Pierre Boulez's Life in Sparks
1925 | Birth of Pierre Boulez on March 26, 1925. From an early age, he took an interest in music. |
1944 | Boulez is admitted to Olivier Messiaen's harmony class at the Paris Conservatoire and wins his first prize in harmony the following year. From 1944 to 1948, he composed his first opuses, often for piano. These included Douze Notations, Trois Psalmodies and Première Sonate, followed by Sonatine for flute and piano and the first version of Visage nuptial for soprano, alto, and chamber orchestra, based on poems by René Char. |
Douze Notations by Pierre Boulez, concert of October 16, 2003 at IRCAM, Espace de projection
1946 | Boulez is appointed stage music director for the Compagnie Renaud-Barrault and conducts scores by Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, as well as himself. | |
1947 | At this time, Boulez opened up to the world and, through his travels, forged relationships with the leading figures of the musical avant-garde such as Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, and Igor Stravinsky and also met artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. These experiences were to have a major influence on his work. | |
  From left to right: Pierre Boulez and Geza Anda, 1951 © DR | ||
1951 | Boulez conducts experiments in Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète studios at Radio France, resulting in two musique concrète studies. | |
1952 | In Structures I for two pianos, a radical work, Boulez applies the principle of ‘generalized serialism’. | |
1953 | Anxious to ensure that modern music was heard and performed well, and to take a more professional approach to contemporary creation, Boulez and Jean-Louis Barrault organized the Concerts du Petit Marigny, which the following year took the name Domaine Musical. He would direct them until 1967. |
Les Concerts du Domaine musical, 1956 |
1955 | Le Marteau sans maître, for viola and six instruments, was premiered. For a long time, this work represented not only the composer's output, but also an entire era of contemporary European music. | |
Le Marteau sans maître by Pierre Boulez, concert of December 9, 1988 at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Grande salle
1960 | In Pli selon pli, for soprano and orchestra, Boulez paid tribute to the poet Mallarmé. This work is considered to be the culmination and closing work of ‘the first Boulez', who up until 1960 revolutionized musical thinking, writing, and listening more than any composer of his generation. The 1960s saw the start of his international career, during which he conducted the greatest orchestras in Europe and the United States. |
1963 | His first publication was his monograph, Penser la musique aujourd'hui (Thinking about music today). At the same time, he gave numerous lectures at summer courses in Darmstadt, where, along with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, and Luigi Nono, he established himself as one of the leading figures of his generation. |
From left to right: Jean Batigne, Pierre Boulez, Georges Van Gucht and Claude Ricou (three members of the Percussions de Strasbourg), July 1962 © DR
Pierre Boulez and Paul Sacher, undated © Marion Kalter
1966 | André Malraux appoints Marcel Landowsky to head a Music Department. Boulez published an article entitled ‘Pourquoi je dis non à Malraux’ (Why I say no to Malraux) and decided to break away from official music bodies in France. |
1969 | He conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time, taking over from Leonard Bernstein as its conductor from 1971 to 1977. At the same time, he was appointed permanent conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, a position he held from 1971 to 1975. |
Éclat, Bâle 1969 © Esther Pfirter/Orkuss
1970 | At the request of President Georges Pompidou, Boulez began thinking about a project for a music research center, which would be incorporated into the program for the Centre Beaubourg, and would be called IRCAM from 1972 onwards. Over the next few years, Boulez was to play a major role in the development of musical life in France by helping to found musical institutions at the crossroads of research, creation, cultural heritage, and transmission. |
1975 | Michel Guy, Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs, announced the creation of the nsemble intercontemporain (EIC), with Pierre Boulez as its president. |
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1976 | Boulez began teaching at the Collège de France in the ‘Invention, Technique and Language in Music’ chair, which he held until 1995. Also in 1976, he was invited to Bayreuth to conduct Patrice Chéreau's production of Wagner's Ring, for the centennial celebration of the Ring cycle. He conducted this production for five years running. | |
1977 | IRCAM organizes a series of musical events entitled ‘Passage du XXe siècle’ throughout the year, using its underground building located beneath what is now Place Stravinsky. |
1980 | Boulez premieres a symphonic version of four of his Notations for piano, a work he continues until 1999. |
Notations I-IV by Pierre Boulez, concert of February 19, 1995 at the Maison de Radio France
1981 | Boulez premieres Répons, an iconic work at IRCAM based on the 4X machine, a real-time digital processor. In this work, which he developed and revised until 1984, the composer refers to the responsorial masterpieces by placing the instrumental ensemble at the center of the device, the six soloists around the periphery of the room, and the electronics throughout the space. |
1. Pierre Boulez in the Ircam studios. Arrival of the industrial version of the 4X manufactured by Sogitec. From left to right: Jean-Pierre Armand, Giuseppe Di Giugno, Andrew Gerzso, Michel Antin (4X team apart from Andrew Gerzso).
2. Pierre Boulez with, from left to right, Didier Arditi, Andrew Gerzso and Giuseppe di Giugno working with the electroacoustic device for Répons à l'Espace de projection (1980) © Fabien Chalhoub
3. Pierre Boulez and Andrew Gerzso behind the electroacoustic device for Répons © Ircam/photo: Ralph Fassey
1986 | The Ensemble Intercontemporain and IRCAM tour the United States. |
Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the La Grange de Meslay classical music festival, 1985 © Marion Kalter / akg-images
1988 | Boulez produces a series of six television programmes: ‘Boulez XXe siècle’. As part of the Avignon Festival, he conducts Répons at the Boulbon quarry. Guest composer at the Acanthes centre in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, where he gives a series of conducting lessons. |
1. Répons, view of the installation, carrière Callet, Boulbon, Avignon, 1988 © Dominique Darr
2. Répons, Pierre Boulez, Olivier Warusfel, carrière Callet, Boulbon, Avignon, 1988 © Dominique Darr
1992 | Laurent Bayle takes over as director of the IRCAM. Over the next few years, Boulez composed the last works in his catalogue, including …explosante-fixe…,Incises and Anthèmes 2, and signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. In August of the same year, the Salzburg Festival devotes an exhaustive program to him, consisting of concerts with the Ensemble intercontemporain and IRCAM, and with symphony orchestras. |
Anthèmes 2 by Pierre Boulez, concert of February 6, 2016 at the Maison de la Radio
1995 | The Cité de la Musique is inaugurated by François Mitterrand, a project Boulez had been working towards since the early 1980s. |
2000 | Boulez wins a Grammy Award for Répons. |
2004 | Concerned about passing on his knowledge to the younger generation, he created the Lucerne Festival Academy, which welcomes one hundred and thirty musicians every year to perfect their interpretation of the music of our time. |
Symphonic concert as part of the Lucerne Festival Academy, conducted by Pierre Boulez, 2005 © Priska Ketterer Luzern
2009 | The Musée du Louvre devotes an exhibition to him, Pierre Boulez, œuvre: fragment. |
2011 | Boulez embarks on a European tour with the musicians of the Lucerne Festival Academy and the Ensemble intercontemporain focusing on his work Pli selon pli. |
Pierre Boulez, 2007 © Jean Radel
2013 | Deutsche Grammophon releases a 13-CD box set of the composer's complete works. |
2015 | The Philharmonie de Paris, a project Boulez had been campaigning for for many years, opens, giving concrete expression to his visionary action in terms of cultural policy. |
2016 | Pierre Boulez passes away at his home in Baden-Baden, on January 5, 2016. |
