Photo: Jacques-Émile Blanche · Public domain · credits

Tier 3 · vertical & regional

Louis Durey

Person · male · France · 6th arrondissement of Paris · born 1888 · died 1979 · recording since 2000

French composer (1888–1979)

opera

database database database database

YouTube Music

Also known as 路易·迪雷

Debut: 2000
Release groups: 3
Timeline events: 6
Wiki language versions: 28

Compare this artist Read the biography Jump to timeline

Timeline

6 events▣ Album 3◦ Birth 1† Death 1★ Debut release 1

1880s
1. 27 May 1888 · Birth
  Born 1888-05-27
  source: wikidata
1970s
1. 3 July 1979 · Death
  Died 1979
  source: wikidata
2000s
1. 1 June 2000 · Debut release
  Debut release: La musique de chambre de Louis Durey
  First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
  source: musicbrainz
2. 1 June 2000 · Album
  Album: La musique de chambre de Louis Durey
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. May 2002 · Album
  Album: Songs by Louis Durey
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2020s
1. 6 June 2025 · Album
  Album: Mélodies
  Album
  source: musicbrainz

Biography

English biography500 words · 2 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1373838591

Biography

Louis Edmond Durey (French: [dyʁɛ]; 27 May 1888 – 3 July 1979) was a French composer. He was among the Les Six group of composers.

Biography

Durey was born into a bourgeois Parisian family, the son of a local businessman. It was not until he was nineteen years old that he chose to pursue a musical career after hearing a performance of music by Claude Debussy.
As a composer, he was primarily autodidact, in spite of a short educational period at the Schola Cantorum de Paris that was attended by his cousine Charlotte Durey, known as the composer Charlotte Sohy, as well. From the beginning, choral music was of great importance in Durey's productivity. His L'Offrande Lyrique (1914) has been called the first piece of French twelve-tone music. The first of his works to gain recognition in the music world was for a piano duet titled Carillons. At a 1918 concert, this work attracted the interest of Maurice Ravel, who recommended him to his publisher.
Communicating with his colleague, Darius Milhaud, he asked him to contribute a piano piece that would bring together the six composers who, in 1920 were dubbed Les Six, culminating in L'Album des Six. Despite their acclaim, Durey refused participation in the 1921 collaborative work Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, which gravely offended Jean Cocteau.
Following the Les Six period, Durey continued with his career. Never feeling the need to belong to the musical establishment, he voiced his growing left-wing ideals that put him in an artistic isolation that lasted for the rest of his life.
Following the break with Cocteau, Durey withdrew to his home in Saint-Tropez in the south of France. In addition to chamber music, at Saint-Tropez he wrote his only opera, L'Occasion. In 1929, he married Anne Grangeon and moved back to Paris the following year. In the mid-thirties he joined the Communist Party and became active in the newly formed Fédération Musicale Populaire. When Germany occupied France during World War II, he worked with the French Resistance as a prominent member of the Front National des Musiciens who worked to hide Jews and preserve French music under Nazi rule. He also wrote anti-fascist songs. As others, he stopped composing under Nazi rule and instead arranged and collected older French music and folk songs.
After the war, he embraced hard-line communism and his uncompromising political attitudes hindered his career. Needing to earn a living, in 1950 he accepted the post of music critic for a communist newspaper in Paris.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he continued to compose but these works did not reach widespread popularity. His work on Vietnamese themes in the 1960s, based on his disgust with the turmoil France had left in Vietnam (formerly French Indochina) and the ensuing Vietnam War, were atypical in Paris of the time. He set poems by Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong. Other works include a string quartet, a flute sonatina, and Images à Crusoe.
He died in Saint-Tropez in 1979.

Discography & profile

Normalised profile

Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.

Normalised profile metrics with percentile rank
Metric	Value	Percentile
Wikipedia language versions	28	89th
Spotify monthly listeners	—	no data
Release groups in DB	3	77.1th
Studio albums	3	80.9th
Awards recorded	0	0th
Timeline events	6	80.8th
Recording span (years)	-21	8.1th
Genres	3	80.4th

Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.

Discography (3 release groups · 3 studio albums)

Albums · 3

La musique de chambre de Louis Durey
2000 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 59 tracks · 2:18:47
Disc 123 tracks · 1:06:34
1Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.12:19
2Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.2. Vendredi1:59
3Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.3. Association3:36
4Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.4. L'Arc1:51
5Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.5. Visitation9:48
6Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.6. Le Perroquet2:45
7Images à Crusoé, op.11: No.7. Attente5:57
8Eloges: No.1, Oh! j'ai lieu de louer4:46
9Eloges: No.2, Tu as vaincu3:00
10Eloges: No.3, Palmes4:57
11Offert avec un verre d'eau, for tenor & chamber ensemble1:14
12Jour de l'an, for tenor & chamber ensemble0:42
13Départ, for tenor & chamber ensemble1:03
14Eventail, for tenor & chamber ensemble1:05
15April 1887, for tenor & chamber ensemble0:55
16Eventail, for tenor & chamber ensemble1:12
17La Prière1:12
18Polka0:30
19Attelage1:30
20Quatuor à cordes no.1: I.4:30
21Quatuor à cordes no.1: II.2:14
22Quatuor à cordes no.1: III.5:01
23Quatuor à cordes no.1: IV.4:28
Disc 236 tracks · 1:12:13
1Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 1. La Tortue1:23
2Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 2. Le Cheval0:46
3Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 3. La Chèvre du Thibet1:03
4Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 4. Le Serpent1:00
5Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 5. Le Chat1:02
6Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 6. Le Lion0:57
7Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 7. Le Lièvre0:37
8Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 8. Le Lapin0:41
9Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 9. Le Dromadaire0:44
10Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 10. La Souris1:14
11Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 11. L'Eléphant1:15
12Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 12. La Chenille0:36
13Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 13. La Mouche0:29
14Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 14. La Puce0:54
15Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 15. La Sauterelle1:06
16Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 16. Le Dauphin0:39
17Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 17. Le Poulpe0:45
18Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 18. La Méduse0:46
19Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 19. L'Ecrevisse1:05
20Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 20. La Carpe1:11
21Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 21. Les Sirènes1:31
22Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 22. La Colombe0:58
23Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 23. Le Paon0:31
24Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 24. Le Hibou1:02
25Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 25. Ibis0:46
26Le Bestiaire, op.17a: 26. Le Bœuf0:46
27Concertino pour piano: I. Modérément animé7:43
28Concertino pour piano: II. Andante expresivo6:40
29Concertino pour piano: III. Très allant7:08
30Le Printemps au fond de la Mer6:20
31La Prière1:11
32Polka0:34
33Attelage1:32
34Quatuor à cordes no.2: I. Très animé3:43
35Quatuor à cordes no.2: II. Presto ma non troppo3:20
36Quatuor à cordes no.2: III. Très modéré10:15
Songs by Louis Durey
2002 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 52 tracks · 1:18:29
1Hommage à Erik Satie3:17
2Chansons basques, op. 23: No. 1. Prière1:20
3Chansons basques, op. 23: No. 2. Polka0:33
4Chansons basques, op. 23: No. 3. Attelage2:12
5Le Bestiaire: Orphée0:14
6Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 1. La Tortue1:39
7Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 2. Le Cheval0:44
8Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 3. La Chèvre du Thibet0:48
9Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 4. Le Serpent0:52
10Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 5. Le Chat1:09
11Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 6. Le Lion1:13
12Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 7. Le Lièvre0:35
13Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 8. Le Lapin0:43
14Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 9. Le Dromadaire0:44
15Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 10. La Souris1:14
16Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 11. L'Éléphant1:19
17Le Bestiaire: Orphée0:19
18Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 12. La Chenille0:28
19Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 13. La Mouche0:33
20Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 14. La Puce0:43
21Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 15. La Sauterelle0:49
22Le Bestiaire: Orphée0:20
23Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 16. Le Dauphin0:50
24Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 17. Le Poulpe0:32
25Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 18. La Méduse0:53
26Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 19. L'Écrevisse0:58
27Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 20. La Carpe1:08
28Le Bestiaire: Orphée0:19
29Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 21. Les Sirènes1:20
30Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 22. La Colombe0:52
31Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 23. Le Paon0:31
32Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 24. Le Hibou1:07
33Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 25. Ibis0:57
34Le Bestiaire, op. 17a: No. 26. Le Boeuf1:01
35Deux lieder romantiques, op. 20: No. 1. Mon pâle visage2:57
36Deux lieder romantiques, op. 20: No. 2. Tu es tell qu'une fleur1:15
37Epigrammes de Théocrite, op. 13: No. 1. Veux-tu, au nom des Nymphes1:03
38Epigrammes de Théocrite, op. 13: No. 2. Ces roses, humides de rosée1:32
39Epigrammes de Théocrite, op. 13: No. 3. Daphnis à la peau blanche0:47
40Epigrammes de Théocrite, op. 13: No. 4. Tu dors, Daphnis1:49
41Trois poèmes de Pétrone, op. 15: No. 1. La Boule de neige1:35
42Trois poèmes de Pétrone, op. 15: No. 2. La Métempsychose2:29
43Trois poèmes de Pétrone, op. 15: No. 3. La Grenade1:49
44Inscriptions sur un Oranger, op. 16: No. 1. Oranger dont la voûte épaisse0:51
45Inscriptions sur un Oranger, op. 16: No. 2. Bel arbre, pourquoi conserver ces deux noms1:05
46Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 1. Crusoé2:16
47Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 2. Vendredi2:11
48Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 3. Association3:38
49Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 4. L'Arc2:06
50Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 5. Visitation9:47
51Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 6. Le Perroquet2:55
52Images à Crusoé, op. 11: No. 7. Attente6:08
Mélodies
2025 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 56 tracks · 1:15:48
1Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 1. La Tortue1:36
2Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 2. Le Cheval0:46
3Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 3. La Chèvre du Thibet0:50
4Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 4. Le Serpent0:56
5Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 5. Le Chat1:17
6Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 6. Le Lion1:16
7Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 7. Le Lièvre0:35
8Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 8. Le Lapin0:44
9Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 9. Le Dromadaire0:39
10Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 10. La Souris1:24
11Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 11. L’Éléphant1:27
12Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 12. La Chenille0:48
13Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 13. La Mouche0:31
14Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 14. La Puce1:12
15Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 15. La Sauterelle0:51
16Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 16. Le Dauphin1:02
17Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 17. Le Poulpe0:42
18Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 18. La Méduse0:56
19Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 19. L’Écrevisse1:13
20Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 20. La Carpe1:18
21Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 21. Les Sirènes1:43
22Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 22. La Colombe1:11
23Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 23. Le Paon0:30
24Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 24. Le Hibou1:46
25Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 25. Ibis0:48
26Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, op. 17a: No. 26. Le Bœuf1:13
27Six Madrigaux de Mallarmé, op. 22a: No. 1. Offert avec un verre d’eau0:57
28Six Madrigaux de Mallarmé, op. 22a: No. 2. Jour de l’an0:56
29Six Madrigaux de Mallarmé, op. 22a: No. 3. Départ1:10
30Six Madrigaux de Mallarmé, op. 22a: No. 4. Éventail I1:05
31Six Madrigaux de Mallarmé, op. 22a: No. 5. 1er avril 18871:13
32Six Madrigaux de Mallarmé, op. 22a: No. 6. Éventail II1:24
33Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 1. La Biche1:17
34Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 2. Arrêtons nous1:17
35Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 3. Eau qui se presse1:46
36Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 4. Comme un verre de Venise1:15
37Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 5. Un cygne1:42
38Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 6. La Passante d’été1:20
39Vergers – Sept poèmes de Rilke, op. 42: No. 7. La Fontaine3:13
40Épigrammes de Theocrite, op. 13: No. 1. Veux‐tu, au nom des nymphes1:11
41Épigrammes de Theocrite, op. 13: No. 2. Ces roses, humides de rosée1:50
42Épigrammes de Theocrite, op. 13: No. 3. Daphnis à la peau blanche1:03
43Épigrammes de Theocrite, op. 13: No. 4. Tu dors, Daphnis2:00
44Trois Poèmes de Pétrone, op. 15: No. 1. La Boule de neige1:25
45Trois Poèmes de Pétrone, op. 15: No. 2. La Métempsychose1:58
46Trois Poèmes de Pétrone, op. 15: No. 3. La Grenade2:09
47Hommage à Erik Satie3:09
48Chansons basques, op. 23: No. 1. Prière1:36
49Chansons basques, op. 23: No. 2. Polka0:36
50Chansons basques, op. 23: No. 3. Attelage2:21
51Inscriptions sur un Oranger, op. 16: No. 1. Oranger, dont la voûte épaisse1:16
52Inscriptions sur un Oranger, op. 16: No. 2. Bel Arbre, pourquoi conserver1:20
53Deux Lieder romantiques, op. 20: No. 1. Mon pâle visage2:59
54Deux Lieder romantiques, op. 20: No. 2. Tu es telle qu’une fleur1:04
55Deux Poèmes d’Ho‐Chi‐Minh, op. 69: No. 1. Je lis1:41
56Deux Poèmes d’Ho‐Chi‐Minh, op. 69: No. 2. Nuit d’automne2:21

Stats & PK

Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Louis Durey head-to-head →

Louis Durey metrics with percentile rank among published artists
Metric	Value	Percentile
Wikipedia language versions	28	89th
Spotify monthly listeners	—	no data
Release groups in DB	3	77.1th
Studio albums	3	80.9th
Awards recorded	0	0th
Timeline events	6	80.8th
Recording span (years)	-21	8.1th
Genres	3	80.4th

Awards & honours

No awards recorded

No major awards are stored for this artist yet.

Browse the best-documented artists

Line-up

Band line-up and band memberships with dates
Name	From	To	Role
Le Groupe des Six(band)	—	present

Where this record comes from

portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Six_Tableau.jpg
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/861c6d70-f614-47a7-b076-f43fe17ab7a0
discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/861c6d70-f614-47a7-b076-f43fe17ab7a0
core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q368914
genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q368914
seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Durey
biography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Durey

Why this artist is in the database

List of composers by name

Tier rule: notable long tail (listeners 0, 28 language versions)
Image: Jacques-Émile Blanche · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q368914 · MusicBrainz: 861c6d70-f614-47a7-b076-f43fe17ab7a0

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Timeline

1880s

Born 1888-05-27

1970s

Died 1979

2000s

Debut release: La musique de chambre de Louis Durey

Album: La musique de chambre de Louis Durey

Album: Songs by Louis Durey

2020s

Album: Mélodies

Biography

Biography

Biography

Discography & profile

Normalised profile

Discography (3 release groups · 3 studio albums)

Albums · 3

Stats & PK

Awards & honours

Line-up

Where this record comes from

Why this artist is in the database

Similar artists

Thomas Adès

Alexander Arutiunian

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Franco Alfano

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