author
Tristan Klingsor
1874–1966
A lively figure in early 20th-century French arts, he moved easily between poetry, painting, music, and criticism. He is especially remembered for his connection with Maurice Ravel, whose song cycle Shéhérazade drew on his verse.
1 Audiobook
Humoresques
by Tristan Klingsor
About the author
Born Léon Leclère in 1874, Tristan Klingsor was a French poet, musician, painter, and art critic. He took the pen name "Tristan Klingsor" and became known as a many-sided artist with a strong feel for music and imaginative, finely colored writing.
He is best known today for his artistic association with Maurice Ravel. Klingsor's poems inspired Ravel's Shéhérazade, and he was also linked with the circle of artists known as Les Apaches, an influential group in Parisian cultural life in the early 1900s.
Klingsor continued to work across several arts throughout a long life, leaving behind not only poetry but also paintings and critical writing. He was born on August 8, 1874, in Lachapelle-aux-Pots, France, and died in 1966.