Maurice Fleuret
Encyclopedia
Maurice Fleuret was a French composer, music journalist, radio producer, arts administrator, and festival organizer.
in the département of Loire, Maurice Fleuret received his secondary education at the École normale d'instituteurs in Montbrison. In 1952 he moved to Paris and began studying music in the classes of Norbert Dufourcq, Olivier Messiaen
, and Roland-Manuel at the Paris Conservatoire
, graduating in 1956 (Lonchampt 1990).
In 1955 he became a lecturer of the Jeunesses musicales de France, a position he held until 1965. From 1974 he became artistic adviser to this same organization (Anon. 2001). In the meantime, he had undertaken other activities as well. In 1958 he edited the review Musique de tous les temps, from 1960 to 1964 he was director of the music division of the Centre National de Diffusion Culturelle, and in 1962 he began a career as a music critic, first for the France observateur and then from 1964 for its successor, the Nouvel observateur. In 1962 he also became a radio producer, first at ORTF and then at Radio France
, where he had a regular weekly programme titled Evénements-musique (Anon. 2001; Lonchampt 1990).
Obsessed by the desire "to understand contemporary music", he began his collaboration at the Nouvel Observateur by stating at the outset that he would not report "concerts where the three B's—Brahms, Bach, and Beethoven—are heard all night long" (Daniel 2004, 34). He wanted to "create a new musical criticism, a chronicle of introduction to contemporary music, and not one of reporting" that would "put everybody off" (Daniel 2003, 430).
But even if his articles had "as high a profile abroad as in France" (Lonchampt 1990), he could not just criticize the ideas of others without trying to form his own. In 1967, he decided to abandon his lecturing to devote himself to entering into music in new environments. From 1967 to 1974, he organized the Journées de Musique Contemporaine de Paris (Days of Contemporary Music Paris), where he brought together some twenty thousand people in cycles devoted to composers such as Luciano Berio
, Pierre Boulez
, or Pierre Henry
.
Although his primary interest was in contemporary music, he was also very active as an ethnomusicologist, making over thirty journeys to Africa and Asia, and in particular doing field work in West Africa in 1966 and 1967. He also organized many concerts of traditional African and Asian music in Europe (Anon. 2001).
He directed with the same success enterprises as diverse and unique as the Stockhausen
Festival in Shiraz
-Persepolis in 1972 or the Xenakis
Festival in Bonn
in 1974. The producer from 1974 of a weekly magazine (Events-Music) on the radio, three years later he gave up his position at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
—which he had held since 1967—to dedicate himself to the Festival of Lille
where Pierre Mauroy
had been mayor since 1973.
When the Socialists came to power under François Mitterrand
in November 1981, Mauroy became Prime Minister, and appointed Fleuret director of music and dance in the Ministry of Culture
headed by Jack Lang
. In this post, he promoted the creation of music festival
s, increased subsidies of all kinds, and vigorously defended the major projects of the president: the construction of the Opera Bastille
, and the Cité de La Villette
. After the conservatives came to power in March 1986, he remained for some months in order to protect the president's projects, but gave up his position in September. Even after the Socialists returned to power under Mitterrand
in May 1988 he stubbornly refused to resume the post of director of music (Lonchampt 1990).
He preferred from that time to concern himself with the Gustav Mahler Music Library, which he had founded in 1986 with Henry-Louis de La Grange
based on their personal collections. This was the first private music library in France, with twenty thousand volumes, nine thousand scores, two thousand five hundred files on composers and contemporary artists, forty thousand recordings, especially records amount of money bringing invaluable and unpublished music from the preceding century and a half, constantly enriched with new gifts. While still at the helm since 1988 of the collection "Music" of Publishing Bernard Coutaz
, he died in Paris on 22 March 1990.
Biography
Born in La TalaudièreLa Talaudière
La Talaudière is a commune in the Loire department in central France....
in the département of Loire, Maurice Fleuret received his secondary education at the École normale d'instituteurs in Montbrison. In 1952 he moved to Paris and began studying music in the classes of Norbert Dufourcq, Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
, and Roland-Manuel at the Paris Conservatoire
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, graduating in 1956 (Lonchampt 1990).
In 1955 he became a lecturer of the Jeunesses musicales de France, a position he held until 1965. From 1974 he became artistic adviser to this same organization (Anon. 2001). In the meantime, he had undertaken other activities as well. In 1958 he edited the review Musique de tous les temps, from 1960 to 1964 he was director of the music division of the Centre National de Diffusion Culturelle, and in 1962 he began a career as a music critic, first for the France observateur and then from 1964 for its successor, the Nouvel observateur. In 1962 he also became a radio producer, first at ORTF and then at Radio France
Radio France
Radio France is a French public service radio broadcaster.-Mission:Radio France's two principal missions are:* To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and...
, where he had a regular weekly programme titled Evénements-musique (Anon. 2001; Lonchampt 1990).
Obsessed by the desire "to understand contemporary music", he began his collaboration at the Nouvel Observateur by stating at the outset that he would not report "concerts where the three B's—Brahms, Bach, and Beethoven—are heard all night long" (Daniel 2004, 34). He wanted to "create a new musical criticism, a chronicle of introduction to contemporary music, and not one of reporting" that would "put everybody off" (Daniel 2003, 430).
But even if his articles had "as high a profile abroad as in France" (Lonchampt 1990), he could not just criticize the ideas of others without trying to form his own. In 1967, he decided to abandon his lecturing to devote himself to entering into music in new environments. From 1967 to 1974, he organized the Journées de Musique Contemporaine de Paris (Days of Contemporary Music Paris), where he brought together some twenty thousand people in cycles devoted to composers such as Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
, or Pierre Henry
Pierre Henry
Pierre Henry is a French composer, considered a pioneer of the musique concrète genre of electronic music.-Biography:...
.
Although his primary interest was in contemporary music, he was also very active as an ethnomusicologist, making over thirty journeys to Africa and Asia, and in particular doing field work in West Africa in 1966 and 1967. He also organized many concerts of traditional African and Asian music in Europe (Anon. 2001).
He directed with the same success enterprises as diverse and unique as the Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen 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. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
Festival in Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
-Persepolis in 1972 or the Xenakis
Xenakis
-People:* Constantin Xenakis , Greek artist* Francoise Xenakis , French novelist* Iannis Xenakis , Greek composer and architect* Thomas Xenakis , Greek gymnast- Other uses :...
Festival in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
in 1974. The producer from 1974 of a weekly magazine (Events-Music) on the radio, three years later he gave up his position at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art dedicated to the arts of the 20th/21st centuries. It is located at 11 Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.-Description:...
—which he had held since 1967—to dedicate himself to the Festival of Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
where Pierre Mauroy
Pierre Mauroy
Pierre Mauroy is a French Socialist politician and former Prime Minister under François Mitterrand . Mauroy also served as Mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001. Mauroy is currently emeritus mayor of Lille.-Biography:...
had been mayor since 1973.
When the Socialists came to power under François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
in November 1981, Mauroy became Prime Minister, and appointed Fleuret director of music and dance in the Ministry of Culture
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
headed by Jack Lang
Jack Lang
Jack Lang may refer to:*Jack Lang *Jack Lang *Jack Lang , former American football player*Jack Lang , American sportswriter...
. In this post, he promoted the creation of music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
s, increased subsidies of all kinds, and vigorously defended the major projects of the president: the construction of the Opera Bastille
Opéra Bastille
L'Opéra Bastille ' is a modern opera house in Paris, France. It is the home base of the Opéra national de Paris and was designed to replace the Palais Garnier, which is nowadays mainly used for ballet performances....
, and the Cité de La Villette
Cité de la Musique
The Cité de la Musique is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the La Villette quarter, 19th arrondissement, Paris, France. It was designed by the architect Christian de Portzamparc and opened in 1995...
. After the conservatives came to power in March 1986, he remained for some months in order to protect the president's projects, but gave up his position in September. Even after the Socialists returned to power under Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
in May 1988 he stubbornly refused to resume the post of director of music (Lonchampt 1990).
He preferred from that time to concern himself with the Gustav Mahler Music Library, which he had founded in 1986 with Henry-Louis de La Grange
Henry-Louis de La Grange
Henry-Louis de La Grange is a musicologist and biographer of Gustav Mahler.-Biography:Henry-Louis de La Grange was born in Paris of an American mother and a French father, , who was a senator, one-time government minister, and Vice-President of the International Aviation Federation...
based on their personal collections. This was the first private music library in France, with twenty thousand volumes, nine thousand scores, two thousand five hundred files on composers and contemporary artists, forty thousand recordings, especially records amount of money bringing invaluable and unpublished music from the preceding century and a half, constantly enriched with new gifts. While still at the helm since 1988 of the collection "Music" of Publishing Bernard Coutaz
Bernard Coutaz
Bernard Coutaz was a French musical publisher, founder of the Harmonia Mundi label....
, he died in Paris on 22 March 1990.
Writings
- 1962. Musique hongroise. France-Hongrie, numéro spécial 74-75.
- 1978. Xenakis: 78: introduction, biographie, catalogue des oeuvres, discographie, bibliographie, statistiques et documents. [Paris]: Salabert. Second edition, 1981.
- 1981. Régards sur Iannis Xenakis. Paris: Stock.
- 1984. Claude Ballif: compositeur de l'été ... : réalisé à l'occasion du Festival estival de Paris, 1984. La Revue Musicale, nos. 370–71. Paris: La Revue Musicale.
- 1989. Joseph Kosma, 1905–1969: un homme, un musicien. La Revue Musicale, nos. 412–15. Paris: La Revue Musicale.
- 1992. Chroniques pour la musique d'aujourd'hui, preface by Jean Daniel. Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône): Editions Bernard Coutaz. ISBN 287712049X. [Collection of analyses of fifty-four musicians, selected from the journalistic output of Maurice Fleuret.]