Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué (17 January 1928 – 17 August 1973) was 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 def ...

and music writer. His relatively small is known for its

serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...

Life

Barraqué was born in

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the tallest buildings in the metropolitan ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

. In 1931, he moved with his family to Paris. He studied in Paris with Jean Langlais and

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 ...

and, through Messiaen, became interested in serialism. After completing his

Piano Sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movemen ...

in 1952, he suppressed or destroyed his earlier works. A book published by the French music critic André Hodeir, titled ''Since Debussy'', created controversy around Barraqué by claiming this work as perhaps the finest

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movemen ...

since

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

. As the work had still not been publicly performed, and only two other works by him had at this time, the extravagant claims made for Barraqué in this book were received with some scepticism. Whilst with hindsight it is clear that Hodeir had accurately perceived the exceptional features of Barraqué's music—notably its searing Romantic intensity, which distinguishes it from the contemporaneous works of

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 ...

or Stockhausen. As Paul Griffiths' biography clarified, Boulez had in fact attempted to get the Barraqué Piano Sonata performed for some years after it was finished. Barraqué's music was published starting in 1963 by the Florentine businessman Aldo Bruzzichelli, who provided much-needed material assistance for the composer, but whose promotion could not perhaps compete with that of the better known

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is an Austrian classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, it originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market. The firm soon expanded to become one of t ...

in Vienna who published Boulez, Berio, and Stockhausen. Embracing the Parisian avant-garde, Barraqué entered into a romantic relationship with the philosopher

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

. Together, they tried to produce their greatest work, used recreational drugs heavily and engaged in sado-masochistic sexual activity. Barraqué was involved in a car accident in 1964, and his apartment was destroyed by fire in November 1968. He suffered from bad health for much of his life. Nevertheless, his death in Paris in August 1973, at the age of 45, was sudden and unexpected, and he appeared to have resumed serious work on a number of larger compositions from the ''Death of Virgil'' cycle.

Music and reputation

Barraqué stated that he wrote about 30 works before those that he eventually acknowledged; as far as is known they were destroyed by him. They included a ''Nocturne'' and ''Mouvement lent'' for piano, at least three piano sonatas, a sonata for unaccompanied violin, and a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

in C-sharp minor. The presumably fourth, but un-numbered Piano Sonata, for which he gave the date 1952, was his earliest acknowledged work. Barraqué then produced his only electronic piece, the

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

''Etude'' (1954), made at

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

's studio. Subsequently, he planned a large-scale cycle of pieces, ''La Mort de Virgile'', based on Hermann Broch's

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

'' The Death of Virgil'', a book which Barraqué's friend and sometime lover Michel Foucault recommended to him. This cycle, along with other pieces deriving from it or acting as commentaries upon it, he envisaged as his principal lifelong creative project. Following the scheme of the novel, it was to be divided into four sub-cycles: ''Water (The Arrival)'', ''Fire (The Descent)'', ''Earth (The Expectancy)'' and ''Air (The Return)''. Most of Barraqué's creative efforts went into the works which were to take their place in ''Fire (The Descent)'', which – to give an idea of the projected scope of the whole design – was to have consisted of thirteen works. Before his death he completed two of the projected parts: ''Chant aprés chant'' (1966), and '' Le Temps restitué'' (1957/68). Fragments of some of the other parts exist. Barraqué also wrote '' ... Au delà du hasard'' (1958–59) for three female voices and ensemble, and a

Concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

for clarinet, vibraphone and ensemble in 1962–68, which are related to ''The Death of Virgil'', but not actually part of that cycle. (''... Au delà du hasard'' is described as a commentary on ''Affranchi du hasard'', which was to have been the eleventh piece of ''Fire (The Descent)'' but was not actually composed.) The only other extant piece by Barraqué is ''Séquence'' (1955–56), a setting of

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...

for soprano and ensemble which is partly a re-working of three songs for soprano and piano from the early fifties. Barraqué's use of

tone row In music, a tone row or note row ( or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometime ...

s in his work is quite distinctive. Rather than using a single tone row for an entire piece, as

Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

did, or using a number of related rows in one work, as

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

sometimes did, Barraqué starts by using one row, and then subtly alters it to get a second. This second row is then used for a while before being slightly altered again to make a third. This process continues throughout the work. He called this technique "proliferating series".

Harry Halbreich Harry Halbreich (Berlin, 9 February 1931 – Brussels, 27 June 2016) was a Belgian musicologist.Dust jacket biography of Harry Halbreich from #Halbreich2007, Halbreich (2007).Patrick Szersnovicz. Harry Halbreich (obituary). ''Diapason (magazine), ...

has written that "Barraqué's whole work is marked by terrible despair, lightened by no religious or ideological faith, and entirely dominated by the great shadow of Death". In 1998 the record company CPO issued his entire output on CD, in performances by the Austrian ensemble Klangforum Wien. The major reference work on his music in English is a biography entitled ''The Sea on Fire'' by the British music critic Paul Griffiths (2003). In German, Heribert Henrich's book of 1997 is its complement. His music is now published by the German firm of

Bärenreiter Bärenreiter (Bärenreiter-Verlag) is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle (1903–1975) in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still has its headquarters; it ...

Writings

Barraqué wrote many articles on other composers (including

, Monteverdi,

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and Messiaen) and on theoretical aspects of contemporary music. His major prose work is his book on

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

(Paris:

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as Le Seuil, is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' (th ...

, 1962). He also made numerous analyses of works in the standard repertoire from J. S. Bach to Honegger, some of which he used in his teaching. His few pupils included the British composer Bill Hopkins.

Compositions

Completed works

* Sonata for solo violin (1949) * ''Trois Mélodies'' for soprano and piano (1950) (texts from The Song of Solomon, Baudelaire and Rimbaud) * ''Séquence'' for voice, percussion and chamber ensemble (1950–55) (text by

; incorporates material from the ''Trois Mélodies'') *

(1950–52) * ''Etude'' for three-track tape (1952–53) * '' Le Temps restitué'' for soprano, chorus and orchestra (1956–68) (text from Hermann Broch, '' The Death of Virgil'', in French translation by Albert Kohn) * '' ... Au delà du hasard (premier Commentaire de 'Affranchi du hasard' et du 'Temps Restitué')'' for four instrumental groups and one vocal group (1958–59) (text by Barraqué 'around a quotation of Hermann Broch') *

for six instrumental groups and two solo instruments (vibraphone and clarinet) (1962–68) * '' Chant après chant'' for six percussionists, voice and piano (1966) (text by Barraqué and Hermann Broch)

Unfinished works

* ''Sonorité jaune'' (1957 sketch based on

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

, '' Der gelbe Klang'') * ''Musique de scène'' for 4 clarinets (bass clarinet), 3 saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone), 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, percussion (3 players), xylophone, vibraphone, celesta, glockenspiel and piano. It also includes two reciters, "L'aventurier" (The Adventurer) and "Le pauvre homme" (The Poor Man). 1958–59. Premiere , Austria, 2017. * ''Discours'' (c. 1961): sketch for a work for voices and orchestra, text from Hermann Broch, ''The Death of Virgil'', in French translation by Albert Kohn) * ''Lysanias'' (c. 1966–69; 1972–73): sketch for three solo voices and orchestra (text by Barraqué and Hermann Broch). The first performance was scheduled for the 1973 Royan Festival, before being cancelled due to incompletion.See the review of the festival by Paul Griffiths: ‘Festivals', The Musical Times, Vol. 114, No. 1564 (Jun., 1973), p. 629 https://doi.org/10.2307/955598 https://www.jstor.org/stable/955598 * ''Portiques du Feu'' (c. 1968; 1972–73): sketch for 18 solo voices (text by Barraqué and Hermann Broch) * ''Hymnes à Plotia'' for string quartet (1972–73)

Notes

Sources

* * * Griffiths, Paul: ‘La Rochelle, Royan', ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 114, No. 1564 (Jun., 1973), p. 629 https://doi.org/10.2307/955598 https://www.jstor.org/stable/955598 * * * * * * * * *

External links

Composer's entry
on

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

's database {{DEFAULTSORT:Barraque, Jean 1928 births 1973 deaths 20th-century French classical composers 20th-century French male musicians French male classical composers Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite LGBTQ classical composers French LGBTQ composers People from Puteaux Twelve-tone and serial composers 20th-century French LGBTQ people