François de Roubaix

Composer François de Roubaix entered the world on April 3, 1939, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Formal training never shaped his path, yet jazz captured his attention once he reached fifteen. Alongside companions he assembled a group and handled trombone purely by ear. At the same time he absorbed the mechanics of filmmaking by assisting his father, Paul de Roubaix, who produced educational shorts. While serving as assistant editor on a short directed by Robert Enrico, the filmmaker invited him to write its music as well. De Roubaix accepted, thereby uniting his twin passions for film and sound. His paid composing work lasted only a decade, spanning 1965 to 1975. In those years he supplied scores for advertisements, television episodes, brief films, and roughly thirty features, working principally with Robert Enrico and José Giovanni and also with Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Pierre Mocky, and Yves Boisset.

Versatility defined François de Roubaix’s output above all: he could fashion concise, instantly recognizable melodies while also pursuing daring explorations of texture and studio methods. He merged traditional and electronic sounds without hesitation, welcoming the earliest synthesizers and rhythm machines. As a multi-instrumentalist he enjoyed complete creative liberty, often spending extended sessions in his home studio layering individual parts until each cue met his standard. An ardent diver, François de Roubaix perished in an underwater accident off the Canary Isles on November 22, 1975. His score for Robert Enrico’s Le Vieux Fusil received a posthumous César in 1976.