Edith Piaf. The tragedy of life and love.

Childhood and youth

Edith's birth coincided with the beginning of the 1915 war. The father and mother were people of art, an actress and an acrobat, they could hardly feed their only child. Fate began to write the pages of the child’s biography from cruel moments. The father was taken to the front, the girl was sent to her drinking grandmother. The woman often calmed her granddaughter with a dose of alcohol mixed into the milk. When the father returned from the war, he saw that no one was caring for the girl, she was exhausted. The man sent the child to his mother.

Only in Normandy did Louis Gassion’s daughter, who was only three years old at that time, feel what it was like to be cared for by a loved one. It turned out that the girl was blind; her maternal grandmother did not notice the initial stage of the disease. Either the constant prayers of her grandmother, or the efforts of the doctors, restored Edith’s sight. The image of Saint Teresa was next to the future singer until her very last day.

Death

Sarapo looked with adoration at this woman, emaciated by illness, almost bald, and until her last days he touchingly looked after her. He took her out for a walk and fed her. This continued throughout their entire family life, which lasted 11 months. But Theo did not survive Edith for long. He died in an accident 7 years after her death.

On October 10, 1963, the legend passed away. The church refused to perform her funeral service and burial ceremony, explaining that Edith Piaf’s whole life was a complete sin.

But the singer’s fans didn’t think so. More than 40 thousand people gathered at the Père Lachaise cemetery, where the star was buried. They brought with them so many flowers that they covered the entire alley to the grave in a thick ball.

Music

A grandmother and her granddaughter lived in a brothel. There is no exact information about who the elderly woman was and why such a dubious establishment was chosen as her place of residence. For this reason, the girl was not allowed to go to school, and when she turned 9 years old, she was sent to Paris, where her father lived. It was difficult for the man to feed eight children, brothers and sisters of the eldest of all Edith.

He took his daughter to work. The acrobat earned money by performing in street squares. The girl sang beautifully, she began to help her father, and together father and daughter began to earn more. Edith's biography began on the street. At the age of 14, she moved away from performing together and began singing separately. She saved money for housing. The teenage girl's rags didn't go well with her beautiful voice.

The singer was blind since childhood

Since at first no one cared about the child, no one noticed that the girl was developing cataracts. For the first three years of her life, little Edith was completely blind.

As Simone Berto, a friend of the singer, writes in her book, a real miracle healed the girl. The grandmother once decided to take her granddaughter on a pilgrimage to Saint Therese in Lisieux. The girls from the brothel also went to the cathedral with them to pray for the girl and for themselves. They asked the saint that the girl would receive her sight on St. Louis - Edith's father's birthday. And the prayers helped: the girl regained her sight, and within the time “prescribed” by her grandmother. And the first thing the future artist could see were the piano keys.

Career

One day Edith was noticed by a man who ran a cabaret.
The girl, one and a half meters tall, captivated everyone with her voice. Music made her face spiritual, then beauty filled the singer’s entire being. The cabaret, located on the Champs Elysees, invited the singer to its place. Owner Louis Leple gave the singer a nickname, with which she began performing on stage. Piaf means "little sparrow". The woman learned a lot, which made her work more professional. Edith learned to listen to the accompanist, dress beautifully, and behave correctly on stage. Louis was a tough and merciless teacher, but his little sparrow became a real star right away. Her recording on the radio instantly made the new singer famous. Someone shot Leple's patron, and everyone began to be suspected of murder; Piaf was no exception, so the public boycotted her and disrupted her concerts.

Recognition came to the singer again after she met songwriter Raymond Asso. Composer Margaret Monnot soon joined the duo. And when Edith Piaf performed at the ABC music hall, the entire press exploded with the news that a star had been born. After some time, the singer began acting in films, and during the war she actively gave concerts for French prisoners of war.

The war is over, Edith Piaf is touring America. The singer, who was in the hospital for several months, turned out to have liver cancer. Alcohol, drugs, and arthritis greatly undermined the poor health of the “little singing sparrow.” But the singer continued to sing, giving her fans her best songs. 1963 was the last year for the singer, she performed at the Lilla Opera House.

Adulthood

It was Edith's unique talent that brought her from the street into the spotlight. Edith Piaf's name and career began to grow. Jean Cocteau, a famous writer, became her friend and wrote her the play “Le Bel Indifferent”. The girl was a talented actress, but it was singing that was her strength and her life. She began working with famous and talented composers and eventually became the most famous French singer in the world.

With fame came wealth, and Edith spent it freely. She was very generous with her retinue. She had a large staff, houses and cars. Edith also helped launch the careers of many talented people, including Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour. And yet, despite all her fame and fame, Edith remained true to herself. On stage, Edith looked like a little girl in her little black dress, but she became a symbol of the atmosphere of Paris at that time.

Her songs penetrated the souls of listeners of all classes, from the simplest to the most sophisticated, because her songs touched their hearts. During World War II, she sang for French prisoners of war in Germany and posed for photographs with them. When Piaf returned to France, she made individual passports for the prisoners using a photograph taken in Germany during her visit. When she returned to sing for them, Edith gave them each a passport, which led them to freedom.

Success also followed on the other side of the Atlantic - Edith sang in 1948 at Carnegie Hall in New York. During the war, she wrote a song that became a classic: “la vie en rose.” Her most popular songs were "la vie en rose", "Milord, je net regrette rein" and the duet she sang on stage with Theo Sarapo: "a quoi ça sert l'Amour".

Personal life

The singer in such moments of rapture with music could conquer any man. This is what happened to store owner Louis Dupont. Their union became civil, and after some time Edith gave birth to a daughter, Marcelle. She herself was still a 17-year-old child who wanted to live and create. The stage was calling to the successful singer and beckoning with its prospects. Soon the baby fell ill with meningitis, which was later transmitted to her mother. Piaf managed to defeat the disease, and the girl died.

She was the only child of singer Edith Piaf. The woman broke off all relations with her first husband. The star had a lot of love affairs and adventures, some of them were extremely short. The woman not only enjoyed love and gave it to her men, she helped her chosen ones climb the career ladder. During her two years of living with Yves Montand, she managed to show him the path to the stage.

The next lover was boxer Marcel Cerdan. Although he already had a family, Edith’s word was above all else for him; he loved her until the end of his days. When Marcel crashed on a plane, Piaf fell into depression, only work saved her. At the age of thirty-six, the singer married Jacques Pils, who was also involved in singing, but their marriage was short.

Piaf's most recent love was her passionate admirer Theofanis Lamboukis, a Greek by birth. They were separated by 20 years, but this did not stop the singer from marrying a young admirer. Edith called him Theo Sarapo and tried to make him a stage star, but the public was hostile to the relationship of this couple. But the couple were happy.

“For four years I lived like an animal”

December 19 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of French singer Edith Piaf. Many films and performances are devoted to her fate - not only because she was famous, but also because her life itself was an unimagined dramatic scenario: whirlwind romances, alcohol, drugs, public adoration and suffering. Lenta.ru publishes excerpts from the memoirs of her lovers, friends, acquaintances, as well as Piaf’s own memoirs, written shortly before her death.

“I was horrified by Edith Piaf’s ability to burn through life. She did not know how to restrain herself, she had to spend herself, spend it to the end. In her house I was in the position of a “provincial cousin”. She was occupied only with her own feelings, her profession, her love for the world and her own love. To me, she remained a “little sparrow,” as she was called, but she was also a Jezebel with her insatiable thirst for love and impressions, with which she compensated for the feeling of inferiority due to her “ugliness” (as she believed). Perhaps she loved me. She probably understood what friendship was, but only out of the corner of her heart. She never had time to focus on friendship. She was wasting herself too much.”

Marlene Dietrich, actress, singer

“When I don’t die of love, when I have nothing to die of, then I’m ready to die!”

Edith Piaf

“At the height of her fame, especially after a good dose of Bordeaux, Edith would suggest: “Let’s go outside!” She dressed as a beggar, and we went through the streets of Paris to where she once sang. She could sing right on the street, just like in the good old days. After a couple of minutes, listeners gathered and said in bewilderment: “But how similar she is to Edith Piaf! Same voice, same height, same face, incredible!” No one even tried to talk to us, everyone listened in fascination to Edith Piaf’s “double”

Zhinu Richer, actress

“Edith was not arrogant. She could just as easily bring into the house any tramp who spends the night on a subway grate, like Andre Luge or Francis Blanche. “Everyone is equal in the bathhouse! Everyone is molded into one style! Why can’t I seat them next to each other at my table?”

Bertha Simone, Piaf's half-sister

Edith Piaf, 1948

Photo: Reproduction of TASS Photo Chronicle

“One night, I woke her up at 4 o’clock to let her listen to the song I had just finished, “You Know You Are Beautiful.” She jumped out of bed to listen to her. To say that the song was her whole life is too little. At home she was a small woman, a little hunched over, in poor health. As soon as she began to sing, she became beautiful, brilliant, blooming. I happened to see her come to the Olympia for the morning rehearsal, beaming, although three hours before she was sick and almost dying.”

Georges Moustakis, singer

“She treated her figure without condescension and, looking at herself, philosophically remarked: “Yes, not Venus. There’s no escape: it was used!” She often talked about what irritated her about her figure: “The chest hangs, the ass is low, and the cat cried on the buttocks. Not the first freshness. But for a man this is still a gift!” And she went to bed, pleased with herself. Laughed. Edith’s laugh was something exceptional. Like everything she did, she laughed louder than everyone else.”

Bertha Simon

“Her alcohol addiction ended our story. When we met, she promised herself to stop drinking in order to be “worthy” of me. I realized too late that she was secretly drinking beer in the toilet. She came out crimson, overly excited and aggressive. I naively thought that she was characterized by mood swings. At the restaurant, she ordered melon in port three times - more for the sake of the port than for the melon - and I didn’t see anything wrong with that. I don't know if she stirred the drinks. She was probably using medicinal drugs, which was common among artists (amphetamines, particularly Palfium).”

Georges Moustakis

“I drank without any pleasure: just like that! She would get up at night stealthily so as not to wake anyone, and in her night shoes, throwing on her coat, she would run out into the street in search of an open bar. During these periods, I had some kind of irresistible desire to destroy myself. Nothing could stop me. These attacks lasted from two to three months. Then, when I had already reached the very bottom of the abyss and everyone considered me dead, I suddenly found the strength to rise.”

Edith Piaf

“For me she was more than a singer. She was the soul, the mirror, the living reflection of human grief, the desperate cry of suffering, the symbol of our loneliness and our sadness.”

Jean Cocteau, poet, playwright, director

“Inimitable. She was inimitable. This “Mademoiselle Contradiction” had a heart as huge as the Rock of Gibraltar, and her character combined the features of a courtyard wench and Saint Therese. She was a real woman. Once you entered her circle, you could no longer leave it. She bewitched you, she made it hers what you said the day before, and, fixing the clear gaze of her beautiful eyes on you, she claimed that it was her idea, and would rather give herself up to be torn to pieces than admit that it was not so. Believing in what she decided to believe, Edith, this charming tornado, this genius of good and evil, this accumulation of advantages and disadvantages, defended her rightness with all the strength of her small body. Until the end of her days, there was friendship between us, bordering on love, there was brotherly understanding, but there was never bed. I entered her strange surroundings one evening in 1946, and from that moment my whole life changed. Like streams flowing into rivers, I threw myself with an open heart into this stormy and enticing stream, which could not help but excite a young man who had never before met a person of such magnitude.”

Charles Aznavour, singer, actor

“I never laugh at the human wreckage into which alcoholics turn. I know their hellish torments too well. Wretched ruins! I almost turned into this myself, but I pulled myself out of this danger.”

Edith Piaf

Edith Piaf and Yves Montand, 1946

Photo: DPA / TASS

“I foresaw the eve of my death in one song I was working on. And if I could choose, I would like, having finished singing, to fall on stage and never get up again. Yes, for four years I lived like an animal, like a madman, nothing existed for me except an injection that brought me temporary relief. My friends saw me foaming at the mouth, clinging to the headboard and demanding my dose of morphine. They saw me in the wings, hastily giving myself an injection through my skirt and stockings, without which I could not go on stage, I could not sing. And even this, even my art - nothing in the world could hold me back, my despair.”

Edith Piaf

“As soon as she felt better, she dropped her inhibitions. Lulu warned her, but she objected: “Who needs my exemplary behavior? And for what? I've never been like this! And I want to live so much!”

Bertha Simon

Photo: imago stock&people / Global Look

“Edith had her own quirks: for example, she could eat the same dish for two weeks in a row, drink without drying out, and then not drink at all, watch the same play or film ten times, “adopt” someone, spend all your time with this person and suddenly forget about him and never see him again. This street girl learned to know and love a lot, she had intuition and a very true taste. If she expressed her judgment or assessed something, then every time these were aphorisms worthy of the great. Since she especially loved Beethoven's symphonies performed by the orchestra under Furtwängler, for her birthday I gave her a recording of the symphony, which she did not already have. And then the rush began: “Okay, guys, now we’re going to listen to a great work. Eddie, turn on the record player, you, Lulu, dim the lights, and you all stop talking. We are listening". And we, sitting in semi-darkness, prepared to listen to the great work. But the player must have been running at the wrong speed. After a few minutes, our dear Edith stirred in her chair, as if she was uncomfortable sitting, and then said: “Turn on the light, Lulu.” As soon as the lighting appeared, she took the record, handed it to Lulu and said, without turning to anyone: “Still, this Beethoven, even if he was mistaken, he was mistaken big time.”

Charles Aznavour