Alexandre Tansman, born on June 12, 1897, in Łódź, Congress Poland, was a distinguished Polish composer, pianist, and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. He was one of the early proponents of neoclassicism and was associated with the École de Paris, a group of foreign-born musicians in France. Tansman's heritage was of Lithuanian Jewish descent, and he was raised in a liberal, non-practicing Jewish family. His father, Moshe Tantzman, died when Alexandre was ten, and his mother, Hannah Gourvitch, raised him and his sister.

Tansman began his musical education at the Łódź Conservatory but pursued a law degree at the University of Warsaw. In 1919, he won the first composers' competition in independent Poland and subsequently moved to Paris, where he found a vibrant musical environment that embraced his ideas. Influenced by and connected to luminaries such as Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, Tansman declined an invitation to join Les Six, preferring creative independence.

During World War II, Tansman fled to Los Angeles due to the threat posed by his Jewish background and composed music for Hollywood films, earning an Academy Award nomination in 1946. After the war, he returned to Paris, where he continued to compose, although his absence had somewhat dimmed his prominence in the European music scene. Tansman passed away on November 15, 1986, in Paris, leaving behind a rich legacy of compositions that reflected his Polish roots and French influences.