Claude Arrieu has a unique place in the history of French contemporary music, at once for her personality and her independence. Her symphonic and instrumental compositions reveal the vivacity of her style and the originality of her harmonic and orchestral language; at the same time, the many works she wrote (lyric works, cantatas, lieder, French chanson) affirm her cogent thinking and her natural gift for melody. Stéphane Mallarmé, Francis Jammes, Louis Aragon, Jacques Audiberti, Jean Cocteau, Paul Eluard, Jean Follain, Maurice Fombeure, Jean Tardieu, Louise de Vilmorin - the names of these poets may suffice to indicate the electicism and the refinement that were her hallmarks, of which her music was a spiritual, intelligent, and sensitive reflection.