Introduction
| Pierre Boulez is one of the most important musical and intellectual figures of the twentieth century. As a composer, he wrote a new chapter in the history of music in the fifties, particularly with Le Marteau sans Maître. As a conductor, he gave contemporary music its rightful status and renovated many masterpieces of symphony and opera (Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok and others). He taught musical analysis, composition and conducting. He was for several years a professor at the Collège de France (Paris) and is a highly valued lecturer. As a researcher, he organized IRCAM, l'Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (the Institute for Acoustical/Musical Research and Coordination). He is also the author of many books and essays. |
© Philippe Gontier |
Andante's site on Pierre Boulez will collect and update the most comprehensive documentation on this unique personality of the last century. It will be based on a detailed chronology of all aspects of his career, with cross-references to original or archival recordings, which will be available for listening. There will also be studies of his works, which can be read in full, as well as the programs of most of his concerts, etc. We will have a catalogue of his works, discography and bibliography, which will be continuously updated. Pierre Boulez has always wished to make use of new technologies. Therefore, the goal of this site is to present a model of what a broad on-line musical documentation on the most important figures of the history of music should be in the twenty-first century.
We have given an example based on Pierre Boulez's piece, Anthèmes for solo violin. It includes the recording of the piece by Jeanne Marie Conquer and a musicological study by Jonathan Goldman, a doctoral student at the School of Music of the University of Montreal. We have included a lecture by Pierre Boulez given at IRCAM on the second version of this work which is a dialogue between the violin solo and electronics.
All the documents available on the site are published with the authorization of Pierre Boulez and other copyright holders.
The site is based on the research undertaken by Sophie Galaise who is now finishing a doctoral dissertation on Pierre Boulez under Jean-Jacques Nattiez, professor of musicology at the School of Music of the University of Montreal and editor of Pierre Boulez's texts. She is also the coordinator for music at the Council of Arts and Literature of Quebec.
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