Francine Aubin was born in Paris in 1938, the youngest of Marie-Thérèse Mauchauffée’s and Richard Tremblot de la Croix’s five children. Her parents were amateur musicians: her mother played the harp and her father sang. She began enthusiastically exploring the various sounds of the piano at age five, and studied harmony, flute, and piano at the Conservatory of her home city of Troyes. She then joined the Paris Conservatory to further study composition, studying under composer and conductor Tony Aubin, winning a first prize in 1958. In 1969, she became the first woman to obtain the Certificate of Aptitude for Conservatory Directorship. She taught analysis and composition at the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory from 1978, becoming director of the Conservatory and its symphony orchestra in 1989. She married Tony Aubin in 1975 after the death of his second wife, pianist Louise Clavius-Marius. Her husband provided unconditional support for her composition work. As her teacher, he had instilled in her the aesthetic sensibilities of Paul Dukas, whom he considered a father figure – she herself viewed him as “a grandfather.” After dabbling in the musical language of the 1960s – her work Libertatis (1968), created by the ORTF National Orchestra, is of particular note – she voiced her strong attachment to tonality: “the tonal language, with its marvellous palette of colours and contrasts,” in her words. She asserted herself as a “romantic”, stating: “For me, music is predominantly made to stir the heart, and not to exhibit technical writing prowess.” Her career is punctuated by several major works, such as her Kiev Symphony (1991). Around fifty of her works have been published.

– Florence Launay –

[Traduction en anglais : Raphaël Meyer]