Michèle Reverdy (born 12 December 1943) is a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

2019-03-08 Table ronde sur les femmes compositrices à la BnF (cropped)

Life and career

Michèle Reverdy was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

(Egypt). She studied at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

especially with

Claude Ballif Claude Ballif (22 May 1924 – 24 July 2004) was a French composer, writer, and pedagogue. He worked at a number of institutions throughout more than 40 years of teaching, one of which he had attended as a student. Among his pupils were Raynald A ...

for

music analysis Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'". The method employed to answer ...

and

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 ...

for

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

. After completing her studies she took a position in 1983 teaching music analysis and orchestration at the same school and retired as Professor Emeritus. Reverdy was a resident of Casa de Velázquez in Madrid from 1979–1981 and composer-in-residence at the

Conservatory of Strasbourg The Conservatoire de Strasbourg is a music conservatory located in Strasbourg, France. The school was created using funds given to the city of Strasbourg by arts patron Louis Apffel in 1839. The conservatoire's first day of classes began on 3 Janua ...

Musica Festival in 1993. She was a producer at

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety of ...

from 1978 to 1992, and received a Lifetime Achievement award from

Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM) is a French professional association collecting payments of artists’ rights and distributing the rights to the original songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Founded ...

(SACEM) in 1995. She is the author of two books on

Works

Reverdy has composed about one hundred works for orchestra, opera, chamber ensemble, vocal music and solo instrument. Selected works include: *''Tetramorphie'' (Tetramorph) for viola and percussion (1976) *Concerto for Orchestra (1994) *''Scenic Railway'' (1984) *''Am Stram Gram'' (1997) *''Anacolutha'', tribute to

(2008) *''Arcanum'' (1979) *''Cante Jondo'' (1974–80) *''Les Jeux de Protée'' for flute, viola and harp (1984) *''Cyclades'' (1988) *''Capricho'' (1990) *''Le Précepteur'', opera, libretto

Hans-Ulrich Treichel Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Treichel (born 12 August 1952) is a Germanist, novelist and poet. His earliest published books were collections of poetry, but prose writing has become a larger part of his output since the critical and commercial success ...

(de), after the play '' Der Hofmeister'' by

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (23 January 1751, or 12 January in the Julian calendar – 4 June 1792, or 24 May in the Julian calendar) was a Baltic German writer of the ''Sturm und Drang'' movement. Life Lenz was born in Sesswegen (Cesvaine), ...

, premiered at the second

Munich Biennale The Munich Biennale (german: Münchener Biennale) is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is ''Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater'', literally: International Festival for New Musi ...

(1990) *''Crossed Paths'' (1996) *''Chimera'' (1992) *''Chimère'', Concerto for viola and 18 instruments (1994) *''Rencontres'' for viola solo (1994) *''Médée'', opera, after the novel '' Medea. Stimmen'' by

Christa Wolf Christa Wolf (; née Ihlenfeld; 18 March 1929 – 1 December 2011) was a German novelist and essayist.
Barbara Gard ...

, premiered at the

Opéra de Lyon This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

(2001) *''Five Pieces'' for cello (2004) *Harp Concerto (2005) *''Of Irony against the Absurdity of the World'' (2009)

Discography

Reverdy works have been recorded and issued on CDs, including: *''Michele Reverdy - Salabert actuels'', Harmonia Mundi *''M.F.A. Musiques Francaises d Aujourd'hui'', Harmonia Mundi *''Medee Live'', Harmonia Mundi *''Autour de Messiaen'', Squires Productions (NY - USA) *''Sappho'', ADDA

Bibliography

*Michèle Reverdy,''L'œuvre pour piano d'Olivier Messiaen'', Paris : Leduc, 1978 *Michèle Reverdy, ''L'œuvre pour orchestre d'Olivier Messiaen'', Paris : Leduc, 1988 *Michèle Reverdy, ''Composer de la musique aujourd'hui'', Paris : Klincksieck, 2007 Yves Balmer et Emmanuel Reibel, ''Michèle Reverdy : compositrice intranquille'', Paris : Vrin, 2014

References

External links

Official websiteComplete catalog of worksReverdy's page at Babelscores. Scores and recordings

Michèle Reverdy's biography
on Cdmc website {{DEFAULTSORT:Reverdy, Michele 1943 births Living people People from Alexandria 20th-century classical composers French classical composers French women classical composers 20th-century French women musicians Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris 20th-century French composers Women music educators 20th-century women composers