Marguerite Monnot

Marguerite Monnot (28 May 1903 – 12 October 1961), was a French songwriter and composer best known for having written many of the songs performed by Édith Piaf (“Milord”, “Hymne à l’amour”) and the music for the stage musical Irma La Douce. Career She was classically trained by her father and at the Paris Conservatory (her teachers included Nadia Boulanger, Vincent d’Indy, and Alfred Cortot). Monnot made the unusual switch to composing popular music after poor health ended her career as a concert pianist at the age of eighteen. Soon after, she wrote her first commercially successful song, “L’Étranger”. In 1935, she met Édith Piaf, and in 1940, they became a female songwriting team, remaining friends and collaborators throughout most of their lives. Monnot worked with lyricists such as Raymond Asso, Henri Contet, Georges Moustaki, and collaborated with musicians and writers including Charles Aznavour, Yves Montand, Boris Vian, and Marlene Dietrich, who gathered in Piaf’s living room regularly to play and sing. In 1955, she achieved major success with her setting of Alexandre Breffort’s book, Irma la Douce, which was translated into English and had long runs in London and on Broadway