Jean-Claude Éloy (born 15 June 1938) is a French composer of instrumental, vocal and electroacoustic music.

Biography

Jean-Claude Éloy was born in

Mont-Saint-Aignan Mont-Saint-Aignan () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the region of Normandy, northwestern France. The inhabitants of the town of Mont-Saint-Aignan are called ''Mont-Saint-Aignanais'' in French. Due to the presence of higher edu ...

near

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

. He studied composition with

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

at the Paris Conservatory, where he was awarded four ''premier prix'': in piano (1957), in chamber music (1958), in counterpoint (1959), and in

ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...

(1960). During this same period he attended the

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...

in 1957, 1960, and 1961, where he studied with

Henri Pousseur Henri Léon Marie-Thérèse Pousseur (; 23 June 1929 – 6 March 2009) was a Belgian classical composer, teacher, and music theorist. Biography Pousseur was born in Malmedy and studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 19 ...

Hermann Scherchen Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor, who was principal conductor of the city orchestra of Winterthur from 1922 to 1950. He promoted contemporary music, beginning with Schoenberg's '' Pierrot Lunaire'', follow ...

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

, and

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

. In 1961, he also studied with Boulez at the

City of Basel Music Academy The City of Basel Music Academy () is an institution for music education, located in Basel, Switzerland. It comprises a music school, college of music, and a center for early music research and performance. History The origins of the City of Base ...

. In 1966, he joined the faculty of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he taught until 1968. At Stockhausen's invitation, he spent 1972–73 working at the

Studio for Electronic Music (WDR) The Studio for Electronic Music of the West German Radio (German: ) was a facility of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. It was the first of its kind in the world, and its history reflects the development of electronic music in the second ...

in Cologne, where he produced ''Shânti'' (revised in 1974), for electronic and concrete sounds, in which he explored timbre and aspects of musical time. In 1977, Éloy spent long periods of time in Japan, realizing one of the high-points in his electronic-music output, the nearly four-hour-long ''Gaku-no-Michi'' (The Dào athsof Music), at the Electronic Music Studio of

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

in Tokyo, and from 1978 he worked at the Centre d'Études de Mathématiques et Automatique Musicales, founded by

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...

. In the late 1980s, Éloy embarked on a cycle of compositions collectively titled ''Libérations'', focussing on women or the feminine principle, and developed in collaboration with exceptional vocalists such as Junko Ueda,

Fátima Miranda Fátima Miranda is a Spanish singer and researcher born in Salamanca, Province of Salamanca, Spain. She has a bachelor's degree in history of art, with a specialization in modern art. As a singer, her compositions touch several genres like Mongol ...

, and Yumi Nara. Each work is devoted to one or another feminine figure from mythology, literature, or cultural history, and features female solo voices with instruments and/or electro-acoustics. The first two works of the cycle, ''Sappho Hikètis'' (The Imploring Sappho) and ''Butsumyôe'' (Ceremony of Repentance) were composed in 1989. These were followed in 1990–91 by ''Erkos'' (Hymn of Praise), then by ''Gaia Songs'' (1991–92), and finally ''Galaxies'' (Sigma version 1996). In 2011, the composer decided to retitle the cycle ''Chants pour l'autre moitié du ciel'' ongs for the Other Half of the Sky subtitled Songs of Loneliness, of Supplication, of Revolt, of Celebrations, or of Prayers. Éloy founded his own publishing house and record company, ''hors territoires'', with the aim of documenting his artistic work through the publication of books and compact discs.

Style and technique

Through most of his career, Asian (especially Hindu) music and aesthetics have had a strong influence on Éloy's music. In some earlier works,

Fibonacci number In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...

s played a part – in a very obvious way in ''Équivalences'', where fermatas are assigned values of ½, 1, 1½, 2½, 4, and 6½ seconds, and disguised by arbitrary arithmetic transformations in the rhythms of the withdrawn composition ''Macles''. Regarding ''Équivalences'' (1963), the composer stated:

Works (selection)

* Nocturne, for piano (1954) * ''Stèle pour Omar Khayyam'', for soprano, piano, harp, and percussion (1960) * Étude III, for orchestra, with five percussions, celesta, harp, and piano (1962) * ''Équivalences'', for 18 players (1963) * ''Faisceaux-Diffractions'', for 28 players (1970) * ''Kâmakalâ'' ("Le Triangle des énergies"), for three orchestral groups, five choral groups, with three conductors (1971) * ''Shânti'' ("Paix"), for electronic and concrete sounds (1972–73) * ''Fluctuante-Immuable'', for large orchestra (1977) * ''Gaku-no-Michi'' ("Les Voies de la musique" or "Le Tao de la musique"), film without images for electronic and concrete sounds (1977–78); realized at the NHK Electronic Music Studio, Tokyo * ''Yo-In'' ("Réverbérations"), ''théâtre sonore'' for an imaginary ritual in four acts, for electronic and concrete sounds (1980); realized at the Instituut voor Sonologie, Rijkuniversiteit, Utrecht * ''A l'approche du feu méditant'', for 27 players of a Japanese gagaku orchestra, two choruses of Buddhist monks from the Tendai and Shingon sects, six percussionists, and five bugaku dancers (1983); commissioned by the National Theater of Japan (Kokuritsu Gekijo), Tokyo * ''Anâhata'' ("Vibration primordiale" or "Vibration d’origine"), for five Japanese traditional musicians (three gagaku players and two Shômyô singers), percussion, electronic and concrete sounds, staging and lights (1984–86); commissioned by the Festival d’Automne à Paris * ''Libérations'' (1989, renamed ''Chants pour l'autre moitié du ciel'' ongs for the Other Half of the Skyin 2011); commissioned by the Festival d’Automne à Paris # ''Butsumyôe'' ("La cérémonie du repentir"), for two female voices (sopranos with extended vocal techniques, using varied percussion instruments) # ''Sappho hiketis'' ("Sappho implorante"), for two female voices (sopranos with extended vocal techniques), and electroacoustic music * ''Erkos'' ("Chant, Louange"), for a solo Satsuma-Biwa player using vocal extended techniques and several percussion instruments, with electroacoustic music (1990–91); commissioned by the

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germany, Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a const ...

and realized at the WDR Studio for Electronic Music, Cologne * ''Galaxies'' (Sigma version), with the vocal solo ''...kono yo no hoka...'' ("... ce monde au-delà ..."), for a vocalist using extended Shômyô vocal techniques, with electroacoustic music, light and staging (1996); commissioned by Roger Lafosse for the festival Sigma and realized at the Electronic music studio of the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam * ''L'Anneau des sept lumières'' he Ring of the Seven Lights ''Metametal'' (long version). Seven continuous variations from a single Bonshô sample, for electronic and concrete sounds (1994–95, revision and new master 2013) * ''Etats-Limites, ou les cris de Petra'' orderlines, or Petra's Shouts for electronic and concrete sounds (2013) * ''Le Minuit de la Foi'' he Midnight of the Faith for electronic and concrete sounds (2014)

Notes

References

* * * * * *

* Blumröder, Christoph von. 2017. ''Die elektroakustische Musik: Eine kompositorische Revolution und ihre Folgen''. Signale aus Köln, Beiträge zur Musik der Zeit 22, Vienna: Verlag Der Apfel . * Chauvin, Marie-José (1971). "Entretien avec Jean-Claude Eloy". ''Courrier musical de France'' 36 (October–December). * Deloche, Aimée-Catherine (1985). "Eloy, le temps revisité". ''Silences'' 1:159–167. * Éloy, Jean-Claude (1969). "Musiques d'Orient, notre univers familier". In ''La musique dans la vie'' 2 ("Rayonnement des cultures africaines, regards sur les civilisations asiatiques, quelques problèmes du monde actuel"), 183–215. Paris: ORTF. * Éloy, Jean-Claude (1970). "Improvisation: Refuge, utopia or necessity?" ''The World of Music/Die Welt der Musik/

Le Monde de la musique ''Le Monde de la musique'' was a French monthly musical magazine published from 1978 to 2009 with a circulation of 20,000 copies in 2008. It was founded in 1978 by ''Le Monde'' and ''Télérama'' at the initiative of Jean-Michel Croissandeau, in c ...

'' 12, no. 3:6–21. n English, German and French.* Éloy, Jean-Claude (1995). "L'autre versant des sons: Vers de nouvelles frontières des territoires de la musique? " In ''La musique et le monde'' (Internationale de l'imaginaire, nouvelle serie 4), edited by Françoise Gründ, 193–231. Arles: Actes Sud. . * Éloy, Jean-Claude (2006). "From ''Kâmakalâ'' to ''Shânti''". In ''Komposition und Musikwissenschaft im Dialog V (2001–2004)'', edited by Imke Misch and

Christoph von Blumröder Christoph von Blumröder (born 18 July 1951) is a German musicologist. Career Born in Northeim, Blumröder studied musicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg in Breisgau with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, philosophy and history of the ...

, 23–53. Signale aus Köln, Musik der Zeit 11. Münster, Berlin, Hamburg, London, Vienna: Lit-Verlag. . * Éloy, Jean-Claude (2013). "Cheminement", letter to Leopoldo Siano, 21 August 2011, German translation by Monika Lichtenfeld. Reproduced within . ''Musik Texte'', no. 139 (November): 27. * Felder, John (1981). "The Structural Function of Wind Role Transformations in ''Equivalences'' by J. C. Eloy." ''Ex Tempore: A Journal of Compositional and Theoretical Research in Music'' 1, no. 1:18–35 * Green, Tona (1991). "Interview with Jean-Claude Éloy". ''

Computer Music Journal ''Computer Music Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers a wide range of topics related to digital audio signal processing and electroacoustic music. It is published on-line and in hard copy by MIT Press. The journal is accompani ...

'' 15, no. 1 (Spring): 14–19. * Mâche, François-Bernard (1963). "Une oeuvre nouvelle de Messiaen". ''

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

'' 1202 (December), 828–831. Reprinted in François-Bernard Mâche, ''Un demi-siècle de musique...et toujours contemporaine'', Collection sémiotique et philosophie de la musique (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2000), 28–31. iscusses Jean-Claude Éloy's ''Équivalences'' as well as Messiaen's ''Sept haïkaï''* Morawska-Büngeler, Marietta. 1988. ''Schwingende Elektronen. Eine Dokumentation über das Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunks in Köln 1951–1986.'' Cologne-Rodenkirchen: P. J. Tonger. . * Rockwell, John (19 November 1983). "Music: Jean-Claude Eloy". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. * Stoianova, Ivanka (1993). "Mythen der Weiblichkeit in der achtziger und neunziger Jahren: Stockhausen, Eloy", ''Wiederaneignung und Neubestimmung, der Fall ‘Postmoderne’ in der Musik'' (Studien zur Wertungsforschung), ed. Otto Kolleritsch, 87–116. Vienna: Universal Edition. * Stoianova, Ivanka (1997). "Jean-Claude Éloy: à la recherche du feu méditant: portrait du compositeur". In ''Music and Sciences'', ed. G.F. Arlandi, 196–227. Bochum. * Stoianova, Ivanka (2003). "Produktion und Reproduktion in der elektronischen Musik am Beispiel von Jean-Claude Eloy". In ''Musikalische Produktion und Interpretation: Zur historischen Unaufhebbarkeit einer ästhetischen Konstellation'' (Studien zur Wertungsforschung 43), ed. Otto Kolleritsch, 163–175. Vienna: Universal Edition. * Stoianova, Ivanka (2004). ''Entre détermination et aventure: Essais sur la musique de la deuxième moitié du XXème siècle''. Paris: Editions l'Harmattan. * Weid, Jean-Noël von der (1997).
La cosmogonie sonore de Jean-Claude Éloy
. ''Dissonanz'', no.51:30–32

* Young, Rob (2010).
Jean-Claude Eloy: ''Shânti'', Hors Territoires 2 × CD; ''Gaku-No-Michi'', Hors Territoires 4 × CD
. ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', no. 321 (28 October): 57.

External links