Jean Cocteau
Artist, filmmaker, and writer though he was, Jean Cocteau protested that he was at all times a poet. A cutting-edge artist and a celebrity, he was associated with other prominent figures of his time. His writing attracted the interest of musicians; several used him as a lyricist or librettist, most notably Stravinsky, Poulenc, Daniel Biro, Guy Sacre, and Louis Durey.
Born to parents of wealth, Cocteau was confronted at age ten by his father's suicide. He was sent to a private school in 1900, but was expelled four years later, thereupon fleeing to Marseilles to live under a false name in a district of prostitutes. When returned by police, he was placed in the home of an uncle. A short-lived affair with 30-year-old actress Madeleine Carlier preceded Cocteau's association with actor Edoard de Max. The youth, then but 18, was encouraged by Max to write and, to that end, the actor engaged a theater for the first readings of Cocteau's poetry. A meeting with ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev in 1909 brought a request for a work in that genre: the result was Le Dieu Bleu. During this period, Cocteau also met Stravinsky; in 1914, he visited the composer in Switzerland. Serving as an ambulance driver in WWI, Cocteau fell in with a group of marines and was arrested before being released to civilian life.
A meeting with Pablo Picasso in 1917 led to Rome and a collaboration with Diaghilev. For Parade, Erik Satie contributed the music, Leonide Massine the choreography, Picasso the sets, and Cocteau the text. The May 1917 Paris production proved a fiasco, but a more favorable response greeted a revival a few years later.
After the end of the war, Cocteau founded a publishing house and formed an intimate relationship with 15-year-old writer Raymond Radiguet. The youth's death in 1923 drove Cocteau to the use of opium. Following his recovery, Cocteau embarked upon an extended period of creativity, during which such works as Orphée, Les Enfants Terribles, and La Machine Infernal were completed. A lapse into opium addiction once more was overcome largely through the ministrations of actor Jean Marais, who starred in several of Cocteau's films. In 1955, Cocteau was elected to the French Academy.
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Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale
Classical - Released by Decca Imports One Way on 1 Jan 1963
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Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex (Mono Version)
Jean Cocteau, Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester, Igor Stravinsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
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Les parents terribles (Mono Version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
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Concert du Groupe des Six (Mono Version)
Georges Tzipine, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Jean Cocteau
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
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Orphée (Mono version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
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Jean Cocteau - Théâtre
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by EPM on 9 Apr 2009
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Oedipe Roi
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Horus Music Distribution on 15 Aug 2015
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Jean Cocteau, journal sonore du Testament d'Orphée
Educational - Released by Grandes Heures Radio France - Ina on 20 May 1998
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Jean Cocteau dit... (Mono Version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
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Poèmes de Cocteau dits par l'auteur (Mono Version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
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Portraits-souvenir (Mono version)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
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Les mariés de la Tour Eiffel & Portraits-souvenir (Mono Version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
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Discours de réception à l'Académie française (Mono Version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
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Collection Poètes & Chansons
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by EPM on 1 Jan 2003
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Jean Cocteau & Les Six, Collected Recordings
French Music - Released by Firefly Entertainment on 1 Oct 2012
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Selected Recordings
French Music - Released by Lumi Entertainment on 1 Oct 2012
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The French Connection: Jean Cocteau
Jazz - Released by MN Records on 29 Nov 2019
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Jean Cocteau, le poète du temps perdu
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Grandes Heures Radio France - Ina on 6 Oct 2011
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Le Radio Théâtre, Jean Cocteau: Le bel indifférent (1946)
Edith Piaf, Paul Meurice, Jean Cocteau
French Music - Released by Radio Classics on 24 Sep 2015
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Group Des Six (Le), Part 1 - Tailleferre, G. / Honegger, A. / Poulenc, P. / Durey, L. (Paris Conservatoire, Tzipine) (1954)
Jean Cocteau, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Elisabeth Brasseur Choir, Denise Duval, Georges Tzipine
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Texte inédit, un ami dort, Bacchus (Mono Version)
Literature - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo