Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans, who largely contributed to the revival of contemporary opera, died at the age of 85 on the night of Sunday to Monday, his assistant confirmed to AFP.
“Philippe Boesmans was a monument of Belgian and European music. His works have been performed all over the world. New productions of his operas are still regularly staged, as recently in Stuttgart and Paris (Reigen) or Nancy (Julie)”. The press release from the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, where Boesmans was composer in residence from 1985 to 2007, provides a clear overview.
If it is still difficult in real time to rule on the sorting carried out ultimately by history, let’s make a bet here: it will reserve a very good place for Philippe Boesmans. Thanks to him, we understood almost directly that opera, a genre devastated after the Second World War, was not dead. First in line to revive him was John Adams in North America (Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer) and Philippe Boesmans in Europe, the great operas of Nordic composers — The palace and The king goes to France by Aulis Sallinen, or Insect Life of Kalevi Aho — having remained confined to their territory.
Open music, large librettos
Even if Boesmans’ lyrical production begins with The Passion of Gilles in 1983, the big trigger is Reigenaccording to Round by Arthur Schnitzler, in 1993.
This is where Boesmans finds all his marks: the vocal and orchestral language, and the substrate – a perfectly effective adaptation of a major work. He will repeat with the same success in winter marketsaccording to The Winter’s Tale of Shakespeare (1999), or even Julie (2004), according to Miss Julie of Strindberg. These three operas were directed by Luc Bondy, who also wrote the librettos (co-writing with Marie-Louise Bischofberger, in the case of Julie).
Even if he composed chamber music and symphonic works, it is a safe bet that it is for his lyrical work that this composer born on May 17, 1936 in Tongres, in the Flemish region, will mark the history of the music. A piano student at the Liège Conservatory, Boesmans had nevertheless studied composition as an autodidact!
After his three great operas of the period 1993-2004 (Reigen, Wintermärchen, Julie), regularly performed on various European stages, Philippe Boesmans has not rested on his laurels. “In co-production with major opera houses in Paris and Aix-en-Provence, we have created Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy (2009), In the world (2014) and more recently Pinocchio (2017). Just a few weeks ago, we announced the creation of a new opera by Philippe Boesmans: We purge baby. Accompanied by the director and librettist Richard Brunel, Philippe finalized the score of this comedy inspired by the eponymous farce by Feydeau. The premiere of this work will take place in December of this year,” the director of the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Peter de Caluwe, recalled on Monday.
Yvonne, Princess of Burgundybased on the play by Witold Gombrowicz, was his fourth collaboration with Luc Bondy, and their first opera in French (the others are in German). In the world and Pinocchio are collaborations with Joël Pommerat.
“I came out of the very difficult music of the 1960s, post-serial, where we went around in circles,” Boesmans told AFP on the occasion of the creation of Pinocchio. “I opened the windows wide to all forms of music. There could be rap or baroque, that would suit me very well! he added.
The French Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, greeted the composer for his “tremendous talent, his deep taste for transmission and his works that have enchanted us for decades”. The Paris Opera for his part underlined the sad departure of a “figure of international music”.
With Agence France-Presse