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Table of Contents
"The fact of knowing I had no father or mother"(1948-67)
"I want art to be a sacred act, the revelation of forces" (1967-71)
"To push my language further" (1971-72)
"A need to communicate with the rest of the cosmos" (1972-74)
"Something different is coming, something more precise, more clear" (1974-76)
"A journey into the depths of myself " (1976-77)
"Subtle musics / Filling my soul" (1977-79)
"A mystical enchantment" (1978-79)
"Oh beautiful child of the light" (1979-81)
"The passionate love for music that sometimes stops me from composing" (1981-82)
"It's only in thinking about music, and about sound, that I can be happy" (1982-83)
"In Quebec people die easily" (1983-)
Appendix 1: Chronology of Compositions
Appendix 2: Selected Discography
"I want art to be a sacred act, the revelation of forces" (1967-71)
"To push my language further" (1971-72)
"A need to communicate with the rest of the cosmos" (1972-74)
"Something different is coming, something more precise, more clear" (1974-76)
"A journey into the depths of myself " (1976-77)
"Subtle musics / Filling my soul" (1977-79)
"A mystical enchantment" (1978-79)
"Oh beautiful child of the light" (1979-81)
"The passionate love for music that sometimes stops me from composing" (1981-82)
"It's only in thinking about music, and about sound, that I can be happy" (1982-83)
"In Quebec people die easily" (1983-)
Appendix 1: Chronology of Compositions
Appendix 2: Selected Discography
Reviews
The Quebec composer Claude Vivier made some of the most haunting and personal musical statements of any composer of the later twentieth century. An astounding late work by one of the most sensitive commentators on the music of the second half of the twentieth century. MUSIC & LETTERS
Direct and to the point, but enriched with wonderfully descriptive passages, seamlessly paraphrasing, quoting and analysing a wealth of sources. An accessible and virtuosic work. TEMPO
An informative and moving account of the composer, his works, and their context. A strong sense of place infuses the narrative. Discussion of Vivier's music [is] enlightening. CHOICE
A labour of love on [Gilmore's] part, more than ten years in the writing, and making much use of interviews with friends and colleagues. Clear and very readable. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Most Famous Canadian Composer is not a hotly contested title. Now the multilateral champ -- francophone, anglophone, living or dead -- is surely Claude Vivier. . . . As assured as [Gilmore's musical] analysis is, it is of course the life that keeps the pages turning. MONTREAL GAZETTE
Gilmore moves gracefully between the gay scene in Paris or Montreal and the scores on the composer's desk (as Vivier himself did) to create a deeply engaged and engaging portrait. TLS Books of the Year. TLS
Claude Vivier lived a life we had thought extinct: that of the doomed creative genius, casting off masterpieces from an unstoppable ride into the abyss. Bob Gilmore brings immediacy, sensitivity, and care to telling the story of Vivier's life, while also guiding us through and into some of the most breathtaking music of the late twentieth century. This is a necessary book, and an exciting one. --Paul Griffiths, author of The Sea on Fire: Jean Barraqué
Meticulously researched and beautifully written. It reads...[like] a favorite novel that one simply cannot put down. Its most significant strengths are the biographical, contextual, and musical details of Vivier's life that emerge through Gilmore's critical analysis of the many interviews he conducted. By recording such firsthand accounts of Vivier's life...this biography will likely remain unmatched in Vivier scholarship because there simply is no other documentation. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Direct and to the point, but enriched with wonderfully descriptive passages, seamlessly paraphrasing, quoting and analysing a wealth of sources. An accessible and virtuosic work. TEMPO
An informative and moving account of the composer, his works, and their context. A strong sense of place infuses the narrative. Discussion of Vivier's music [is] enlightening. CHOICE
A labour of love on [Gilmore's] part, more than ten years in the writing, and making much use of interviews with friends and colleagues. Clear and very readable. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Most Famous Canadian Composer is not a hotly contested title. Now the multilateral champ -- francophone, anglophone, living or dead -- is surely Claude Vivier. . . . As assured as [Gilmore's musical] analysis is, it is of course the life that keeps the pages turning. MONTREAL GAZETTE
Gilmore moves gracefully between the gay scene in Paris or Montreal and the scores on the composer's desk (as Vivier himself did) to create a deeply engaged and engaging portrait. TLS Books of the Year. TLS
Claude Vivier lived a life we had thought extinct: that of the doomed creative genius, casting off masterpieces from an unstoppable ride into the abyss. Bob Gilmore brings immediacy, sensitivity, and care to telling the story of Vivier's life, while also guiding us through and into some of the most breathtaking music of the late twentieth century. This is a necessary book, and an exciting one. --Paul Griffiths, author of The Sea on Fire: Jean Barraqué
Meticulously researched and beautifully written. It reads...[like] a favorite novel that one simply cannot put down. Its most significant strengths are the biographical, contextual, and musical details of Vivier's life that emerge through Gilmore's critical analysis of the many interviews he conducted. By recording such firsthand accounts of Vivier's life...this biography will likely remain unmatched in Vivier scholarship because there simply is no other documentation. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
