Philippe Manoury (1952)
Philippe Manoury’s writings are part of his composer’s laboratory. It is thus as a composer in action that Manoury frequently writes. In the past he compiled and published these texts on paper, but nowadays they can be found on his personal website.
He constantly updates this site, particularly the “Écrits” section, with aesthetic, technical, and analytical articles.
This site is the source of reference source for recent texts by the composer, particularly his latest works, such as Thinkspiel Kein Licht (2017), the finishing touches on Pierre Boulez's Book for Quartet (2018) or his LabOratorium (2019). But it also includes public statements on contemporary music (“Aesthetics”), considerations on electronic music, as well as the relationship between instrumental writing and real-time computer processing at the heart of his work. In the section “On composers,” Manoury draws links to composers and works of the past who inspire him through the compositional questions they raise, meeting his own questions.
Just as Manoury’s work presents great unity, his writings remain focused over time on questions to which he ceaselessly returns. Already, in his work of reference La note et le son (L'Harmattan, 1998) he addressed the thematic categories that his website extends: theoretical writings on composition as the art of time and the role of electronics; aesthetic writings devoted to composers and key works of the past, notably in the field of opera; and public statements in the field of contemporary creation. The inaugural lecture given by the Manoury at the Collège de France, entitled L'Invention de la musique (Fayard, 2017), is consistent with this thought on music in action, in deployment, embracing the world and often finding its inspiration in other arts, such as cinema, or the sciences.
Manoury’s other written contributions take the form of interviews and collections of interviews, including those with Omer Corlaix and Jean-Guillaume Lebrun (La Musique du temps réel, Musica Falsa editions, 2012), and those with Daniela Langer (Va-et-vient : L'intonation ou le secret, Musica Falsa editions, 2001).
Alain BONARDI
28/09/2019
Trans. Chris Murray
| firstname | Philippe |
|---|---|
| lastname | Manoury |
| birth year | 1952 |
| same as | https://data.bnf.fr/fr/13897049/philippe_manoury/ |