Charlotte Sohy was born Charlotte Durey in Paris in 1887, into an affluent, art-loving family of the industrial bourgeoisie. Aware of the obstacles faced by women composers, she used her grandfather Charles Sohy’s name as a pseudonym. She first studied piano and harmony under conductor and composer Georges Marty, before entering the Schola Cantorum where she studied organ under Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne, and composition under Vincent d’Indy. It is at the Schola Cantorum that she met her future husband, conductor and composer Marcel Labey. They married in 1909 and had seven children. Their fortunate station allowed then to dedicate themselves entirely to music until the 1930 recession, each composing their own studio and appreciating each other’s works – a very rare thing in the history of music. Marcel conducted his wife’s works, and she, having a gift for literature, wrote the libretto for her husband’s opera Bérengère. Charlotte Sohy leaves behind a small but dense oeuvre: thirty-five works, thirteen of which were afforded the honour of performances at the Société Nationale de Musique, and which exemplify her attachment to the French post-romantic style. Of particular note are Sonate pour piano (1909-1910), the mélodies Trois Chants Nostalgiques (1910) with orchestra, the cantata Les Quatre Rencontres de Bouddha (1912-1913), a Symphony (1914-1917), her opera L’Esclave couronnée (1917-1921) on her own libretto (inspired by Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf), Thème varié pour violon et orchestre (1921), Danse Mystique (1922) for orchestra, a Trio for violin, cello, and piano (1931), and two string quartets (1934 and 1949). Although L’Esclave couronnée was eventually performed in 1947 at the Mulhouse Opera, her Symphony had to wait for over a century, finally being performed in Besançon in 2019 by Orchestre Victor-Hugo Franche-Comté, conducted by Debora Waldman.

– Florence Launay –

[Traduction en anglais : Raphaël Meyer]