Claire Delbos

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Claire Delbos (1906–1959) was a French violinist and composer, and first wife of the composer Olivier Messiaen. The daughter of a Sorbonne professor, she was a member of La Spirale, a prominent new music society.

Her skill on the violin inspired Messiaen to compose works for her to play (Thème et variations for violin and piano in 1932), and pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness (including the song cycle Poèmes pour Mi in 1936, which Messiaen orchestrated in 1937, based on his own poems about the joy of marriage). Mi was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for Delbos. They played recitals in Paris together through the early 1930s. They were married in 1932.

In 1937 their son Pascal Messiaen was born. Soon afterward, however, she began to show symptoms of mental illness, and in the 1950s she had to be institutionalized, where she spent the rest of her life. She finally died in 1959.

[edit] Compositions

• Primevere. 5 Songs for soprano and piano. 1935
• Deux Pièces (Organ). 1935