Grove Music Jolivet

Grove Music Online
Jolivet, André
Barbara L. Kelly
https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14433
Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001
(b Paris, Aug 8, 1905; d Paris, Dec 20, 1974). French composer. His
father, a painter, and his mother, a pianist, encouraged him to
become a teacher, despite his obvious early musical talent; from the
age of 14 he took cello lessons with Louis Feuillard, set his own
poem to music at 13 and at 15 designed and composed music for a
ballet. The music of Debussy, Dukas and Ravel made a lasting
impression on him at the Pasdeloup concerts in 1919. In 1920 the
Abbé Théodas, maître de chapelle of Notre Dame de Clignancourt,
Paris, accepted him as a chorister, teaching him harmony and organ.
He left school that year and trained as a teacher, taking up various
posts in Paris from 1927. Some early piano compositions date from
this period, including Romance barbare (1920) and Sarabande sur le
nom d'Eric Satie (1925). In 1928 he started lessons with Paul Le
Flem, director of the Chanteurs de St Gervais, whose rigorous
training in counterpoint, harmony and classical forms often drew on
15th- and 16th-century polyphonists.
Jolivet's first significant exposure to atonal music occurred in

December 1927 at the Société Musicale Indépendante's Schoenberg
concerts at the Salle Pleyel, where he heard Pierrot lunaire sung by
Marya Freund, piano pieces performed by Eduard Steuermann and
the Suite op.29. In 1929 Varèse's Amériques had a profound impact
on him; Jolivet was struck by the large orchestral forces, dominated
by percussion. Le Flem, responding to Jolivet's enthusiasm,
introduced him to Varèse, who accepted him as his only European
student. Varèse's impact is evident in Jolivet's experimentation with
sound-masses, acoustics, orchestration and atonal (though non-
serial) methods.
Jolivet's first important compositions date from 1930, with works

such as Air pour bercer, Suite for string trio and Trois temps. Varèse
returned to the USA in 1933 leaving Jolivet six objects: a puppet, a
magic bird, a statue of a Balinese princess, and a goat, cow and
winged horse sculpted by Calder, which Jolivet regarded as fetish
objects. In 1935 he composed Mana for piano, naming a movement
after each object. Contrast is created between the rhythmically free
portrayal of the puppet, the short halting phrases of the bird, the
rhythmic momentum of the Balinese princess, and the long flexible
lines evoking the cow. Movements 3, 4 and 5 are unified by the
tritone; the opening of the fifth movement is based on two
transpositions of the octatonic scale. Mana began Jolivet's so-called
‘magic’ period. Cinq incantations for solo flute (1936) and Cinq
danses rituelles (1939) are concerned with the life-cycle and with
harvest. While the former work contains shifting and flexible
Page 1 of 15
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rhythms, repeated phrases and single notes, the latter is
characterized by syncopation and heavily dotted rhythms. Jolivet
exploits the dissonant effect of the repeated diminished octaves and
minor seconds in the final section of the nuptial dance. By focussing
on ritual, incantation and initiation practices, Jolivet sought
inspiration from African and East Asian traditions.
Messiaen, a jury member of the Société Nationale, helped to get

Jolivet's Trois temps pour piano (1930) performed by the society in
1931. In a review of Mana, Messiaen noted the ‘novelty of its idiom
and the singularity of its aesthetic’, which, in his view, seemed ‘to
express the new aspirations’. They both shared an interest in
spiritual concerns and a desire to widen the emotional range of
music. In 1935 Jolivet, Messiaen and Daniel-Lesur founded ‘La
spirale’, an avant-garde chamber music society. Then in 1936, with
Yves Baudrier, they formed the group known as ‘La jeune France’,
their first concert taking place on 3 June 1936, conducted by
Désormière. They became known as the ‘quatre petits frères
spiritualistes’ because they promoted spiritual values and human
qualities in a ‘mechanical and impersonal’ world. They also rejected
Stravinsky's neo-classicism, Satie, Les Six and central European
experiments. The group's activities were curtailed by World War II.
In 1940 Messiaen was interned and Jolivet was mobilized at
Fontainebleau. Here he wrote a Messe pour le jour de la paix for
voice, organ and tambourine (1940). Another important war-inspired
work was the Trois complaintes du soldat for voice and piano or
orchestra (1940).
In 1945 Jolivet published an article in Noir et Blanc entitled ‘Assez

Stravinsky’, in which he declared that ‘true French music owes
nothing to Stravinsky’. Poulenc replied, defending Stravinsky, with
an article in Le Figaro, ‘Vive Stravinsky’. In 1946 Jolivet responded
to an enquiry on musical aesthetics and technique (‘Magie
expérimentale’ in Contrepoints), in which he reaffirmed his musical
aims, including his desire to rediscover music's ‘original ancient
meaning’. He also outlined his preoccupation with acoustics,
particularly his use of ‘doubled basses’ in preference to the ‘artificial
twelve-note system’; by selecting two bass notes, he was able to
exploit the harmonies that were available from both harmonic series.
Jolivet simplified his style during the war, abandoning atonality in

favour of lyricism and striving for a music for ‘evasion and
relaxation’. Examples include the comic opera Dolorès, ou Le
miracle de la femme laide (1942) and the ballet Guignol et Pandore
(1943) on which he collaborated with Serge Lifar. In this farce, the
director, who controls the human characters, is himself a puppet.
The music is tonal, modal and simple, with repetitive rhythms and
pentatonic glissandos, and tritones in the execution scene. The
chamber works Chant de Linos (1944) and Hopi Snake Dance (1948)
reveal his continuing preoccupation with ritual; the former exploits
the flute's technical capabilities and reveals the influence of Le
Flem's teaching in the contrapuntal independence of the lines. From
about 1945 Jolivet achieved a fusion between his new-found
accessibility and his earlier experimentation. Serge Gut has
identified this synthesis in the First Piano Sonata (1945), written in
memory of Bartók. Elements of virtuosity, dissonance and rhythmic
Page 2 of 15
drive feature in Fantaisie-Caprice for flute and piano (1953),
Sérénade for two guitars (1956) and the numerous concertos,
including two for cello (1962 and 1966) and one for violin (1972).
Between 1945 and 1959 Jolivet was musical director of the Comédie
Française. He composed 14 scores for plays by Molière, Racine,
Sophocles, Shakespeare and Claudel. He had the opportunity to
travel widely, to the Middle East and East Asia and to Africa; his visit
to Egypt rekindled his interest in ritual in works such as Epithalame
for a 12-voice ‘vocal orchestra’ (1953), based on sacred Egyptian,
Hindu, Chinese and Greek texts, and the second movement of his
First Symphony (1953). The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
(1949–50) was the result of a commission from Radio France for ‘a
work of colonial inspiration’ and was awarded the Grand Prix de la
Ville de Paris; by drawing on musical elements from Africa, East Asia
and Polynesia, Jolivet was continuing the tradition of French
exoticism established by Bizet, Chabrier, Debussy, Ravel and
Messiaen.
Jolivet's interest in French culture is evident from his oratorio La

vérité de Jeanne (1956). Based on a 15th-century text rehabilitating
Joan of Arc, it was performed in Domrémy for her 500th anniversary.
His orchestral work Les amants magnifiques (1961) also involved a
homage to France's past in Molière and Lully. Jolivet employs
Baroque dance figures, ground bass and harpsichord, but reveals his
individuality in emphasizing percussion, block writing, glissandos
and harmonics. Jolivet founded the Centre Français d'Humanisme
Musical at Aix-en-Provence in 1959 and taught composition at the
Paris Conservatoire from 1961. His last commission, to write an
opera, Le soldat inconnu for the Palais Garnier, was incomplete at
his death.
Works
Stage
L'infante et le monstre (ballet), 1938, collab. Daniel-Lesur
Ballet des étoiles (marionette play, J. Chesnais), 9 insts, 1941
La pêche miraculeuse (marionette play, Chesnais), 3 solo vv, 6

insts, 1941
Les quatre vérités (ballet, 1, H. Lenormand); Paris, 1941
Dolorès, ou Le miracle de la femme laide (opéra bouffe, 1, H.

Ghéon), 1942
French radio, 4 May 1947
Page 3 of 15
Guignol et Pandore (ballet, S. Lifar), 1943
Paris, Opéra, 29 April 1944
orch suite, 1943
L'inconnue (ballet, L. Vaillat), 1950
Paris, Opéra, 19 April 1950
orch suite, 1950
Ariadne (ballet, P.-A. Jolivet), 1964
Paris, Opéra-Comique, 12 March 1965
orch suite, 1964
Bogomilé, ou Le lieutenant perdu (op, M. Schneider), 1974,

inc.
extracts arr. M. Philippot, Paris, Opéra, 5 March 1982
Orchestral
Andante, str, 1935
Danse incantatoire, 1936
Soir, band, 1936
Défilé, band, 1936
Cosmogonie, prelude, orch/pf, 1938
5 danses rituelles, orch/pf, 1939
Symphonie de danses, 1940
Psyché, 1946
Fanfares pour ‘Britannicus’ [after incid. music], brass, 1946
Page 4 of 15
Ondes Martenot Conc., 1947
Concertino, tpt, pf, str, 1948
Conc., fl, str, 1949
Pf Conc., 1949–50
Conc., hp, chbr orch, 1952
Sym. no.1, 1953
Conc., bn, hp, pf, str, 1954
Tpt Conc. no.2, 1954
Suite transocéane, 1955
3 interludes de La vérité de Jeanne [from orat], 1956
Suite française, 1957
Perc Conc., 1958
Sym. no.2, 1959
Adagio, str, 1960
Sym., str, 1961
Les amants magnifiques, 1961
Vc Conc. no.1, 1962
Sym. no.3, 1964
Vc Conc. no.2, 1966
Vn Conc., 1972
Page 5 of 15
Vocal
Choral
La tentation dernière, cant, solo vv, chorus, speaking chorus,

orch, 1941
Oh! Flibustiers (J. Mauclère), male chorus, perc, 1949
Epithalame (Jolivet), 12 solo vv, 1953
La vérité de Jeanne, orat, 6 solo vv, reciter, chorus, orch, 1956
Mass ‘Uxor tua’, S, S, A, T, B/SSATB, fl, ob + eng hn, bn, trbn,

va/org, 1962
Madrigal (M. Jacob), 4vv, 4 insts/str orch, 1963
Le coeur et la matière, cantata, 5 solo vv, chorus, orch, 1965
Solo vocal
Faux Rayon (P. Reverdy), 1v, pf, 1928
Chewing-gum (C. Sernet), 1v, pf, 1928
2 poésies de Francis Jammes, 1v, pf, 1928–9
Sonnet de Ronsard, 3 female vv, 1929
Chanson: la mule de Lord Bolingbroke (M. Jacob), 1v, pf, 1930
3 rondels de François Villon, 1v, pf, 1931
4 mélodies sur des poésies anciennes, 1v, pf/chbr orch, 1931
Prière des 13 hommes dans la mine (R. Hubermont), Bar/Mez,

pf, 1931
Chants d'hier et de demain (J.P. Marat, M. Robespierre, J.L.

Jaurès), Bar, male chorus, pf, 1931–37
Page 6 of 15
Romantiques (R. Boudry, G. Ribermont-Dessaignes, V.
Huidobro), 1v, pf, 1935
Le chant des regrets (L. Recolin), Bar/Mez, pf, 1935
Les chants du campeur, Le jeu du camp fou (P. Vaillant), 1v, pf,
1937
Poèmes pour l'enfant, Mez, 4 ww, tpt, hp, pf, str qt, 1937
3 chants des hommes (R. Boudry), Bar, orch, 1937
3 poèmes chantés (J. Bruyr), 1v, pf, 1939
Les trois complaintes du soldat (Jolivet), Mez/Bar, pf/orch,

1940
Messe pour le jour de la paix, 1v, org, tambourine, 1940
Suite liturgique, S/T, ob + eng hn, vc, hp, 1942
3 chansons de ménestrels (J. de Beer), Mez/Bar, pf/orch, 1943
Poèmes intimes (L. Emié), 1v, pf/chbr orch, 1944
Hymne à St André, S, org, 1947
Jardins d'hiver (G. Lefilleul), 1v, pf, 1951
3 poèmes galants (M. de St-Gellais, G.-C. Bucher, Père le

Moyne), Mez/Bar, pf, 1951
Songe à nouveau rêvé (A. Goléa), S, orch, 1970
Chamber
Suite, str trio, 1930
Air pour bercer, vn, pf, 1930
Suite, va, pf, 1931
Page 7 of 15
Sonata, vn, pf, 1932
Aubade, vn, pf, 1932
Choral et fugato, pf 4 hands, 1932
Str Qt, 1934
Chant d'oppression, va, pf, 1935
3 poèmes, ondes martenot, pf, 1935
Ouverture en rondeau, 4 ondes martenot, 2 pf, perc, 1938, arr.

str orch, chbr orch; Petite suite, fl, va, hp, 1941
Nocturne, vc, pf, 1943
Suite delphique, 12 insts, 1943
Pastorale de Noël, fl/vn, bn/va/vc, hp, 1943
Chant de Linos, fl, pf/(str trio, hp), 1944
Sérénade, ob, pf/wind qnt, 1945
Petite Suite, 2 vn, va, vc, db, pf, perc, 1947
Hopi Snake Dance, 2 pf, 1948
Sérénade, 2 gui, 1956
Rapsodie à 7, cl, bn, valve cornet, trbn, perc, vn, db, 1957
Sonata, fl, pf, 1958
Sonatine, fl, cl, 1961
Alla rustica, fl, hp, 1963
Sonatine, ob, bn, 1963
Suite en concert, fl, 4 perc, 1965
12 inventions, wind qnt, tpt, trbn, str qnt, 1966
Page 8 of 15
Controversia, ob, hp, 1968
Arioso barocco, tpt, org, 1968
Cérémonial, hommage à Varèse, 6 perc, 1968
Patchinko, 2 pf, 1970
Heptade, tpt, 6 perc, 1971
Pipeaubec, rec, perc ens, 1972
La flèche du temps, 12 str, 1973
Yin-Yang, 11 str, 1973
Solo instrumental
Romance barbare, pf, 1920
Sarabande sur le nom d'Eric Satie, pf/orch, 1925
Tango, pf, 1927
2 mouvements, pf, 1930
3 temps, pf, 1930
6 études, pf, 1931
Trois croquis, pf, 1932
Danses pour Zizou, pf, 1934
Sida Yahia, pf, 1934
Algeria-Tango, pf, 1934
El viejo camello, pf, 1935
Madia, pf, 1935
Page 9 of 15
Fom Bom Bo, pf, 1935
Mana, 6 pieces, pf, 1935
Prélude apocalyptique, org, 1935
5 incantations, fl, 1936
Incantation ‘Pour que l'image devienne symbole’, vn/fl/ondes

martenot, 1937
Cosmogonie, prelude, pf/orch, 1938
5 danses rituelles, pf/orch, 1939
Etude sur des modes antiques, pf, 1944
Pf Sonata no.1, 1945
5 interludes, org, 1947
Pf Sonata no.2, 1957
Hymne à l'univers, org, 1961–2
2 études de concert, gui, 1963
Suite rhapsodique, vn, 1965
Suite en concert, vc, 1965
Prélude, hp, 1965
5 églogues, va, 1967
Ascèses, 5 pieces, fl/a fl/A-cl/B-cl, 1967
Mandala, org, 1969
Tombeau de Robert de Visée, suite, gui, 1972
Page 10 of 15
Incidental music
Aimer sans savoir qui (Lope de Vega), 1941
Le mystère de la visitation (H. Ghéon), 1942
Iphigénie à Delphes, 1943
La queste de Lancelot (J. de Beer), 1943
Le malade imaginaire (Molière), 1944
2 pièces d'Henri Duvernois, 1945
Le livre de Christophe Colomb (P. Claudel), 1946
Britannicus (J. Racine), 1946
Iphigénie en Aulide (Racine), 1946
Horace (P. Corneille), 1947
La flûte du boeuf (J. Audiberti), 1948
Hélène et Faust (Arnoux, after J.W. von Goethe), 1949
Les précieuses ridicules (Molière), 1949
Antigone (after Sophocles), 1951
Le bourgeois gentilhomme (Molière), 1951
Empereur Jones (after E. O'Neill), 1953
Les caprices de Marianne (A. de Musset), 1953
Prométhée enchaîné (after Aeschylus), 1954
Les amants magnifiques (Molière), 1954
Fantasio (Musset), 1954
L'amour médecin (Molière), 1955
Page 11 of 15
Le veuf (L.C. Carmontelle), 1955
Coriolan (after Shakespeare), 1956
Il ne faut jurer de rien (Musset), 1957
La réunion des amours (P.C. de Chamblain de Marivaux), 1957
Le guerrier de Rabinal (Inca trad.), 1959
L'eunuque (after Plautus), 1959
Antigone (after Sophocles), 1960
Film music
Boxe en France, collab. A. Honegger, 1942
Mémoire des maisons mortes (Chéret), collab. Daniel-Lesur,

1942
La parole est d'argent, 1943
Les ultra-sons (P. Thévenard), 1944
La lueur qui s'éteint (documentary, Thévenard, 1946)
Antergan, 1947
Le Spitzberg (E. Logereau), 1948
SIM (animation, Breuil), 1948
Le champignon qui tue (Thévenard), 1948
Saponite (animation), 1949
Le vrai coupable (Thévenard), 1951
Vingt minutes sous les mers, 1954
Les aventures d'une mouche bleue (Thévenard), 1954
Page 12 of 15
Le soleil se lève à l'est (documentary), 1955
France Romane, 1956
promotional films
Music for radio
Baschibah (J. Deval), 1950
La petite Catherine de Heilbronn, 1951
La fille d'honneur, 1951
Empereur Jones, 1953
La guerrier de Rabinal, 1959
L'Atrabilaire de Ménandre, 1962
Educational
Grave et gigue, vn, pf, 1930
Déchiffrages, tpt, sax, cl, 1942–3
Danse roumaine, pf, 1948
Chansons naïves, 6 pieces, pf, 1951
Berceuse dans un hamac, pf, 1951
Air de bravoure, tpt/valve cornet, pf, 1952
Cabrioles, fl, pf, 1953
Chant pour les piroguiers de l'Orénoque, ob, pf, 1953
Fantaisie-impromptu, a sax, pf, 1953
Page 13 of 15
Fantaisie-caprice, fl, pf, 1953
Méditation, cl, pf, 1954
Danse caraïbe, pf, 1963
Principal publishers: Billaudot, Boosey & Hawkes, Leduc
Writings
‘Assez de Stravinsky’, Noir et Blanc (4 April, 1945)
‘André Jolivet, ou la magie expérimentale’, Contrepoints,

no.1 (1946), 33–7
‘Rameau, 1683–1764’, Les musiciens célèbres (Paris,

1946), 112–15
Ludwig van Beethoven (Paris, 1955)
Bibliography
‘La Jeune France: M. André Jolivet, M. Yves Baudrier, M.
Olivier Messiaen, M. Daniel-Lesur’, Revue internationale
de musique, no.4 (1938), 761–74
G. Michel: ‘André Jolivet: essai sur un système esthétique

musical’, ReM, no.204 (1946), 8–26
J.-J. Brothier: La ‘Jeune France’: Yves Baudrier, A. Jolivet,

Daniel-Lesur, Olivier Messiaen (Paris, 1955)
Zodiaque, no.33 (1957) [Jolivet issue]
S. Desmarquez: André Jolivet (Paris, 1958)
M. Cadieu: ‘A Conversation with André Jolivet’, Tempo, no.

59 (1961), 2–4
A. Goléa: ‘Die zwei Welten André Jolivets’, NZM, 126

(1965), 412–15
B. Schiffer: ‘André Jolivet (1905–1974)’, Tempo, no.112

(1975), 13–16
S. Gut: La groupe Jeune France (Paris, 1977)
H. Jolivet: Avec André Jolivet (Paris, 1978)
Zodiaque, no.119 (1979) [Jolivet issue]
Page 14 of 15
K. Kemler: ‘Is there Magic in Jolivet's Music?’, MR, 44
(1983), 121–35
J. Martin and K.McNerney: ‘Carpentier and Jolivet: Magic

Music in Los Pasos Perdidos’, Hispanic Review, 52 (1984),
491–8
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Jolivet's first significant exposure to atonal music occurred in

Jolivet's first important compositions date from 1930, with works

Messiaen, a jury member of the Société Nationale, helped to get

In 1945 Jolivet published an article in Noir et Blanc entitled ‘Assez

Jolivet simplified his style during the war, abandoning atonality in

Jolivet's interest in French culture is evident from his oratorio La

L'infante et le monstre (ballet), 1938, collab. Daniel-Lesur

Ballet des étoiles (marionette play, J. Chesnais), 9 insts, 1941

La pêche miraculeuse (marionette play, Chesnais), 3 solo vv, 6

Les quatre vérités (ballet, 1, H. Lenormand); Paris, 1941

Dolorès, ou Le miracle de la femme laide (opéra bouffe, 1, H.

French radio, 4 May 1947

Paris, Opéra, 29 April 1944

orch suite, 1943

L'inconnue (ballet, L. Vaillat), 1950

Paris, Opéra, 19 April 1950

orch suite, 1950

Ariadne (ballet, P.-A. Jolivet), 1964

Paris, Opéra-Comique, 12 March 1965

orch suite, 1964

Bogomilé, ou Le lieutenant perdu (op, M. Schneider), 1974,

extracts arr. M. Philippot, Paris, Opéra, 5 March 1982

Andante, str, 1935

Danse incantatoire, 1936

Soir, band, 1936

Défilé, band, 1936

Cosmogonie, prelude, orch/pf, 1938

5 danses rituelles, orch/pf, 1939

Symphonie de danses, 1940

Fanfares pour ‘Britannicus’ [after incid. music], brass, 1946

Concertino, tpt, pf, str, 1948

Conc., fl, str, 1949

Conc., hp, chbr orch, 1952

Sym. no.1, 1953

Conc., bn, hp, pf, str, 1954

Tpt Conc. no.2, 1954

Suite transocéane, 1955

3 interludes de La vérité de Jeanne [from orat], 1956

Suite française, 1957

Perc Conc., 1958

Sym. no.2, 1959

Adagio, str, 1960

Sym., str, 1961

Les amants magnifiques, 1961

Vc Conc. no.1, 1962

Sym. no.3, 1964

Vc Conc. no.2, 1966

La tentation dernière, cant, solo vv, chorus, speaking chorus,

Oh! Flibustiers (J. Mauclère), male chorus, perc, 1949

Epithalame (Jolivet), 12 solo vv, 1953

La vérité de Jeanne, orat, 6 solo vv, reciter, chorus, orch, 1956

Mass ‘Uxor tua’, S, S, A, T, B/SSATB, fl, ob + eng hn, bn, trbn,

Madrigal (M. Jacob), 4vv, 4 insts/str orch, 1963

Le coeur et la matière, cantata, 5 solo vv, chorus, orch, 1965

Faux Rayon (P. Reverdy), 1v, pf, 1928

Chewing-gum (C. Sernet), 1v, pf, 1928

2 poésies de Francis Jammes, 1v, pf, 1928–9

Sonnet de Ronsard, 3 female vv, 1929

Chanson: la mule de Lord Bolingbroke (M. Jacob), 1v, pf, 1930

3 rondels de François Villon, 1v, pf, 1931

4 mélodies sur des poésies anciennes, 1v, pf/chbr orch, 1931

Prière des 13 hommes dans la mine (R. Hubermont), Bar/Mez,