Georges Auric (15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer whose career spanned concert music, stage works and an extensive output for cinema. He was born in Lodève and died in Paris. Auric is widely remembered as one of the six members of the group known as Les Six, and is profiled among twentieth‑century composers in many surveys of French music (see composer overview).
Musical character
Auric's music is often described as clear, economical and rhythmically direct. He favored lean textures and melodic concision rather than the lush harmonies associated with late Romanticism or the dreamy washes of Impressionism. His work frequently reflects an interest in popular and theatrical idioms, and he was comfortable moving between small‑scale chamber pieces and larger orchestral or stage forces.
Development and career
He came to public attention in the 1920s as part of Les Six, a loosely affiliated circle of composers and artists reacting against both the excesses of Wagnerian romanticism and the perceived pretensions of Impressionism. During the interwar years Auric wrote songs, ballets and instrumental pieces and collaborated with poets, painters and theatrical figures. From the 1930s onward he turned increasingly to film music, eventually becoming one of France's most prolific film composers and writing music for a wide range of domestic and international productions.
Genres and notable activities
- Concert works: orchestral pieces, chamber music and piano works.
- Stage music: ballets and incidental music for theatre.
- Song: mélodies and popular‑style songs for voice and piano.
- Film scores: hundreds of scores for feature films and documentaries, which brought his music to mass audiences.
His film music in particular helped shape the sound of mid‑century French cinema: it was adaptable to different dramatic situations, often tuneful and economical in its orchestration. Auric's ability to write memorable cues for a film audience made his name familiar beyond concert halls.
Today Auric is regarded both as a key figure in the Les Six circle and as an important practitioner of twentieth‑century film composition. Performances of his concert pieces continue alongside revivals of films that feature his scores, ensuring that both sides of his output — the concert and the cinematic — remain in circulation. For summaries of his life and music see general composer resources and entries devoted to Les Six (group overview, composer profile), as well as documentation on his birthplace Lodève and career in Paris.