LOUIGUY

Louis Guglielmi, known as Louiguy

Doubts exist about Louiguy’s authorship of La Vie en rose, the title which made him internationally famous. Conflicting reports say that Édith Piaf actually composed the song but, because she was not a member of the SACEM (French Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music), she may have registered it under the name of Louiguy, her piano accompanist. Of Italian extraction, Louis Guglielmi was born in Barcelona and came to France at the age of seven. The son of a double bassist, he was also destined for a career in music. Taught, among others, by Henri Dutilleux, his hugely successful studies at the Paris Conservatoire allowed him to dream of a career as a concert pianist. However, his fate was shaped more by his talents as an accompanist and composer from the 1940s. During World War Two, he toured with Édith Piaf and set to music a large number of hits which were popular both in occupied France (particularly the extremely Pétainist Ça sent si bon la France in 1942,performed by Maurice Chevalier) and after liberation (Mademoiselle Hortensia for Yvette Giraud in 1946, La Vie en rose in 1947, Cerisier rose et pommier blanc in 1950 by André Claveau). Later, Louiguy mainly wrote film scores. Beginning with the music for Seul dans la nuit directed by Christian Stengel (1945), he wrote the soundtracks for more than 90 films, collaborating in particular with Sacha Guitry (from Aux deux colombes to La Vie d’un honnête homme), André Cayatte and Max Pécas.