Jean Wiener

Jean Wiener (or Wiéner) (19 March 1896, 14th arrondissement of Paris – 8 June 1982, Paris) was a French pianist and composer.

Life

Wiener was trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied alongside Darius Milhaud, and worked with Erik Satie. He then embarked on a career as concert impresario, composer and pianist. He was the house pianist at the Gaya bar, and later at Le Boeuf sur le Toit. In 1924, a chance encounter with Clement Doucet (who succeeded him at Le Boeuf) brought him into the world of popular music. Already a jazz enthusiast, Wiener found fame with Doucet in the music hall s of Europe as a piano duo,^[1] under the name "Wiener et Doucet" in which they performed classical music, hot dance and jazz. The two friends recorded many duos between 1925 and 1937. After the end of the war in 1945, Wiener devoted himself fully to composition, notably film music (working on more than 300), as well as the opening theme music for ORTF's film history program "History speechless" (History without words).

He was of some significance in the promotion of new music, both by his friends in the Les Six (Milhaud, Poulenc, etc.), and by composers such as Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. His compositions involve the use of jazz informed by French wit and elegance.

His daughter, Elizabeth Wiener, is an actress, singer and singer-songwriter.

Jean Wiener published his memoirs in 1978 as Allegro Appassionato.

Compositions

Concert and chamber works

Wiener composed a number of concertos which included a Concerto Franco-Americain notable for its influences of jazz, a concerto that he described as Concert Pour Orchestre Et Un Piano Principal (concerto for orchestra and a principal piano), and a concerto for accordion.

His chamber music includes a sonata for cello and piano. He set a selection of Robert Desnos' Chantefables for voice and piano.

Solo piano music

His music for solo piano includes

• Sonatine Syncopée (1921)
• Trois Mouvements De Musique Pour Le Piano (1980)
• Sonate N°1 (1925)
• 2ème Sonatine (1928)
• Quatre petits pièces Radio (1947)
• Polka, Java and Tango (1957)
• Sonate Sans Nom (1973)
• Sonate "Démodée" (1974)
• Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
• Chicken Reel (Histoire Sans Parole)
• Pour Pierre Cornevin (1981)
• Trois moments de musique (1981)

Film scores

1920s

• La Femme de nulle part (1922)

1930s

• Buridan's Donkey (1932)
• The Man with the Hispano (1933)
• Une Vie perdue (1933)
• Knock ou le triomphe de la médecine (1933)
• Le Paquebot Tenacity (1934)
• Les Affaires publiques (1934)
• The Adventurer (1934)
• Maria Chapdelaine (1934)
• Bux the Clown (1935)
• The Slipper Episode (1935)
• La Bandera (1935)
• The Crew (1935)
• L'Homme sans cœur (1936)
• When Midnight Strikes (1936)
• Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936)
• La Garçonne (1936)
• Klokslag twaalf (1936)
• Rose (1936)
• Les Bas-fonds (1936)
• Vive la vie (1937)
• The Man of the Hour (1937)
• Nuits de feu (1937)
• De Man zonder hart (1937)
• Runaway Ladies (1938)
• The Woman from the End of the World (1938)
• Le Dernier tournant (1939)

1940s

• Cristobal's Gold (1940)
• L'Épouvantail (1943)
• Les Passagers de la Grande Ourse (1943)
• Untel père et fils (1943)
• Strange Inheritance (1943, non-crédité)
• Madame et le mort (1943)
• Le Voleur de paratonnerres (1944)
• Father Goriot (1945)
• Girl with Grey Eyes (1945)
• The Captain (1946)
• Patrie (1946)
• Impasse (1946)
• Once is Enough (1946)
• Macadam (1946)
• Panic (1946)
• Pour une nuit d'amour (1947)
• Le Diable souffle (1947)
• Counter Investigation (1947)
• Les Frères Bouquinquant (1948)
• La Carcasse et le tord-cou (1948)
• Daybreak (1949)
• Rendez-vous de juillet (1949)
• The White Squadron (1949)
• The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1949)

1950s

• Skipper Next to God (1951)
• Ein Lächeln in Sturm (1951)
• Sous le ciel de Paris (1951)
• Les Poussières (1953)
• Je suis un mouchard (1953)
• Paris mon copain (1954)
• Paris (1954)
• Station 307 (1954)
• Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
• La Rafle est pour ce soir (1954)
• Futures vedettes, directed by Marc Allégret, (1955), composer and actor (playing a piano teacher)
• Le Rendez-vous des quais (1955)
• Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1954)
• La Soupe à la grimace (1955)
• Sur le banc (1955)
• Deadlier Than the Male (1956)
• La Vie est belle (1956)
• Les Lumières du soir (1956)
• Notre-Dame – Cathédrale de Paris (1957)
• Pot-Bouille (1957)
• Le Septième ciel (1958)
• Neither Seen Nor Recognized (1958)
• Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958)
• The Female (1959)
• La Création du monde (1959)
• An Angel on Wheels (1959)
• Arrêtez le massacre (1959)

1960s

• The Nabob Affair (1960)
• La Revenante (1960)
• Pantalaskas (1960)
• Les Bras de la nuit (1961)
• Midnight Folly [fr] (1961)
• Quatre-vingt-treize (1962, TV)
• Le Match (1964, TV)
• Our Agent Tiger (1965)
• Merlusse (1965, TV)
• A la belle étoile (1966)
• Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
• Mouchette (1967)
• Le Golem (1967, TV)
• Benjamin (1968)
• A Gentle Woman (1969)

1970s

• Reportages sur un squelette ou Masques et bergamasques (1970, TV)
• The Demise of Father Mouret (1970)
• The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir (1970, TV)
• La Cavale (1971)
• Les Gens de Mogador (1972, TV)
• Féminin-féminin (1973)
• Les Roses de Manara (1976, TV)
• Duelle (1976)
• Inutile d'envoyer la photo (1977)

1980s

• Square X (1981)
• Lettres d'amour en Somalie (1982)
• Le Crime d'amour (1982)

Stage works

• le village blanc ou Olive chez les nègres (1926 opera)

References

External links

• Jean Wiener at IMDb
• Jean Wiener page at Discogs