Michel Merlet

Michel Merlet (26 May 1939 – 3 May 2026) was a French composer and pedagogue.

Life and career Michel Merlet was born in Saint-Brieuc, France in 1939. Merlet studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris, where his teacher was Tony Aubin. There he won prizes for harpsichord, chamber music, counterpoint, fugue, musical composition and musical analysis (in Olivier Messiaen's class). From 1978, he taught fugue there, succeeding Yvonne Desportes at this post. He won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1966.

In 1979, he was in charge of teaching music writing at the International Japanese Summer Academy, and from 1985, he taught writing, orchestration, analysis and composition in China at the Shanghai Conservatory and the Beijing Conservatory. He was a professor of composition at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. In 1995, invited to Greece, he taught composition and orchestration at the Athens Conservatoire. In 2001, the "European American Musical Alliance" commissioned him to conduct masterclasses for students at several universities in the United States, including the Juilliard School.

His music was championed by the French pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier.

Merlet was a member of the juries of numerous international competitions, including the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition.

Merlet died in Soisy-sous-Montmorency on 3 May 2026, at the age of 86.

Selected works Prélude for piano, 1961 Gravitations for voice and piano, 1962 Suite for oboe, clarinet and bassoon, 1962 Sonate for violin and piano, 1963 Trio à cordes (theme and variations), 1963 Diptyque, for clarinet and piano, 1963 Sonatine for piano, 1966 Huit études for string quartet, 1965 Triptyque symphonique, 1965 En tous sens for flute and piano, 1966 Stabile for clarinet and piano, 1967 Musique for two pianos, 1967 Monde s'ouvre for trumpet and piano, 1967 Sonatine en trois mouvements for flute and piano, 1968 Hommage à Manuel De Falla for harpsichord, 1969 Divertimento da camera for String Orchestra, 1970 Ils étaient trois petits enfants for vocal quartet, flute, two clarinets and bassoon, 1970 Chacone for flute and piano, 1970 Passacaille for harp, 1971 Images pour les contes du Chat Perché for concert accordion, 1972 Jeu de cartes for piano, 1973 Musique de scène for cello, 1974 Trio for piano, flute and cello, 1974 Moirures, symphonic poem for orchestra, 1976 Discours sur la méthode for piano for four hands, 1977 Tétrassonances for oboe and piano, 1977 Psalmos for String Orchestra, 1978 Une soirée à Nohant for cello and piano, 1979 Concert in quatro for violin and string orchestra, 1979 Une soirée à Nohant for cello and string orchestra, 1979 Vingt-quatre préludes for piano, 1981 Variations for saxophone quartet, 1981 Mini-suite for piano, 1982 Quatuor à cordes, 1983–85 Concerto for piano and String Orchestra, 1984 Passacaille et fugue for piano, 1986 Ostinato for viola and piano, 1986 Cinq motets a cappella, 1987 Prélude-Interlude-Postlude for cello and piano, 1988 Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, 1989–92 Suite for String Trio, 1990 Étude miroir for harp sextet, 1994 Roque de sol-ut-ré for flute, 1995 Six études for violin, 1997–99 Six études symphoniques for piano, 2000 Pièce for balalaika and piano, 2001

Awards and honors 1er Grand Prix International de la Guilde du disque (1965) Grand Prix de Rome (1966) Prix National Pineau-Chaillou (1966) Prix Jacques-Durand, awarded by the Institut de France (1974) Prix Chartier, awarded by the Institut de France (1976) Prix Stéphane-Chapelier, awarded by the SACEM (1977) Prix International de Naples (1987) Merlet was a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Recordings Le Trio, opus 24, la sonate pour piano et violon et Une soirée à Nohant ont été enregistrés par Pascal Devoyon, Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Philippe Muller during the 1980s. (Cybelia, CY 713, réédition Integral Classic) Éric Heidsieck a enregistré les 24 Préludes pour piano Matthew Odell a enregistré Passacaille et fugue, Op. 36 et Jeu de quartes pour piano (Albany, 2019)