Marius Constant (February 7, 1925,
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
-May 15, 2004 in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
n-born
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
composer and conductor. Known primarily for his
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized...
s, his most widely heard score was the
Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964 and remains syndicated to this day. The show consisted of unrelated vignettes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events, usually...
theme song.
Constant studied Piano and composition at the
Bucharest conservatoryThe National University of Music Bucharest is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since 2001...
, receiving the
George EnescuGeorge Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.- Biography :...
Award in 1944. In 1946 he moved to Paris, studying at the
conservatoryThe Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795 in Paris, France that offers instruction in music, dance, and drama, drawing on the traditions of the "French School." In 1946 it was split into two "Conservatoires," one for acting, theatre and drama, known as the...
with
Olivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré among his teachers. He was appointed organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris in 1931, a...
,
Tony AubinTony Louis Alexandre Aubin was a French composer.From 1925 to 1930 Aubin studied at the Paris Conservatory under Samuel Rousseau , Noel Gallon , Philippe Gaubert , and Paul Dukas . He was awarded the Prix de Rome for the cantata Actaeon in 1930...
,
Arthur HoneggerArthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les Six...
and
Nadia BoulangerNadia Boulanger was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century.-Ancestors:Nadia Boulanger was born to a highly musical family. Her...
. His compositions earned several prizes. From 1950 on he was increasingly involved with
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and joined
Pierre SchaefferPierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, and engineer most widely recognized as the chief pioneer of musique concrète, a unique form of experimental music that began in Europe during the mid-1900s...
's
Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète.
From 1956 to 1966 Constant conducted at the Ballets de Paris, then directed by
Roland PetitRoland Petit is a French choreographer and dancer born in Villemomble near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets, which include:...
.
Marius Constant (February 7, 1925,
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
-May 15, 2004 in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
n-born
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
composer and conductor. Known primarily for his
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized...
s, his most widely heard score was the
Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964 and remains syndicated to this day. The show consisted of unrelated vignettes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events, usually...
theme song.
Constant studied Piano and composition at the
Bucharest conservatoryThe National University of Music Bucharest is a university-level school of music located in Bucharest, Romania. Established as a school of music in 1863 and reorganized as an academy in 1931, it has functioned as a public university since 2001...
, receiving the
George EnescuGeorge Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.- Biography :...
Award in 1944. In 1946 he moved to Paris, studying at the
conservatoryThe Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795 in Paris, France that offers instruction in music, dance, and drama, drawing on the traditions of the "French School." In 1946 it was split into two "Conservatoires," one for acting, theatre and drama, known as the...
with
Olivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré among his teachers. He was appointed organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris in 1931, a...
,
Tony AubinTony Louis Alexandre Aubin was a French composer.From 1925 to 1930 Aubin studied at the Paris Conservatory under Samuel Rousseau , Noel Gallon , Philippe Gaubert , and Paul Dukas . He was awarded the Prix de Rome for the cantata Actaeon in 1930...
,
Arthur HoneggerArthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les Six...
and
Nadia BoulangerNadia Boulanger was an influential French composer, conductor, and music professor. An outstanding music educator at the highest level, she taught many of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th century.-Ancestors:Nadia Boulanger was born to a highly musical family. Her...
. His compositions earned several prizes. From 1950 on he was increasingly involved with
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and joined
Pierre SchaefferPierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, and engineer most widely recognized as the chief pioneer of musique concrète, a unique form of experimental music that began in Europe during the mid-1900s...
's
Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète.
From 1956 to 1966 Constant conducted at the Ballets de Paris, then directed by
Roland PetitRoland Petit is a French choreographer and dancer born in Villemomble near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets, which include:...
. To this period belong the numerous
BalletBallet is a formalized type of performance dance, which originated in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century French courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form...
scores for Petit und
Maurice BéjartMaurice Béjart was a French and Swiss choreographer who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He was the son of the French philosopher Gaston Berger....
, namely:
Haut-voltage (1956),
Contrepointe (1958),
Cyrano de Bergerac (1959),
Éloge de la folie (1966) and
Paradis perdu (1967). For the 1957
Aix-en-Provence FestivalThe festival international d'art lyrique is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in the month of July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental music.-Establishment:The...
1957 he wrote a piano conceerto, but won wider recognition for the premiers, conducted by
Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, of
24 Préludes pour Orchestre (1958).
Turner (1961) was a tone poem inspired by the English painter
William TurnerWilliam Turner was an English ornithologist and botanist. He is sometimes called "the Father of English botany" and the first ornithologist in the modern scientific spirit.-Early years:...
.
In 1963 Constant founded the pioneering Ensemble Ars Nova. 1970 he tool over the musical direction of the ORTF; from 1973 to 1978 he directed at the
Paris OperaParis Opera may refer to:In theaters in Paris, France:*Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique, the official theatre of the French theatrical institution known as the Académie Royale de Musique from 1821 until 1873...
, and in 1988 and 1989 was Professor of
OrchestrationOrchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
at the Paris Conservatory. Besides these appointments, he taught at
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
and in
Hilversumis a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...
. Later ballets include
Septentrion (1975),
Nana (1976) and
L'ange bleu (1985).
La tragédie de Carmen (1981), his adaptation of
Bizet's operaCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
for director
Peter BrookPeter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is a British theatre and film director and innovator.-Life:Brook was born in Chiswick, west London, the second son of Simon and Ida Brook, and educated at Westminster School, Gresham's School, Holt, and Magdalen College, Oxford.While at Gresham's he directed The...
, was an international success.