Andre Jolivet (1905–1974)

Extract

Andre Jolivet died in Paris in December 1974 at the age of 69. His untimely death caused deep distress to his numerous friends. For the French musica world it meant the loss of an important, original and imaginative composer, and there was, at least, the usual acknowledgment from official quarters. Otherwise it hardly caused a stir; and the press, which had always been so responsive to his music, remained strangely silent. This is all the more surprising as Jolivet, during the last thirty years, had been a frequent guest at international and national festivals, had been widely performed and acclaimed in the Western world, and was considered representative of a certain kind of new French music (though overshadowed by his friend and near-contemporary Olivier Messiaen).