André Jolivet

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Jolivet" redirects here. For other uses, see Jolivet (disambiguation).
André Jolivet in 1930

André Jolivet (pronounced [ɑ̃dʁe ʒɔlivɛ]; 8 August 1905 – 20 December 1974) was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influences, particularly on instruments used in ancient times. He composed in a wide variety of forms for many different types of ensembles.

Life

Plaque at 59 Rue de Varenne, Paris, commemorating André Jolivet

André Jolivet was born on 8 August 1905, at rue Versigny in Montmartre, Paris, the son of Victor-Ernest Jolivet and Madeleine Perault; his father an artist, his mother a pianist. Jolivet developed an interest in the arts early in his life, taking up painting and cello lessons at the age of 14. However, he was encouraged by his parents to become a

Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, and Yves Baudrier, who were attempting to re-establish a more human and less abstract form of composition. La jeune France developed from the avant-garde
chamber music society La Spirale, formed by Jolivet, Messiaen, and Daniel-Lesur the previous year.

Private life

Jolivet married twice, firstly violinist Martine Barbillion[1] in 1929; they had a daughter, Francoise-Martine (1930–2004). In 1933, he married Hilda Ghuighui (also spelt Guigue) (1906–1996),[2] and they had three children, Pierre-Alain (1935–2005), Christine (b. 1940), and Merri (1943-2014).[3][4]

Death

Jolivet's grave next to that of Henri Sauguet

Jolivet died in Paris in 1974 aged 69, leaving unfinished his opera Le Soldat inconnu. He was buried at Montmartre Cemetery next to the composer Henri Sauguet (section 27, near the grave of Hector Berlioz).

Career

Jolivet's aesthetic ideals underwent many changes throughout his career. His initial desire as an adolescent was to write music for the theater, which inspired his first compositions, including music for a ballet.

which?
] as fetish objects. His later writing continued to seek the original meanings of music and its capacity for emotional, ritual, and celebratory expression.

In 1945 he published a paper declaring that "true French music owes nothing to Stravinsky", though both composers drew heavily upon themes of ancient music in their work; Jolivet and La jeune France rejected neoclassicism in favor of a less mechanical and progressive and instead a more spiritual style of composition. Later, during World War II, Jolivet shifted away from atonality and toward a more tonal and lyrical style of composition. After a few years of working in this more simplistic style, during which time he wrote the comic opera Dolorès, ou Le miracle de la femme laide (1942) and the ballet Guignol et Pandore (1943), he arrived at a compromise between this and his earlier more experimental work. The First Piano Sonata, written in 1945, shows elements of both these styles.

Finally realizing his youthful ambition to write for the theater, Jolivet became the musical director of the

Shakespeare, and Claudel
, scoring 14 works in total. He also continued to compose for the concert hall, often inspired by his frequent travels around the world, adapting texts and music from Egypt, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia into his distinctly French style.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Jolivet wrote several

Paris Conservatoire
.

Recordings of Jolivet's music appears on the labels Stradivarius, Erato, Naxos, and BIS.

Selected works

Chamber and solo music

  • 12 Inventions, for wind quintet, trumpet, trombone, and string quintet
  • Andante and adagio, for strings
  • Chant de Linos, for flute, violin, viola, cello, and harp (1944)
  • Chant d'oppression, for viola and piano (1935)
  • Cinq danses rituelles (1939)
  • Cinq églogues, for viola solo (1967)
  • Cinq incantations, for flute (1936)
  • Cosmogonie, for piano (1938)
  • Cérémonial, homage to Varèse for six percussion instruments
  • Deux études de concert, for guitar (1965)
  • Fantaisie-Impromptu, for saxophone and piano (1953)
  • Hymne à l'univers, for organ
  • Mana, six pieces for piano (1935)
  • Mandala, organ
  • Pastorales de Noël, for flute, bassoon, and harp (1943)
  • String Quartet (1934)
  • Rhapsodie à sept, for seven winds and strings (1957)
  • Sérénade, for two guitars (1956) (dedicated to the duo of Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya)
  • Sérénade, for wind quintet with principal oboe (1945)
  • Sonata, for flute
  • Sonatine, for flute and piano (1961)
  • Sonatine, for flute and cello
  • Sonatine, for flute and clarinet
  • Sonatine, for oboe and bassoon (1963)
  • Suite delphique, for 12 instruments (1943)
  • Suite en concert, for flute and four percussion instruments (1965)
  • Suite en concert, for cello (1965)
  • Tombeau de Robert de Visée, for guitar (1972)

Keyboard

  • Cinq danses rituelles, for piano (1939)
  • Cosmogonie, for piano (1938)
  • Hymne à l'univers, for organ (1961)
  • Mana, six pieces for piano (1935)
  • Mandala, for organ (1969)
  • Six Etudes, for piano (1931)[5]
  • Sonata, for piano (1945)
  • Sonata, for piano (1957)
  • Trois Temps No. 1, for piano (1931)
  • Trois Temps No. 2, for piano (1931)[6]

Concertos

  • Concerto for ondes Martenot and orchestra (1947)
  • Concertino for trumpet, piano, and string orchestra (1948)
  • Concerto for flute and strings (1949)
  • Concerto for piano (1951)
  • Concerto for harp and chamber orchestra (1952)
  • Concerto for bassoon, strings, harp, and piano (1954)
  • Concerto for trumpet (1954)
  • Concerto for percussion (1958)
  • Concerto for cello number 1 (1962)
  • Concerto for flute and percussion (1965)
  • Concerto for cello number 2 (1966)
  • Concerto for violin (1972)

Orchestral music

  • 3 Symphonies (1954, 1959, 1964)
  • Cinq danses rituelles (orchestral version, 1941)
  • Cosmogonie (orchestral version, 1938)
  • Danse incantatoire (1936)
  • Suite delphique, for strings, harp, ondes Martenot, and percussion (1943)
  • Symphony for strings (1961)

Vocal music

Songs

  • Les trois complaintes du soldat, for voice and orchestra (1940)
  • Poèmes pour l'enfant, for voice and eleven instruments (1937)
  • Songe à nouveau rêvé, concerto for soprano and orchestra
  • Suite liturgique pour voice, oboe, cello, and harp (1942)
  • Épithalame, for 12-part choir (1953)

Sacred music

  • La vérité de Jeanne, oratorio (1956)
  • Mass Uxor tua (1962)
  • Messe pour le jour de la paix (1940)

Ballets

  • Ariadne (1964)
  • Ballet des étoiles (1941)
  • Guignol et Pandore (1943)
  • L'inconnue
  • Les quatre vérités
  • Marines

Operas

  • Antigone
  • Bogomil (unfinished)
  • Dolorès ou Le miracle de la femme laide (1942)

References

  1. ^ Duchesneau, M. (2007). L'avant garde musicale et ses sociétés à Paris de 1871 a 1939. Mardaga.
  2. ^ Guigue, H. (1978). Avec...Andre Jolivet. Flammarion, Paris.
  3. ^ Rae, C. (2006): "Jolivet on Jolivet. An Interview with the Composer's Daughter", in: The Musical Times, Spring 2006.
  4. ^ Décès de l’artiste Merri Jolivet
  5. ^ "André Jolivet: Six études (1931)" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Trois temps : pour piano / André Jolivet". Princeton University Library. 1992. Retrieved 21 July 2021.

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=André_Jolivet&oldid=1218353069"