Michel Magne

Michel Magne (20 March 1930 in Lisieux, Calvados, France – 19 December 1984 in Cergy-Pontoise, Val-d’Oise ) was a French film and experimental music composer. Early life He was the fifth child in a family of eight. As young as age five, he was intrigued by his parents’ piano. The Lisieux cathedral’s organist taught him to play keyboards, and soon he played the harmonium during Sunday services. At age nine he found his parents’ Wagner discs, and thereafter would often quote Wagner in his works. He then studied music at the , in Caen, France. By age 16 he had written an oratorio and a piano concerto. In 1946, he left Caen to attend the Paris Conservatory, where he had lessons by Simone Plé-Caussade and Olivier Messiaen. In the 1970s, Jean-Claude Petit scored Magne’s films, without due credit. Personal life and death In 1972, he married Marie-Claude, , having met her in 1970 near Hérouville while she was hitch-hiking as a schoolgirl. The couple moved to the south of France in 1974. Magne committed suicide in 1984, in a hotel room. Film scores * 1955 ** Le Pain vivant * 1960 ** Détournement de mineures ** Les Sérum de bonté (TV series) ** Les Filles sèment le vent * 1961 ** Les Livreur