Where can I find existing obituaries of Marguerite Monnot, a French
composer whoo died on October 12, 1961. She wrote the music for Irma
la Douce and many songs for Edith Piaf.

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Request for Question Clarification by luciaphile-ga on 15 Aug 2002 09:50 PDT

I've found one obit.  Are you looking for just obituaries or also
biographical information?  And would one obituary be acceptable? 
Because of the time frame in which Monnot died, you are most likely
going to have to use microfilm.  Let me know if the one citation is
fine or not and I'll post it as an answer.

Regards,
luciaphile-ga

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Clarification of Question by franda-ga on 15 Aug 2002 15:04 PDT

One obituary would do for a start. I would prefer all information that
is in French originally to remain in French. (One of the answers I got
was a very bad translation.)Was there a New York Times obit?
I am writing an M.A. thesis on Monnot, so I can use all the
biographical information that is available. Am planning a trip to
France in October. Where can I find microfilm information?

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Request for Question Clarification by luciaphile-ga on 15 Aug 2002 15:35 PDT

I've got the NY times obit.  Unfortunately I don't have access to
French periodicals.  I'm sure there are researchers here who do, but
you may have to up the price of your question.  If it's acceptable,
I'll give you the citation to the NY Times one.

Regards, 
luciaphile-ga

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Clarification of Question by franda-ga on 16 Aug 2002 08:42 PDT

The New York Times obit would be fine.  Thanks a lot.

Hi franda-ga,

I was able to locate an obituary for you in the New York Times. 
Because of copyright I can't quote you the whole thing verbatim, so I
will paraphrase where necessary.

NY Times October 13, 1961 p. 35
"Paris, 12 October AP" is the heading.  It indicates that Monnot
composed the music for "Irma LaDouce," and died in a hospital in Paris
at the age of 58.

It mentions that she was most well known in the US for the music from
"Irma LaDouce," after it became a hit here.  The obit goes on to
mention that she composed songs for Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and a
choral group called "Compagnons de la Chanson."

"Mlle Monnot was the daughter of Marius Monnot, an organist and
composer who was her first music teacher.  She later studied with
Alfred Cortot and Nadia Boulanger.  Although most of her success came
in the field of popular music, Mlle Monnot was also an accomplished
classical pianist, and gave many recitals in France and abroad."

The obituary finishes up by listing her survivor--her husband Etienne
Giansesini, who belonged to the aforementioned Compagnons and who was
better known as "Paul Peri."

You asked about finding microfilmed information.  For this the best
thing to do is to visit the library.  You mentioned that you are doing
a masters' thesis, so I would begin by consulting the reference
librarian at your college library.  There are various indexes that you
can use to try and track down citations.  I consulted the NY Times one
for Monnot.  Unfortunately, the library that I use does not have a
strong foreign collection so I couldn't track down citations in
French. Your other option is to list your question again with a higher
price--some researchers don't answer questions on the low-end,
particularly if they will require a great deal of research.

This site below lists some French periodicals.  Because Monnot died in
1961, you are most likely going to have do your searching using print
indexes and then the microfilm, but this may give you an idea of some
possible places to look when you visit France.

Foreign Language News and Newspapers
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/types/flnews/french.html

I also found some citations for Monnot in a couple of reference
books--material that unfortunately I don't have access to.

Notable Names in the American Theatre. James T. White & Co. (1976)

Oxford Companion to Popular Music by Peter Gammond. Oxford University
Press, (1997).

Hope that's enough to get you started.

Regards,
luciaphile-ga

This is all I could find, which you probably already know...

Born in Decize/Nièvre in 1930 - Deceased in 1961-Paris - Composer.

   Marguerite's father was organist, his whish was to see his daughter
taking over the practice. Instead the young Marguerite studies piano
with Alfred Cortot, and harmony with Nadia Boulanger, giving récitals
during her teenage years. Unfortunately, she has to stop her career
when she embark to the United States.

   Her first succès is " l'Etranger", for which she receives the Prize
of Disc. Marguerite Monnot works with Raymond Asso, and will find the
right melody for "Mon légionnaire" which will be créated by Marie
Dubas.The legendary Edith Piaf, has also recorded the well known song.

   Marguerite has collaborated with Edith for "l'Hymne à l'amour",
with Charles Dumont for "Les Amants d'un jour" ,with Georges Moustaki,
for "Milord" ,René Rouzaud, for "la Goualante du pauvre Jean", or
Henri Contet for "Ma mome, ma p'tite môme.

 Marguerite has composed an impressive list of success, "Escale","Le
petit Monsieur triste","Jour de fete", "C'est à Hambourg", including
scores and musical play, "La pt'ite Lily", "Irma la douce," based on a
libretto by Alexandre Breffort.
http://www.musiqueenligne.com/artiste/artiste_gb/page_artiste.asp?id_artiste=133

There's a photo of her at this site.
http://www.little-sparrow.co.uk/monnot.htm photoMONNOT Marguerite