Georges Elbert Migot (27 February 1891 – 5 January 1976) was a prolific French composer. Though primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet, often integrating his poetry into his compositions, and an accomplished painter. He won the 1921 Prix Blumenthal.[1]
Of a Protestant family, Migot was born in the 11th arrondissement of Paris on 27 February 1891.[2] His father was a doctor and his mother gave him his first piano lessons when he was seven years old. He very quickly began to compose and, at age fifteen, he produced his first published work: Noël for four voices a cappella.
In 1909, he entered the Paris Conservatory and studied with Jules Bonval (harmony), André Gedalge (fugue), Charles-Marie Widor (composition), Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne (organ), Vincent d'Indy (orchestration), Maurice Emmanuel (music history). He was passionate about Renaissance and Baroque lute players and composers, with François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau becoming important sources of inspiration.
He was then mobilized during the First World War, and was seriously wounded in Longuyon (Meurthe et Moselle) in 1914. He had to use crutches during his convalescence, for more than a year.
He received several awards, including the Prix Lili Boulanger (1917), the Prix Lépaulle (1919), the Prix Halphen (1920) and the Prix Blumenthal (1921). However, he twice failed to win the Prix de Rome (in 1919 and 1922), and decided not to run again. He also studied painting, and his talent as a painter was showcased at several exhibitions in Parisian galleries in 1917, 1919 and 1923. He also wrote the libretti of many of his vocal works.
From 1937, Migot taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and also produced music programmes for Radio-Cité (1937–1939). In 1949, he became curator of the instrumental museum of the Paris Conservatoire, a position he held until 1961. The SACEM awarded him the Grand Prix de la musique française in 1958.
Migot died in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine).
It is not easy to assess the prolific work of Georges Migot. He is credited with choosing difficult paths and rejecting banal solutions. Thus, Florent Schmitt wrote about his work Agrestides: "In all this work there is nothing low, banal or even easy. On the contrary, there are pure, noble, generous intentions, an intense poetic feeling. But impenitently self-taught, it seems that he approached his art by where he should have finished it." (Feuilleton musical du Temps, 23 May 1931). Some critics reproached him for having come to music through painting. As a musician, he knew how to translate the subtle play of colours with the help of sounds.
