Petit was born in
Poitiers, the son of a professor of the
khâgne. He studied literature and music in Paris (
Hattemer Course,
Lycée Louis-le-Grand) and literature at the
Sorbonne. He studied at the
Paris Conservatoire from 1942, his teachers included
Georges Dandelot for
music analysis,
Nadia Boulanger for harmony,
Noël Gallon for
counterpoint and
fugue, and
Henri Busser for composition. In 1946, he won the
Premier Grand Prix de Rome with the lyrical scene ''Le jeu de l'amour et du hasard
, which was performed in the same year by the orchestra of the Cadets du Conservatoire'' under the direction of
Claude Delvincourt. From 1951 Petit taught the history of civilization at the Conservatoire de Paris and the
École polytechnique. In 1960, he began working for the
Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française. At first he was head of light music, and then from 1965 he was musical director. Among others, he produced music for
accords parfaits,
contre-ut,
Presto,
Figaro ci figaro là. In 1963, he was appointed director of the
École normale de musique de Paris, succeeding
Alfred Cortot and working alongside such musicians as
Nadia Boulanger,
Georges Dandelot,
Alfred Desenclos,
Norbert Dufourcq and
Marguerite Roesgen-Champion. He held the position for 35 years, when he was succeeded by
Henri Heugel. His students included
Roger Bellon. He was also on the jury of the
Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition.
Output and awards Petit composed operas, operettas and ballets, orchestral works, concertos, chamber music and songs. He was also noted as a music writer, writing books on
Verdi,
Ravel,
Mozart, and a study of the musical problems of
Aristotle. He was also a music critic for
Le Figaro. For his musical work, in 1965 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Conseil Général de la Seine, and in 1985, the Grand Music Prize of
SACEM.
Personal life He married the singer
Christiane Castelli, famous for her interpretation of
Tosca at the
Opéra de Paris. They had three children, Claude (journalist and writer), Didier (singer, songwriter and performer under the name
Romain Didier) and Marie-Laurène. Later he married the violinist Marie-Claude Theuveny in 1958, and had two children with her,
Carolin Petit, composer and arranger of music for film and television, and Nicolas. Finally, in 1974 he married his third wife Liliane Fiaux. ==Works==