Early life Louise-Justine Delbos was born in the
fourth arrondissement of Paris on 2 November 1906; she was the youngest child of
Victor Delbos, a professor at the University of
Sorbonne University, and Lucie Devillez, daughter of a doctor from
Lorraine. Her elder siblings were Gérard (1899-1903) and Marie-Rose (born 1901). Although she was usually known after her marriage as Claire or as Claire-Louise, she was baptized Louise Justine Delbos. She was a pupil at the
Schola Cantorum, a private music school in Paris, and later studied
violin and
composition at the
Paris Conservatoire.
Marriage and career Her skill on the violin brought her to the attention of the young Messiaen. They gave recitals together in
Paris in the early 1930s, and were married on 22 June 1932. The composer
Claude Arrieu was Delbos's bridesmaid. Messiaen wrote the
Thème et variations for violin and piano as a wedding gift for his wife; they performed it together on 22 November 1932. During that summer, the Messiaens moved into an apartment at 77
rue des Plantes, on the
Left Bank in the
fourteenth arrondissement of Paris. This was to be their home for the next six years, and was the venue of occasional musical gatherings of select friends; it was where they first met the
Jolivets. Delbos also composed several organ works, including
Paraphrase sur le jugement dernier and ''L'offrande à Marie
, for Messiaen. The successful Thème et variations
was followed by another violin work written by Messiaen for his wife – Fantaisie'', though this was not published until 2007 or 2008. It is not clear whether it was performed in public during their lifetimes.
Personal life and death Delbos suffered a series of
miscarriages in the early years of her marriage; but in 1937 their son Pascal was born. As a result, the following year, her husband produced another song cycle,
Chants de terre et de ciel, in which all three members of the family were portrayed. The Messiaens moved into 13
villa du Danube in the
19th arrondissement. She entered a sanatorium, and remained institutionalized, with steadily declining health, for the rest of her life. Delbos died on 22 April 1959 in
Bourg-la-Reine, survived by Olivier and Pascal Messiaen. == Compositions ==