Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet (born May 18, 1913 in Narbonne , Département Aude , † February 19, 2001 in Créteil ) was a French singer, actor, composer, poet and painter. His most famous chansons include Que reste-t-il de nos amours? and La Mer .
life and work
He was the son of the notary Lucien Trenet (1882–1966) and his wife Marie-Louise (1889–1979), née Caussat, both married since January 1909.
After arriving in Paris in 1930, Trenet initially worked in the Joinville-le-Pont film studios . He frequented artist circles in Montparnasse around Jean Cocteau and Max Jacob and published his first chanson texts (music for the film Bariole) . He got to know the young Swiss musician Johnny Hess , with whom he founded the duo Charles et Johnny , which quickly celebrated its first successes with songs like Vous qui passez sans me voir .
The duo split up when Trenet was called up for military service. After the defeat of France and the occupation by German troops, Trenet appeared both in France before the occupiers and in Germany before French prisoners of war. He refuted an alleged Jewish origin by presenting his family tree. After the liberation of France, an investigation was carried out against Trenet for collaboration , which resulted in a reprimand but without conviction.
Trenet has hidden his homosexuality from the public. In 1963 he was arrested on charges of homosexual acts against minors, but was acquitted in the second instance.
In the thirties and forties, chansons like Douce France , Que reste-t-il de nos amours? , L'âme des poêtes and La Mer . With them he was able to build on his pre-war successes, he even created some world hits. Some songs were reinterpreted in France as well as in the USA and Germany by prominent singers such as Juliette Gréco and Johnny Mathis . He toured the world. The hoped-for admission to the Académie française was denied to him. In 1999, however, Trenet was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts .
Charles Trenet performed well into old age. His urn was buried in his mother's grave in Narbonne.
reception
Even after his death, the popularity of his songs in France remained unbroken. These often deal with vacation, childhood or love in a cheerful or melancholy, but always elegant tone. In the French-speaking area, they are part of the cultural heritage. In 1939, for example, the Belgian comic author Hergé picked up the chanson Boum! and varied it as a thematic introduction by Tintin - In the realm of black gold . In the film A Good Year (Ridley Scott), Max (Russel Crowe) and Fanny (Marion Cotillard) watch excerpts from the film La route enchantée from 1938 on their first rendezvous in the open-air cinema - with the chanson Boum! Boum sounds in the James Bond film Skyfall ! from loudspeakers during the encounter with the film villain Silva. In the film Mr. Bean is on vacation , the chanson La Mer sung by all the actors marks the end of the film. Benjamin Biolay , a representative of the Nouvelle Chanson , released a new interpretation of the chanson with the album Trenet in 2015.
Actor in films
- 1938 Je chant
- 1938 La Route enchantée
- 1941 Romance de Paris
- 1942 Frédérica
- 1943 Adieu Léonard (La bourse ou la vie)
- 1943 La Cavalcade des heures (Love Around the Clock)
- 1952 Bouquet de joie
- 1953 Les chansons ont leur destin
- 1954 At each finger ten (Ten on Every finger)
- 1954 Boum sur Paris
- 1957 C'est arrivé à 36 chandelles (It Happened on the 36 Candles)
- 1957 Printemps à Paris (Springtime in Paris)
documentary
- France's chanson legend Charles Trenet. (OT: L'ombre au tableau, Charles Trenet.) Documentary, France 2013, 53:30 min., Script and direction: Karl Zéro and Daisy d'Errata, production: arte France, La mondiale de productions, Troisième Œil Productions, INA , German first broadcast on February 16, 2014 on arte, table of contents by ARD
Web links
- Portail des amis de Charles Trenet - biography, discography, lyrics of the chansons.
- Fund for the memory of Charles Trenet (French)
- Birthplace of Charles Trenet in Narbonne (German)
- Charles Trénet on José Guillermo Carrillo Fundacion (Spanish)
- Entry on the website of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Individual evidence
- ^ Genealogy of the Trenet family
- ↑ Andreas Platthaus : In the realm of black gold. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on arte , (dead link)
- ^ Jon Burlingame: The Music of James Bond, Oxford University Press, 2012, E-Book chap. 25th
- ^ Maurizio Ascari: Literature of the Global Age. A Critical Study of Transcultural Narratives, Jefferson 2011, p. 155
- ↑ Barbara Kostolnik: Homage to the chansonnier Charles Trenet, in: Deutschlandradio Kultur, contribution from July 31, 2015
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Trenet, Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French singer, composer, poet and painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Narbonne , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 19, 2001 |
| Place of death | Créteil , France |