Ida Rose Esther Gotkovsky (born 26 August 1933) is a French composer and pianist. She is currently a professor of

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in France.

Early life

Gotkovsky was born on 26 August 1933 in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

,. Her father was the violinist Jacques Gotkovsky of the

Loewenguth Quartet The Loewenguth Quartet was a string quartet music ensemble led by the French violinist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn quartets, and was active from the 193 ...

and her mother also played the violin. Both her brother

Ivar Ivar (Old Norse ''Ívarr'') is a Scandinavian masculine given name. Another variant of the name is Iver, which is more common in Norway. The Old Norse name has several possible etymologies. In North Germanic phonology, several of the elements c ...

(a pianist) and her sister

Nell Nell is a traditional nickname for Eleanor. Nell is the name of: People Given name * Nell (artist) (born 1975), Australian artist * Nell Blaine (1922–1996), American painter * Nell Bryden (born 1977), American singer * Nell Carter (1948–2003), ...

(a violinist) became accomplished musicians. Gotkovsky began composing at the age of eight. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where her teachers included

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

and

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

. She won six prestigious first prize music awards for her compositions, including the

Prix Blumenthal The Prix Blumenthal (or ''Blumenthal Prize'') was a grant or stipend awarded through the philanthropy of Florence Meyer Blumenthal (1875–1930) – and the foundation she created, ''Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal (Franco-Amer ...

(1958), Prix Pasdeloup (1959), Prix de Composition Concours International de Divonne les Bains (1961), Médaille de la Ville de Paris (1963), Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris (1966) and the Prix Lili Boulanger (1967).

Compositions

Gotkovsky’s output includes

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, symphonies,

instrumental music An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

vocal music Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with musical instruments, instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s, and

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s. Notably, she has contributed many solo and chamber pieces for the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

. Her Concerto for Trombone (1978) has been compared to Messiaen, and her Suite for Tuba and piano (1959) reveals influence of Hindemith. She is also recognized for having written important works for band.Oxford Music Online: Repertory
by

Armin Suppan Armin Suppan (born 16 October 1959) is an Austrian brass musician and composer. Life Born in Graz, son of the musicologist Wolfgang Suppan, Suppan studied music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz as well as at the Hochschule ...

Retrieved 27 November 2010. Gotkovsky's music

credo In Christian liturgy, the credo (; Latin for "I believe") is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – or its shorter version, the Apostles' Creed – in the Mass, either as a prayer, a spoken text, or sung as Gregorian chant or other musical setti ...

is: "To create a universal musical art and to realize the oneness of musical expression through the ages by means of a contemporary musical language with powerful structures."

Selected works

;Stage * ''Le Rêve de Makar'', opera in eight scenes (1964) * ''Rien ne va plus'', Ballet (1968) * ''Le Cirque'', Ballet (1972) * ''Le Songe d'une nuit d'hiver'', opera (1989) ;Orchestra * ''Scherzo'' (1956) * ''Symphonie pour cordes et percussion'' (Symphony for Strings and Percussion) (1957) * ''Jeu'' (1957) * ''Escapades'' (1958) * ''Jongleries'' (1959) * ''Funambules'' (1960) * ''Symphonie pour vingt-quatre instruments à vent'' (Symphony for twenty four wind instruments) (1960) * ''Concerto pour orchestre symphonique'' (1970) * ''Musique en couleur'' (1970) * ''Poème symphonique'' (1973) * ''Symphonie de printemps'' (Spring Symphony) for orchestra (1973) or wind orchestra (1988) * ''Poème du feu'' (Poem of Fire) for wind orchestra (1978) * ''Danses rituelles'' for wind orchestra (1988) * ''Brillante symphonie'' for wind orchestra (1988–1989) * ''Choral'' for orchestra or wind orchestra (1989) * ''Couleurs en musique'' for orchestra or wind orchestra (1992) * ''Fanfare'' for wind orchestra (1992) * ''Or et lumière'' (Gold and Light) for orchestra (1992) or wind orchestra (1993) * ''Symphonie à la jeunesse'' (Youth Symphony) for orchestra or wind orchestra (1993) * ''Joyeuse symphonie'' for wind orchestra (2000) ;Concertante * Concerto for trumpet (1960) * Concerto No. 1 for trumpet and orchestra (1962) * Concerto for saxophone and orchestra (1966) * Concerto for clarinet and orchestra (1968) or clarinet and wind orchestra (1997) * Concerto for 2 violins and orchestra (1971) * ''Variations concertantes'' for bassoon and orchestra (1972–1973) * Concerto No. 2 for trumpet and orchestra (1973) * Concerto for piano and orchestra (1975) * Concerto for cello and orchestra (1977–1980) * Concerto for trombone and wind orchestra (1978) * Concerto for saxophone and large orchestra (1980) * ''Concerto lyrique'' for clarinet and orchestra (1982) or clarinet and wind orchestra (1994) * ''Symphonie'' for organ and wind orchestra (1982) * ''Variations pathétiques'' for saxophone and orchestra (1983) * Concerto for horn and orchestra (1984) ;Chamber music * ''Trio d'anches'' (Trio for Reed Instruments) (1954) * String Quartet (1955) * ''Danse russe'' for violin and piano (1957) * ''Suite pour dix instruments'' (Suite for Ten Instruments) (1959) * ''Caractères'' for violin and piano (1970) * ''Éolienne'' for flute (or saxophone, or clarinet) and harp (or piano) (1970) * ''Mélodie'' for flute and piano (1970–1985) * ''Barcarolle'' for oboe and piano (1970–1985) * ''Chanson'' for clarinet and piano (1970–1985) * ''Allegro giocoso'' for bassoon and piano (1970–1985) * ''Ritournelle'' for trumpet and piano (1970–1985) * ''Romance'' for trombone and piano (1970–1985) * ''Baladins'' for tuba and piano (1970–1985) * ''Lied'' for bass trombone and piano (1970–1985) * ''Brillance'' for alto saxophone and piano (1974) * Sonata for violin and piano (1976) * ''Images de Norvège'' (Pictures of Norway) for clarinet and piano (1977) * ''Capriccio'' for violin and piano (1981) * ''Invocation lyrique'' (''Incantations Lyriques''?) for viola and piano (1983) * ''Variations pathétiques'' for alto saxophone and piano (or orchestra) (1983) * ''Quatuor de saxophones'' for four saxophones (1983) * Sonata for clarinet solo (1984) * Trio for violin, clarinet and piano (1984) * ''Trio lyrique'' for violin, alto saxophone and piano (1984) * ''Inventions'' for baritone saxophone and piano (1988) * Brass Quintet (1993) * ''Quatuor de clarinettes'' for four clarinets (1998) ;Keyboard * ''Variation'' for piano (1956) * ''Dasvidania'' for accordion (1962) * ''Prélude'' for piano (1970) ;Vocal * ''Mélodies'' (1956) ;Choral * ''Chœur pour voix mixtes'' (chorus for mixed voices) (1954) * ''Hommage à

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...

'' (1982) * ''Le Chant de la forêt'' for chorus and wind orchestra (1989) * ''Le Songe d'une nuit d'hiver'' for chorus and wind orchestra (1989) * ''Oratorio olympique'' for chorus and wind orchestra (1991) * ''Hommage à

Jean de la Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...

'' for children's chorus, mixed chorus and orchestra (1995)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotkovsky, Ida 1933 births Living people Concert band composers French classical composers French women classical composers Prix Blumenthal People from Calais Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris 20th-century classical composers 21st-century French composers 21st-century classical composers 20th-century French composers 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers 20th-century French women 21st-century French women