Search for a composer

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

BOIVIN Philippe (1954)

Date of creation:

May 2010

Last update:

February 2018

Biographie tabs

Portrait

Biographical elements

A French composer born in 1954 in Metz.
Philippe Boivin studied musicology at the Sorbonne, harmony and counterpoint at the Paris Conservatory and composition at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris with Max Deutsch. He also trained in new technologies, notably at Ircam. His research naturally directed him towards computer assisted composition and led in particular to the creation of the software Opus. His catalogue comprises works for varied groupings: from soloist to orchestra, with a majority of chamber formations. Philippe Boivin has written many teaching works and often gives his compositions a theatrical dimension. His interest in teaching led him to the direction of the CFMI of the Université de Provence (2008-2017). His works include Photo de classe (1982), Concerto for viola and orchestra (1986), Big bug for six percussionists (1988), Concerto for brass and percussion (1996), Star burst (2004), Revenantes (2014), Météoriques (2018).

Biography

Philippe Boivin was born in Metz in 1954. After a degree in musicology at the Sorbonne in 1975 he obtained his Certificat d’Aptitude for second degree teaching (CAPES) the following year. At the Paris Conservatory he followed the harmony classes of Alain Bernaud (1977-79), before studying composition at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (1979-1981) with Max Deutsch. He studied and also practised new technologies, following the course of André Riotte on the formalisation of musical structures at the Université de Vincennes (1979) and studied ‘music and mathematics’ with Iannis Xenakis (1980). The following year, he took part in the computer seminar for composers at Ircam and then, thanks to a bursary from the French Foreign Ministry, he left for California in 1982, for the Center for Music Experiment at the University of San Diego. In 1983 he started to undertake personal research into computer assisted composition. His work led to the conception of the software Opus.

From 1985 to 1988 he was a producer for Radio France, compiling portraits of contemporary composers and performers, as well as reports, thematic broadcasts and retransmissions of concerts.

Having become aware of the issues involved in teaching and the transmission of knowledge, Philippe Boivin has developed intensive pedagogical activity since 1990. He has given, notably, many lectures and residency programmes in conservatories and universities. He co-ordinated seminars on twentieth-century music. In 1994 he was appointed teacher for musical culture and collective practice as part of the university diploma in musical pedagogy at Dijon and for the Cefedem of Île-de-France. He continued his activities from 1999 to 2008 as director of the Ivry-sur-Seine Conservatory and then Director of the Centre de Formation des Musiciens Intervenants (CFMI) of the Université de Provence (2008-2017).

Philippe Boivin’s works are for varied groupings, from soloist to large orchestra, with a majority of chamber formations. He uses instruments in lyrical, dramatic registers, with even a theatrical dimension, as is shown by Zab ou la passion selon Saint-Nectaire for double bass, and the Six algorithmes (1999). Philippe Boivin is also attracted to the composition of teaching pieces, seeking in particular a relationship between composer and performer based on mutual listening. In Photo de classe for twelve clarinets he obtains the genuine physical and psychological commitment of the pupils, even of beginners, by resorting to non-conventional ideas and means of notation (unmeasured passages, superimposed tempi, cues or responses to be synchronised with a partner). He goes against ‘habits’, giving pupils with only a few years’ knowledge of the instrument figures that are very rapid yet easy to perform, while the ‘advanced’ pupil above all works within sound. Similarly, in Ouverture for wind band, the idea is to favour a new relationship between composer and performer by offering amateur musicians the possibility of living from within the experience of contemporary musical creation. His work thus bears on new instrumental techniques (multiple sounds on the woodwind, simultaneous sound emission on the brass, research into new tone-colours and modes of attack, etc.). The exploitation of these materials as part of a large formation enables him to enrich the wind band’s sound palette while still respecting its identity.

In his only concerto for an instrument and orchestra, the Concerto for viola, he composed six parts interspersed with short cadenzas and joined as a single movement, characterised par the cyclical return of the same modes of play, progressively varied and developed (double stops throughout the whole tessitura, micro-intervals, specific phrasing and bowings, etc.); his viola writing thus uses the whole expressive range of the instrument. Similarly, in Domino II for cello, he undertakes a broad exploration of the polyphonic possibilities of the instrument: movements of tessitura associated with subtle evolutions of tone-colour, interwoven voices in passages with double stops, inlaid polyrhythms underlined by percussive attacks, polyphonies of tone-colour combining different ways of activating the strings, progressive mutations of short melodic-rhythmic figures in repetitive scansion, micro-tonal fluctuations of texture animated with varied internal movements, harmonic shifts revealed by the violent hammering of alternating triples stops.

He has been awarded several prizes: in 1985, the Prix Sacem for the best pedagogical work, in 1988 the Georges Enesco Composition Prize and in 2002 the Pierre and Germaine Labole Composition Prize.

Other works include, TéléCom j’éCout’ for zarb and reed instrument (), the series Domino (1982 to 1995), Big bug for six percussionists (1988, first performed by the Percussions de Strasbourg), Concerto for brass and percussion (premiered in 1996 at the Musica Festival), Star burst for wind instruments (first performed in 2004 at the Carré-Scène Nationale in Château-Gontier by Le Concert Impromptu), Ce soir on improvise (2005), Revenantes (first performed in 2014 during Grame festival by Anne Gastinel and Choeur Britten), and Météoriques, oratorio on a libretto by Catherine Peillon (2018).

Works

Sauf mention contraire, les partitions de Philippe Boivin sont éditées par :
– Salabert ;
– Billaudot.

1978
Comme sur des roulettes, conte musical
1 h 20 min
Création : 26/03/1978 – Collectif d'étudiants du département de musicologie de la Sorbonne. France, Paris, salle Adyar

1980
Monopoly pour 1 ou 2 saxophones
7 min
Création : 07/02/1980 – Jean-François Lauriol, Philippe Boivin. France, Paris, Porte de la Suisse

Septuor en trio pour 3 clarinettes, trio à cordes, contrebasse
12 min
Création : 29/06/1980 – Musiciens de l'Ensemble intercontemporain et de l'Itinéraire, direction Alexandre Myrat. France, Paris, Salle Cortot, Concours de composition de l'École normale de musique de Paris
[Partition inédite]

TéléCom j’éCout’ pour zarb et un instrument à anche
Durée variable
Création : 07/05/1983 – Armand Angster, Jean-Michel Collet. France, Strasbourg, Festival de
percussion
[Partition inédite]

1981
La sangsue pour 12 instrumentistes
12 min
Création : 01/07/1981 – Musiciens de l'Ensemble intercontemporain et de l'Itinéraire, direction Alexandre Myrat. France, Paris, Salle Cortot, Concours de composition de l'École normale de musique de Paris
[Partition inédite]

1982
Chalumeau pour clarinette
3 min 36 s
[Réduction pour clarinette solo de Photo de Classe]

Photo de classe pour 12 clarinettes, oeuvre pédagogique
8 min
Création : 18/06/1982 – Classe de clarinette du Conservatoire Éric Satie. France, Bagnolet, Conservatoire Eric Satie, Concert-promenade de l’Atem

Zab ou la passion selon Saint-Nectaire pour contrebasse
25 min
Création : 19/07/1983 – Jean-Pierre Robert. France, Chapelle des cordeliers, Festival d’Avignon
[Partition inédite]

1983
Ouverture pour orchestre d’harmonie
12 min
Création : 20/11/1983 – Orchestre d'harmonie de Jarny, direction Joseph Ramacci. France, Metz, Rencontres internationales de musique contemporaine

1984
Domino I pour piano
13 min
Création : 22/03/1986 – Jean-François Zygel. France, Paris, Maison de Radio France, Perspectives du XXe siècle
[Partition inédite]

1986
Concerto pour alto et orchestre
17 min
Création : 23/05/1987 – Gérard Caussé, Nouvel orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, direction Mark Foster. France, Paris, Maison de Radio France, Perspectives du XXe siècle

1987
Concerto pour alto et orchestre de chambre
15 min
Création : 19/05/1988 – Gérard Caussé, ensemble Forum, direction Mark Foster. Paris, Lyon, Espace Tonkin

Domino II pour violoncelle
10 min
Création : 06/12/1987 – Alain Meunier. France, Semaines musicales internationales d’Orléans

1988
Big bug pour 6 percussionnistes
20 min
Création : 16/02/1989 – Les Percussions de Strasbourg. France, Paris, Centre Pompidou

Cadence pour alto
8 min
[Extraits du concerto pour alto]

Chaconne pour 4 timbales et 2 synthétiseurs
11 min
Création : 25/04/1989 – Ensemble Tm+ (Florent Jodelet, Yann Geslin, Christophe Maudot). France, Paris, Maison de Radio France

1989
Aulos pour hautbois
4 min
Création : 1990

Cinq algorithmes pour les Évangiles des quenouilles pour contrebasse
20 min
Création : 15/10/1990 – Jean-Pierre Robert. France, La Rochelle, Maison de la culture

1990
Domino III pour timbales
6 min
Création : 28/05/1990 – Michel Gastaud. France, Paris, Théâtre de l’Alliance française, Rencontres internationales de percussions de Paris

1991
Trois petites lectures pour hautbois
4 min
[Partition inédite]

1992
Deux esquisses pour violon ou alto (2 versions)
5 min
[Partition inédite]

Domino IV pour quatuor à cordes
12 min
Création : 14/05/1993 – Quatuor de l’Ensemble intercontemporain. France, Paris, Maison de Radio France, Espace contemporain

1993
Concerto pour cuivres et percussions
20 min
Création : 27/09/1996 – Ensemble Ars Nova, direction Philippe Nahon. France, Strasbourg, Palais des fêtes, festival Musica
[Partition inédite]

1995
Domino V pour vibraphone
10 min
Création : 27/09/1996 – Gérard Pérotin. France, Strasbourg, Palais des fêtes, festival Musica

L'homme dont le désertpour soprano et piano
5 min
Poème d'Alphonse de Lamartine, extrait de Désert ou l'Immatérialité de Dieu
Création : 20/04/1999 – Catherine Namura, Pascale Namura. France, Dijon, Centre Atheneum Université de Bourgogne
[Partition inédite]

Vue sur la mer, fragments pour un opéra de chambre pour soprano, clarinette, violoncelle et 2 pianos
20 min
Livret de Michel Beretti
Création : 03/06/1998 – Ensemble Aleph. France, Paris, Théâtre Dunois

1999
Six algorithmes pour orchestre
11 min
Création : 03/06/1999 – Orchestre Poitou-Charentes, direction Pascal Verrot. France, Théâtre d'Angoulême

2004
Star burst pour flûte à bec, flûte en sol, bugle, cor anglais et clarinette basse
4 min 44 s
Chorégraphie de Jim May, compagnie américaine Anna Solokow
Création : 26/02/2004 – Concert impromptu. France, Château-Gontier, Le Carré-scène nationale, spectacle « La nef des fous »
[Partition inédite]

2005
Ce soir on improvise… pour violon, violoncelle et accordéon
40 min
Création : 05/2005 – Michel Berrier, Adeline Lecce, Guillaume Hodeau. France, Ivry-sur-Seine, Théâtre Antoine Vitez

2013
Tri Bhuwana pour 12 voix mixtes et gamelan
1 h
Création : 19/04/2013 – Ensemble vocal Musicatreize, direction Roland Hayrabédian, gamelan Bintang Tiga, direction Gaston Sylvestre. France, Marseille

2014
Revenantes pour 12 voix de femmes, violoncelle et petit chœur
9 min 30 s
Création : 19/03/2014 – Chœur Britten, direction Nicole Corti, Anne Gastinel, Chœur de femmes détenues au centre pénitentiaire de Lyon-Corbas. France, Lyon, auditorium de l'ENSATT, biennale Musiques en scène de Grame

Trois Recercadas d'après Diego Ortiz, arrangements pour violoncelle, contrebasse et accordéon
6 min
Création : 29/05/2017 – Charlotte Testu, Marine Rodalec, Elodie Soulard. France, Paris, Festival de Chaillol

2018
Météoriques, oratorio pour baryton, comédien-marionnettiste, musiciens solistes, orchestre symphonique, orchestre à l'école et chœurs d'enfants
50 min
Livret de Catherine Peillon
Création : 10/06/2018 – Ensemble C Barré, Orchestre d'Aix-Marseille Université. France, Marseille, Théâtre NoNo

Œuvre en cours de composition
In memorial Alvaro pour guitare, harpe, violoncelle, percussion, piano et électroacoustique
20 min
Création prévue : saison 2018/19 – Luis Matins, Eduardo Raon, Joana Sà. Portugal, Lisbonne

Resources

Cdmc resources

Listen to:

Les lieux d'enseignement par Philippe Boivin, Géraud Chirol

Links

Éditions Durand-Salabert-Eschig (biography)

Bibliography

Bibliographical elements

BOIVIN Philippe. Le compositeur à l'école. In : FRANCOIS Jean-Charles (dir.). L'avenir de l'enseignement spécialisé de la musique : actes des rencontres préparatoires aux journées d'études des 17, 18 et 19 avril 2000. Lyon : Cefedem : CNSM, 2000, p. 91-106. (Enseigner la musique, n° 4).

Networks

Nos partenaires

Search for a composer

BOIVIN Philippe (1954)

Biographie tabs

Biographical elements

Cdmc resources

Links

Bibliographical elements

© MMC 2021

Search form

Networks

Nos partenaires

Search for a composer

BOIVIN Philippe (1954)

Biographie tabs

Biographical elements

Cdmc resources

Links

Bibliographical elements

© MMC 2021