Antoine Mariotte

Antoine Mariotte (22 December 187530 November 1944) was a French composer, conductor and music administrator. Biography Mariotte was born in Avignon (Vaucluse) in 1875. After studies at the School of Saint-Michel in Saint-Étienne, he entered naval school aged 15. In 1894, while serving on the frigate Iphigénie, he wrote to a friend that he missed music and if he had the means he would go to the Conservatoire de Paris. While still split between the life of a sailor and musician, he worked away on harmony. He took part in campaigns on board the Forfait in the South China Sea, then on the Vinh-Long, where he witnessed the closing stages of the Sino-Japanese War. He brought back sketches that became the suite Kakémonos, initially written for the piano, but later orchestrated and performed at the Concerts Poulet on 29 January 1923 (Panorama, Geishas, Temple au Crépuscule, Fête). In the Far East he read the Oscar Wilde play Salome, and decided to set it to music. On return to Europe, he sailed on the Marceau then the Magenta where finally, thanks to Admiral Gervais, he had a piano. On six months leave he followed a course at the Conservatoire by Charles-Marie Widor. After prolonging his