A Centre for Audiovisual Research Seminar with Colin Roust (University of Kansas)

1945 and 1946 were crucial years in composer Georges Auric’s career. With the end of World War II, Auric re-emerged as one of the leading artistic figures in France. His prominent involvement in the French Resistance positioned him as a president of an artists’ union, a member of the board of directors for SACEM, and a king-making music critic. Over the next 35 years, he would become an increasingly prominent figure on the international stage, thanks in no small part to his remarkable success at the inaugural Cannes International Film Festival in 1946.  

That festival presented 44 feature films from fourteen countries. Auric was the only composer who scored more than one of those films. Moreover, his music accompanied films from two different national delegations: the French films La belle et la bête (directed by Jean Cocteau) and La symphonie pastoral (dir. Jean Delannoy), along with the British film Caesar and Cleopatra (dir. Gabriel Pascal). In addition, his score for La symphonie pastorale took home the Grand Prize for Best Score. With his international film credentials secured, Auric quickly became a leading musical voice accompanying the French tradition de qualité, British post-war cinema, and international co-productions.

About Colin Roust

Colin Roust teaches musicology at the University of Kansas. He is the author of Georges Auric: A Life in Music and Politics (OUP, 2020) and co-editor of The Routledge Film Music Sourcebook (Routledge, 2012). He has published numerous articles and book chapters on Georges Auric, film and television music, and the history of American wind bands. His current projects include a complete works edition for the pioneering African American bandleader and composer Francis Johnson, a book on American regimental bands in World War I, and a study of national, international, and transnational issues in Auric’s post-war film career.

https://music.ku.edu/people/colin-roust