell
  30. Dangerous Exile (1957)
  31. Story of Esther Costello, The (1957) / The Golden Virgin
  32. Espions, Les (1957) / The Spies
  33. Celui qui doit mourir (1957) / He Who Must Die
  34. Sorcières de Salem, Les (1957) / The Crucible / The Witches of Salem
  35. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
  36. Mystère Picasso, Le (1956) / The Mystery of Picasso
  37. Notre Dame de Paris (1956) / The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  38. Gervaise (1956)
  39. Aventures de Till L'Espiègle, Les (1956) / Bold Adventure
  40. Walk Into Paradise (1956) / Walk Into Hell
  41. Lola Montès (1955) / The Sins of Lola Montes
  42. Hussards, Les (1955) / Cavalrymen
  43. Abdulla the Great (1955) / Abdullah's Harem
  44. Nagana (1955)
  45. Chéri-Bibi (1955)
  46. Du rififi chez les hommes (1955) / Rififi
  47. Divided Heart, The (1954)
  48. Good Die Young, The (1954)
  49. Chair et le diable, La (1954) / Flesh and Desire
  50. Father Brown (1954) / The Detective
  51. Esclave, L' (1953) / The Slave
  52. Roman Holiday (1953)
  53. Salaire de la peur, Le (1953) / The Wages of Fear
  54. Titfield Thunderbolt, The (1953)
  55. Moulin Rouge (1952)
  56. Fête à Henriette, La (1952) (song "Sur le Pavé de Paris") / Holiday for Henrietta
  57. Putain respectueuse, La (1952) / The Respectful Prostitute
  58. Galloping Major, The (1951)
  59. Nez de cuir (1951) / Leathernose
  60. Lavender Hill Mob, The (1951)
  61. Amants de bras-mort, Les (1951) / Lovers of Bras-Mort
  62. Caroline chérie (1950) / Dear Caroline
  63. Cage of Gold (1950)
  64. Ce siècle a cinquante ans (1949) / Days of Our Years
  65. Maya (1949)
  66. Orphée (1949) / Orpheus
  67. Spider and the Fly, The (1949)
  68. Queen of Spades, The (1949)
  69. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
  70. Aux yeux du souvenir (1948) / Souvenir
  71. Noces de sable (1948) / Desert Wedding
  72. Parents terribles, Les (1948) / The Storm Within
  73. Silent Dust (1948)
  74. Another Shore (1948)
  75. It Always Rains on Sunday (1948)
  76. Corridor of Mirrors (1948)
  77. Aigle à deux têtes, L' (1947) / The Eagle with Two Heads
  78. Rose et la résédaLa (1947)
  79. Ruy Blas (1947)
  80. Jeux sont faits, Les (1947) / The Chips Are Down
  81. Hue and Cry (1947)
  82. Septième porte, La (1946)
  83. Torrents (1946)
  84. Belle et la bête, La (1946) / Beauty and the Beast
  85. Symphonie pastorale, La (1946)
  86. Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
  87. Part de l'ombre, La (1945) / Blind Desire
  88. Dead of Night (1945)
  89. François Villon (1945)
  90. Farandole (1945)
  91. Bossu, Le (1944)
  92. Éternel retour, L' (1943) / The Eternal Return / Love Eternal
  93. Belle aventure, La (1942) / Twilight
  94. Petits riens, Les (1942)
  95. Monsieur La Souris (1942) / Midnight in Paris
  96. Macao, l'enfer du jeu (1942) / Gambling Hell
  97. Assassin a peur la nuit, L' (1942)
  98. Opéra-Musette (1942)
  99. De la ferraille à l'acier victorieux (1940)
  100. Corsaire, Le (1939)
  101. Mode rêvée, La (1939)
  102. Huilor (1938)
  103. Oranges de Jaffa, Les (1938)
  104. Rue sans joie, La (1938) / Street Without Joy
  105. Son oncle de Normandie (1938)
  106. Trois minutes - les saisons (1938)
  107. Vie d'un homme, La (1938)
  108. Entrée des artistes (1938) / The Curtain Rises
  109. Orage (1938)
  110. Affaire Lafarge, L' (1937) / The Lafarge Case
  111. Danseuse rouge, La (1937)
  112. Messager, Le (1937) / The Messenger
  113. Tamara la complaisante (1937)
  114. Un déjeuner de soleil (1937) / A Picnic on the Grass
  115. Alibi, L' (1937)
  116. Gribouille (1937) / Heart of Paris
  117. Sous les yeux d'occident (1936) / Razumov
  118. Mystères de Paris, Les (1935) / Mysteries of Paris
  119. Lac aux dames (1934) / Ladies Lake
  120. Sang d'un poète, Le (1932) / The Blood of a Poet
  121. À nous la liberté (1931) / Freedom for Us
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