Cécile Sauvage

Sauvage was born in La Roche-sur-Yon in July 1883.[1] Her father was a professor of history there. From 1888 to 1907, she lived in Digne-les-Bains in a historic house.

Sauvage in 1913, with her sons

Plaque at her home, avenue de Verdun, Digne-les-Bains)

She studied at the lycée in Digne. During that time, she sent a manuscript of a poem Les Trois Muses to the paper La Revue forézienne, whose editor was Pierre Messiaen. They exchanged correspondence, and then married on 9 September 1907 at the church of Sieyes near Digne.[2] They had two sons, Alain and Olivier; the latter later remembered that he grew up in a "fairy-tale world".

Their union was happy; Cécile dedicated Primevère to her dear Pierrot, in memory of our engagement and marriage. She lived most of her life in Saint-Étienne, and wrote every day at a small wooden table. She discovered English poetry, especially by John Keats who wrote the line "The poetry of the earth never dies". When her husband left to serve in the World War, she moved with their sons to Grenoble. Afterwards, the family lived in Paris, but the city was not appealing to her. Her health deteriorated, and she died at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris on 26 August 1927.,[3] in the presence of her family.[4]

Her friend, Henri Pourrat, dedicated a work to her, La Veillée de novembre.

• Tandis que la terre tourne, Mercure de France, 1910
• L'Âme en bourgeon, Mercure de France, 1910
• Le Vallon, poèmes, Mercure de France, 1913
• Mélancolie
• Fumée
• Primevère
• Œuvres complètes (Tandis que la terre tourne ; L'Âme en bourgeon ; Mélancolie ; Fumées ; Le Vallon ; Primevère ; Fragments ; Pensées et extraits de lettres), préface de Jean Tenant, Mercure de France, 1929
• Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage, Trois mélodies pour chant et piano soprano, Éditions Durand, 1930.