
Florence Baschet
French composer born 18 June 1955 in Paris.
Florence Baschet was born in Paris in 1955 and studied music at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome. She then returned to Paris to study musicology, harmony, and counterpoint. She became interested in new acoustic instruments, particularly the Cristal Baschet, an instrument she explored in multiple ways, from South Indian carnatic music to the jazz world to the possibilities for sound transformation offered by the field of electroacoustics.
She entered the Conservatoire of Lyon (CNSML) in 1988, where she worked with Philippe Manoury, studying composition and electroacoustic sound transformations. In 1991, with Nuraghe, she received a Diplôme National des Études Supérieures de Musique (she was unanimously awarded high honors by the jury, which included André Boucourechliev and Gilbert Amy). She continued her studies at the Centre Acanthes with Luigi Nono and with Elliott Carter.
In 1992, she participated in Cursus (the IRCAM’s composition and computer music course), during which she composed Alma-Luvia. Multiple commissions followed, including from the IRCAM for Spira Manes and Commandes d’État (commissions from the French Ministry of Culture), as well as from Ensemble l’Itinéraire for Sinopia and Aïponis. L’Itinéraire’s artistic director, composer Michael Levinas, is an active supporter of her work. Other notable pieces include Femmes for Radio France, Filastrocca for Festival MANCA, Bobok for the 2e2m ensemble and the GRM, and Trinacria, a commission for Musique Nouvelle en Liberté, as well as BogenLied, the first piece for augmented violin, for the Festival Why Note.
From 2003 to 2005, she was composer-in-residence at MIA (Musiques inventives d’Annecy) and at the École nationale de musique d’Annecy. In this role she wrote Electrics and the video opera Piranhas. In 2004, she was a finalist for the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation Music Composition Prize. She was then named to the artistic committee of the Ensemble L’Itinéraire, with whom she became a composer-in-residence in Dijon starting in 2005, as well as holding a research residency with the IRCAM. In 2006, she held a residency at GRAME in Lyon, for which she wrote Beréchit. That same year, she composed StreicherKreis, a commission from the IRCAM for string quartet and electronics, which was premiered in 2008 by the Danel quartet. This was followed by Cinq études pour quatuor à cordes in 2009. In 2010, the Cottbus Philharmonic Orchestra premiered AntePrima for large orchestra, and in 2011, she composed La Muette based on the eponymous novel by Chahdortt Djavann, a piece for voice, ensemble, and electronics, which premiered at the IRCAM in February 2012. In 2014, she received a Commande d’État for The Waves, a piece for voice, ensemble, and electronics, based on the text by Virginia Woolf, which was premiered by the ensemble TM+, conducted by Laurent Cuniot. She then composed two pieces for string quartet, Streicher #2 (2016) and Manfred (2017), which were premiered by the Quatuor Girard and the Quatuor Manfred (respectively). In 2021, for Ircam’s ManiFeste festival, she composed the Musique-Fiction program based on a text by Lydie Salvayre, La Compagnie des Spectres, a device designed for the ambisonic dome, consisting of 64 loudspeakers.
One of the guiding principles of her work is the critical integration of a natively instrumental vocabulary into her writing. Her research at the IRCAM led to a strong interest in mixed music, which brings soloists and electronics together in a unique, interactive relationship linked to instrumental gesture, and which seeks to showcase phenomena of interpretation that influence the ways sound is transformed.
In 2018, she received the René Dumesnil Prize from the Académie des Beaux Arts at the Institut de France for the whole of her work.
Her works are regularly performed by ensembles such as L’Itinéraire, Court-circuit, Fa, 2e2m, and Ensemble intercontemporain, and are published by Lemoine-Jobert.
© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2018
- Solo (excluding voice)
- elec ircam BogenLied for augmented violin and electronics (2005), 8 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Electrics pieces for solo instrument with real-time electronics (2004-2005), 9 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Chamber music
- elec Mai-Mia trio for piano, marimba, crystal Baschet and electroacoustic (1990), Inédit
- Etruria trio for clarinet, viola and crystal Baschet (1991), 3 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec Nuraghe septet for four keyboards and string trio with live electroacoustic device (1991), 10 mn, Inédit
- Etruria II for clarinet, viola and vibraphone (1994), 3 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Etruria III for quintet (2001), 9 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Trinacria trio for trombone, viola and guitar (2002), 10 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec Quintette Aligoté for quintet and real-time electronics (2005), 14 mn, Inédit [program note]
- elec ircam StreicherKreis for "augmented" string quartet and live electroacoustic device (2007-2008), 25 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Cinq études pour quatuor à cordes for string quartet (2009), 10 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Doppia for two violins (2013), 5 mn, Lemoine
- Streicher #2 for string quartet (2016), 14 mn [program note]
- Manfred cycle for string quartet (2017), 20 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Nuits Blanches for string quartet (2018), 3 mn
- Si par un jour for two violins, viola, cello and piano (2020), 15 mn 30 s, Jobert
- Instrumental ensemble music
- Sinopia for eleven instruments (1993), Inédit
- Laps for orchestra (1996), Inédit
- Aïponis for ensemble (1997), 13 mn, Inédit
- Oyat for wind ensemble (2000), 7 mn, Jobert
- elec Bobok for ensemble and electroacoustic device (2003), 13 mn, Jobert [program note]
- AntePrima for large orchestra (2010), 7 mn 30 s, Jobert [program note]
- Vocal music and instrument(s)
- elec ircam Ircam cursus Alma Luvia for female voice, trio and electronics (1994, 1993-1992), 7 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec ircam Spira manes piece for seven voices, seven instruments, and real-time electroacoustic device (1995), 25 mn, Inédit [program note]
- Femmes first version for two female voices and ten instruments (1998), 25 mn, Inédit [program note]
- Terra Nova piece for choir and orchestra (2000), 20 mn, Inédit
- Femmes second version for two female voices and quintet (1998-2001), 25 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec Filastrocca for tenor, bass, instrumental ensemble and electronics (2002), 15 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec stage Piranhas video-opera for two voices, saxophone quartet, ensemble and electronics (2004), 40 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec ircam La Muette for voice, ensemble and electronics (2011), 35 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec ircam The Waves for female voice and ensemble (2015), 10 mn about [program note]
- Nulla alle mie spalle for violin, viola, baritone and piano (2019), 6 mn
- Nulla alle mie spalle for violin, viola, baritone and piano (2019), 6 mn
- elec ircam La Compagnie des Spectres for soprano and piano (2021), 42 mn [program note]
- A cappella vocal music
- elec Beréchit for bass-baritone voice and real-time electroacoustic device (2006), 10 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Je me souviens for mixed choir a cappella (2019), 6 mn 30 s
- 2021
- elec ircam La Compagnie des Spectres for soprano and piano, 42 mn [program note]
- 2020
- Si par un jour for two violins, viola, cello and piano, 15 mn 30 s, Jobert
- 2019
- Je me souviens for mixed choir a cappella, 6 mn 30 s
- Nulla alle mie spalle for violin, viola, baritone and piano, 6 mn
- Nulla alle mie spalle for violin, viola, baritone and piano, 6 mn
- 2018
- Nuits Blanches for string quartet, 3 mn
- 2017
- Manfred cycle for string quartet, 20 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2016
- Streicher #2 for string quartet, 14 mn [program note]
- 2015
- elec ircam The Waves for female voice and ensemble, 10 mn about [program note]
- 2013
- Doppia for two violins, 5 mn, Lemoine
- 2011
- elec ircam La Muette for voice, ensemble and electronics, 35 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2010
- AntePrima for large orchestra, 7 mn 30 s, Jobert [program note]
- 2009
- Cinq études pour quatuor à cordes for string quartet, 10 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2008
- elec ircam StreicherKreis for "augmented" string quartet and live electroacoustic device, 25 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2006
- elec Beréchit for bass-baritone voice and real-time electroacoustic device, 10 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2005
- elec ircam BogenLied for augmented violin and electronics, 8 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Electrics pieces for solo instrument with real-time electronics, 9 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec Quintette Aligoté for quintet and real-time electronics, 14 mn, Inédit [program note]
- 2004
- elec stage Piranhas video-opera for two voices, saxophone quartet, ensemble and electronics, 40 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2003
- elec Bobok for ensemble and electroacoustic device, 13 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2002
- elec Filastrocca for tenor, bass, instrumental ensemble and electronics, 15 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Trinacria trio for trombone, viola and guitar, 10 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2001
- Etruria III for quintet, 9 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Femmes second version for two female voices and quintet, 25 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 2000
- Oyat for wind ensemble, 7 mn, Jobert
- Terra Nova piece for choir and orchestra, 20 mn, Inédit
- 1998
- Femmes first version for two female voices and ten instruments, 25 mn, Inédit [program note]
- 1997
- Aïponis for ensemble, 13 mn, Inédit
- 1996
- Laps for orchestra, Inédit
- 1995
- elec ircam Spira manes piece for seven voices, seven instruments, and real-time electroacoustic device, 25 mn, Inédit [program note]
- 1994
- Etruria II for clarinet, viola and vibraphone, 3 mn, Jobert [program note]
- 1993
- elec ircam Ircam cursus Alma Luvia for female voice, trio and electronics, 7 mn, Jobert [program note]
- Sinopia for eleven instruments, Inédit
- 1991
- Etruria trio for clarinet, viola and crystal Baschet, 3 mn, Jobert [program note]
- elec Nuraghe septet for four keyboards and string trio with live electroacoustic device, 10 mn, Inédit
- 1990
- elec Mai-Mia trio for piano, marimba, crystal Baschet and electroacoustic, Inédit
Bibliographie
- Florence BASCHET, « Comment penser la dialectique acoustique / électroacoustique au sein du geste compositionnel », dans Culture et Recherche : Recherches en scène, n° 136, automne-hiver 2017, p. 58-59.
- Florence BASCHET, « Instrumental Gesture in StreicherKreis », dans Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 32, Issue 1, 2013, p. 17-28.
- Florence BASCHET, Frederic BEVILACQUA, Serge LEMOUTON, « The Augmented String Quartet: Experiments and Gesture Following », dans Journal of New Music Research, Vol. 41, Issue 1, 2012, p. 103-119.
- Jean-Guillaume LEBRUN, « Florence Baschet », portrait paru dans Compositrices, l’égalité en acte, Paris, Centre de musique contemporaine, éditions MF, 2019.
Liens internet
- Site de Florence Bashet : www.florencebaschet.com
- Site des éditions Henry Lemoine : www.henry-lemoine.com
(liens vérifiés en mars 2022).