Boesman became primarily recognised for his operas, with works written for the Royal Opera House La Monnaie in Brussels as composer in residence since 1985. Four operas were written in collaboration with Luc Bondy who adapted plays for him, Schnitzler's La Ronde, Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Strindberg's Miss Julie and Iwona, księżniczka BurgundabyWitold Gombrowicz, and who directed the world premieres of the operas. Au monde was honoured with an International Opera Award in 2015. His last opera based on Feydeau's vaudeville 'On purge bébé' had its world premiere at La Monnaie in Brussels in December 2022.[2]
Boesmans was born in Tongeren and studied piano at the Royal Conservatory of Liège,[3] He studied first with Robert Leudiran [fr], then with Stefan Askenase who advised him to not pursue a career as a concert pianist.[4] At the conservatoire, he was also introduced to serial composition techniquesbyPierre Froidebise. However, it was only after coming into contact with the『Liège Group』of Henri Pousseur, André Souris, and Célestin Deliège [fr]) in 1957 that he began to write music, as a self-taught composer.[5] He attended courses at Darmstädter Ferienkurse.[6] He was also active as a pianist with the Ensemble Musique Nouvelle.[4][7] In 1961 he became assistant, and in 1971 producer, at the Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF),[4] working with the radio orchestra there.[8] From this experience he learned much about composing and orchestrating music. In 1965, he became a member of the Communist Party.[4] In 1971 he won the Prix Italia for his composition Upon La-Mi for horn and voice which won him international recognition.[4][9][6] In 1971, he participated in productions of the Centre de Recherches Musicales de Wallonie, collaborating with Pousseur.[10] His works have been performed at the most important festivals of contemporary music, such as Darmstadt, Warsaw, Brussels, Royan, Metz, Avignon, Zagreb, Montréal and Paris.[4] For a short time, Boesmans taught piano and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Liège.[11]
He was composer in residence at the La Monnaie opera house in Brussels.[3][8]Luc Bondy adapted four operas for him and subsequently staged their world premieres.[5] When his opera Reigen was premiered in 1993, a reviewer of Le Monde wrote: "Reigen is perhaps the most successful opera of the last seventy years."[12] His opera Au monde won the International Opera Award 2015 in the category World Premiere.[13] He was bilingual in German and French.[14]
Boesmans died after a short illness on 10 April 2022 in Brussels, at the age of 85.[14][15] He was honoured in a tribute concert at the Royal Opera House La Monnaie/De Munt on 19 April 2022.[16]
Boesmans early works were strongly influenced by serialism.[6] After that, clear structures, periodically recurring rhythms, consonances and melodic elements characterise his musical language.[6] The aesthetics of his works has been called "trompe l'oreille" (trick the ear).[6] His instrumentations are characterised by intense timbre constellations.[6] He alluded to works of others not by exact quotations, but so-called "stylistic quotations" or "gestural quotations".[14]
^"On purge bébé". La Monnaie / De Munt. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^"Boesmans". Forum des Compositeurs. 27 March 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
Sources
Morris, Mark (1996). A Guide to 20th-century Composers. London: Methuen. ISBN978-0-413-45601-4. OCLC36165560. The opera La passion de Gilles (1983) is a dark story of perversion, malice, and child abuse, set in the 15th century and providing a commentary on the present day. Its colours are dark, intense, and sparse, in keeping with the subject
"Pinocchio". Festival International d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence (in French). 17 December 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
Auzolle, Cécile. 2014. "Vers l'étrangeté, ou l'opéra selon Philippe Boesmans". Arles: Actes sud.
Deliège, Célestin [fr], Bernard Foccroule, and Claude Ledoux. 1983. Philippe Boesmans. Paris and Brussels: Opéra national de Belgique & Éditions BEBA.
Dufour, Valérie. 2005. "Catalogue de l'œuvre de Philippe Boesmans". In Philippe Boesmans: entretiens et témoignages, edited by Christian Renard and Robert Wangermée, 203–260. Sprimont: Pierre Mardaga. ISBN2-87009-890-1
Classical music
Opera
