Germaine Tailleferre

Milhaud and Auric were fellow-students, and with Honegger, Durey and Poulenc, members of ‘les Six’. Satie called her his “musical daughter”, Cocteau more patronisingly “a Marie Laurencin for the ear.” Ravel was a close friend for over a decade, but the friendship suddenly and mysteriously ended. Koechlin (as well as Ravel) taught her. She set words of Valéry’s to music: Claudel and Soupault also collaborated. Diaghilev commissioned her. Picasso, Modigliani, Léger and Apollinaire were all friends; Chaplin, her husband’s best friend, often stayed with her, and tried to persuade her to work in Hollywood.