Overview

Pierre Boulez was a towering figure in contemporary music from the 1940s and 1950s to his death in 2016. This volume demonstrates his distinctive impact on new music and situates him within a wide range of contexts to enhance appreciation of the cultural embeddedness of his work. Successive sections consider his early life and education, his engagements with cultural, musical, literary and artistic modernism, his relationships with his modernist predecessors and contemporaries, and the intersections of his work with literature, visual art, mathematics, philosophy and technology. Contributors explore his various roles as composer, conductor, recording artist, writer, teacher and systems builder, as well as his role in French cultural politics, his move to Germany and the time he spent in the United States. This book is essential for students and educators but also accessible to a general audience interested in Boulez's legacy and his unique position in recent music history.

Full Product Details

Author:   Edward Campbell (University of Aberdeen)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781009168649

ISBN 10:   1009168649
Pages:   350
Publication Date:   30 June 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available, will be POD  
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Table of Contents

Introduction; I. Finding One's Way: Early Life and Education: 1. A composer without a biography: family and upbringing in Montbrison (1925–1940) Agnès Simon-Reecht; 2. Boulez's music education Joseph Salem; 3. Boulez and the Renaud-Barrault Theatre Company Catherine Steinegger; 4. Pétrus, Dante, Pierre and Bernard – a time of friendship Werner Strinz; 5. Early ethnomusicological engagements (1944–1961) Paolo Dal Molin; II. Musical Modernism: Negotiations with the Past: 6. The conjuncture of modernity Charles Wilson; 7. Boulez and Debussy Caroline Potter; 8. Boulez and Stravinsky Mark McFarland; 9. Boulez and the Second Viennese Composers Jessica Payette; 10. Brahms according to Schoenberg according to Boulez Robert Piencikowski; 11. Boulez-Bartók-Varèse Werner Strinz; 12. Boulez and Messiaen Jonas Lundblad; III. Engagements with the Post-War Generation of Composers; 13. Pierre Boulez and his contemporaries Philippe Albéra; 14. Pierre Boulez and John Cage: a chronicle of chance and choice David Bernstein; 15. Boulez and Stockhausen: three moments of musical form Pascal Decroupet; 16. Festival time at Donauseschingen, Darmstadt and Le Domaine Musical Alastair Williams; 17. The articulatory function of space: spatialisation in the music of Pierre Boulez Mark Delaere; 18. Boulez and his 'useless' contemporaries: from polemics to reconciliations Caroline Rae; 19. In praise of Pierre: fragments of correspondence with Stockhausen, Messiaen, Ligeti and Carter Edward Campbell; IV. Creative Engagements beyond Music: 20. Boulez's poets Zbigniew Granat; 21. Boulez's writers: novelistic engagements Larson Powell; 22. Boulez and visual art Sarah Barbedette; 23. Counting music: Boulez and mathematics Catherine Losada; 24. Boulez among the philosophers Edward Campbell; 25. The technological dimension: from the Études to IRCAM Peter Nelson; 26. Boulez and exoticism Philippe Albéra; V. Multiple Activities: 27. Boulez the writer: from Stocktakings to Music Lessons Jonathan Dunsby; 28. Boulez as teacher Edward Campbell; 29. Boulez the conductor Erik Levi; 30. Boulez on record Nigel Simeone; 31. Pierre Boulez at the BBC John Wyver; VI. At Home and Abroad: 32. Boulez and French cultural politics Laurent Bayle; 33. At home in Baden-Baden: Boulez in Germany (1951/1958/1967) Martin Zenck; 34. Boulez in North America Edward Campbell; VII. Legacy: 35. Remembering Pierre George Benjamin; 36. Boulez: the legacy Arnold Whittall.

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Author Information

Edward Campbell is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of Boulez, Music and Philosophy (2010) and Music after Deleuze (2013), and co-edited Pierre Boulez Studies (2016) and The Cambridge Stravinsky Encyclopedia (2021). He has published widely on aspects of contemporary music and aesthetics.

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