Jean Wiener

Jean Wiener (or Wiéner) (19 March 1896, 14th arrondissement of Paris – 8 June 1982, Paris) was a French pianist and composer. He was of some significance in the promotion of new music, both by his friends in the Les Six (Milhaud, Poulenc, etc.), and by composers such as Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. His compositions involve the use of jazz informed by French wit and elegance. He is best known for composing the music to more than 300 films of both feature and short film length. Life and career Early life, education, and classical pianist Jean Wiener was born in Paris on 19 March 1896. He was trained at the Conservatoire de Paris where he was a pupil of André Gedalge (composition) and Yves Nat (piano). At the conservatoire he befriended his fellow classmate Darius Milhaud Trained as a classical pianist at the conservatory, he was highly gifted in this regard and notably performed the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Trois mouvements de Petrouchka in December 1922 at a special Christmas concert organized by the composer. He subsequently worked as the pianist at Le Boeuf sur le Toit; beginning when it opened in January 1922 when Bar Gaya's owner decided to open larger premises due to the large crowds Weiner was attracting to the tiny Bar Gay venue. This included the first performance in France of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire. The playing relationship between Doucet and Wiener had begun earlier at the Le Boeuf sur le Toit in where they began performing periodically as a jazz piano duo. Film composer and later life In the midst of touring with Doucet, Wiener began working as a film score composer in the 1930s, often in collaboration with the conductor Roger Desormière. With the outbreak of World War II he stopped performing and because of his Jewish background spent time in hiding while Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany. Une Vie perdue (1933) Knock ou le triomphe de la médecine (1933) Le Paquebot Tenacity (1934) Les affaires publiques (1934) The Adventurer (1934) Maria Chapdelaine (1934) Bux the Clown (1935) The Slipper Episode (1935) La Bandera (1935) The Crew (1935) L'Homme sans cœur (1936) When Midnight Strikes (1936) Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936) La Garçonne (1936) Klokslag twaalf (1936) Rose (1936) Les Bas-fonds (1936) Vive la vie (1937) The Man of the Hour (1937) Nuits de feu (1937) De Man zonder hart (1937) Runaway Ladies (1938) The Woman from the End of the World (1938) Le Dernier tournant (1939)

1940s

Cristobal's Gold (1940) L'Épouvantail (1943) Les Passagers de la Grande Ourse (1943) Untel père et fils (1943) Strange Inheritance (1943, non-crédité) Madame et le mort (1943) Le Voleur de paratonnerres (1944) Father Goriot (1945) Girl with Grey Eyes (1945) The Captain (1946) Patrie (1946) Impasse (1946) Once is Enough (1946) Macadam (1946) Panic (1946) Pour une nuit d'amour (1947) Le Diable souffle (1947) Counter Investigation (1947) Les Frères Bouquinquant (1947) La Carcasse et le tord-cou (1948) Daybreak (1949) Rendez-vous de juillet (1949) The White Squadron (1949) The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1949)

1950s

Skipper Next to God (1951) Ein Lächeln in Sturm (1951) Sous le ciel de Paris (1951) Les Poussières (1953) Je suis un mouchard (1953) Paris mon copain (1954) Paris (1954) Station 307 (1954) Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) La Rafle est pour ce soir (1954) Futures vedettes, directed by Marc Allégret, (1955), composer and actor (playing a piano teacher) Le Rendez-vous des quais (1955) Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1954) La Soupe à la grimace (1955) Sur le banc (1955) Deadlier Than the Male (1956) La Vie est belle (1956) Les Lumières du soir (1956) Notre-Dame – Cathédrale de Paris (1957) Pot-Bouille (1957) Seventh Heaven (1958) Neither Seen Nor Recognized (1958) Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958) The Female (1959) La Création du monde (1959) An Angel on Wheels (1959) Arrêtez le massacre (1959)

1960s

The Nabob Affair (1960) La Revenante (1960) Pantalaskas (1960) Les Bras de la nuit (1961) (1961) Quatre-vingt-treize (1962, TV) Le Match (1964, TV) Our Agent Tiger (1965) Merlusse (1965, TV) A la belle étoile (1966) Au hasard Balthazar (1966) Mouchette (1967) Le Golem (1967, TV) Benjamin (1968) A Gentle Woman (1969)

1970s

Reportages sur un squelette ou Masques et bergamasques (1970, TV) The Demise of Father Mouret (1970) The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir (1970, TV) La Cavale (1971) Les Gens de Mogador (1972, TV) Féminin-féminin (1973) Les Roses de Manara (1976, TV) Duelle (1976) Inutile d'envoyer la photo (1977)

1980s Square X (1981) Lettres d'amour en Somalie (1982) Le Crime d'amour (1982)

Stage works Olive chez les nègres, ou Le village blanc (1926, operetta)