Editing Pierre Boulez (section)

==Biography==

===1925–1943: Childhood and school days===
Pierre Boulez was born on 26 March 1925, in [[Montbrison, Loire|Montbrison]], a small town
in the [[Loire (department)|Loire department]] of east-central France, to Léon and Marcelle (''[[née]]'' Calabre) Boulez.<ref>Jameux, 3</ref> He was the third of four children: an older sister, Jeanne (1922–2018)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.francemusique.fr/actualite-musicale/mort-de-jeanne-boulez-chevalier-soeur-de-pierre-boulez-64349 |title=Mort de Jeanne Boulez-Chevalier, soeur de Pierre Boulez |last1=Decalf |first1=Guillaume |date=9 August 2018 |website=France Musique |access-date=10 August 2018 |archive-date=10 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810112347/https://www.francemusique.fr/actualite-musicale/mort-de-jeanne-boulez-chevalier-soeur-de-pierre-boulez-64349 |url-status=live }}</ref> and younger brother, Roger ({{abbrv|b.|born in}} 1936) were preceded by another child called Pierre ({{abbrv|b.|born in}} 1920), who died in infancy. Léon (1891–1969), an engineer and technical director of a steel factory, is described by biographers as an authoritarian figure with a strong sense of fairness, and Marcelle (1897–1985) as an outgoing, good-humoured woman, who deferred to her husband's strict [[Roman Catholic (term)|Catholic]] beliefs, while not necessarily sharing them. The family prospered, moving in 1929 from the apartment above a pharmacy, where Boulez was born, to a comfortable detached house, where he spent most of his childhood.<ref>Peyser (1976), 21–22; Heyworth (1986), 3; [[Dominique Jameux|Jameux, 3]].</ref>

From the age of seven Boulez went to school at the Institut Victor de Laprade, a Catholic [[seminary]] where the thirteen-hour school day was filled with study and prayer. By the age of eighteen he had repudiated Catholicism;<ref>Peyser (1976), 23–25.</ref> later in life he described himself as an agnostic.<ref>Boulez (2017), 21.</ref>

As a child, Boulez took piano lessons, played [[chamber music]] with local amateurs and sang in the school choir.<ref>Boulez (1976), 10–11.</ref> After completing the first part of his [[Baccalauréat|baccalaureate]] a year early, he spent the academic year of 1940–41 at the Pensionnat St. Louis, a boarding school in nearby [[Saint-Étienne]]. The following year he took classes in advanced mathematics at the Cours Sogno in [[Lyon]] (a school established by the [[Congregation of the Mission|Lazaristes]])<ref>Merlin, 23.</ref> with a view to gaining admission to the [[École Polytechnique]] in Paris. His father hoped this would lead to a career in engineering.<ref>Peyser (1976), 23–24.</ref> Wartime conditions in Lyon were already harsh; they became harsher still when the [[Vichy France|Vichy government]] fell, the Germans took over and the city became a centre of the [[French Resistance|resistance]].<ref name=Coleman>{{cite news |last=Coleman |first=Terry |date=13 January 1989 |title=Pierre de Résistance |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/from-the-archive-blog/2015/mar/20/pierre-boulez-reviews-archive |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=3 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170104002147/https://www.theguardian.com/music/from-the-archive-blog/2015/mar/20/pierre-boulez-reviews-archive |archive-date=4 January 2017 }}</ref>

In Lyon, Boulez first heard an orchestra, saw his first operas (Mussorgsky's ''[[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' and Wagner's ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]]'')<ref>Boulez (2003), 17.</ref> and met the soprano [[Ninon Vallin]], who asked him to play for her. Impressed by his ability, she persuaded his father to allow him to apply to the [[Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon|Conservatoire de Lyon]]. He was rejected but was determined to pursue a career in music. The following year, with his sister's support in the face of opposition from his father, he studied piano and harmony privately with Lionel de Pachmann (son of the pianist [[Vladimir de Pachmann]]).<ref>Peyser (1976), 24–25; Jameux, 6–7; Heyworth (1986), 4.</ref> "Our parents were strong, but finally we were stronger than they", Boulez later said.<ref>Peyser (1976), 24.</ref> In the event, when he moved to Paris in the autumn of 1943, hoping to enroll at the [[Conservatoire de Paris]], his father accompanied him, helped him to find a room (in the [[7th arrondissement of Paris|7th arrondissement]]) and subsidised him until he could earn a living.<ref>Heyworth (1986), 4; Hill and Simeone, 139; O'Hagan, 9.</ref>

===1943–1946: Musical education===
In October 1943, Boulez auditioned unsuccessfully for the advanced piano class at the Conservatoire, but he was admitted in January 1944 to the preparatory harmony class of [[Georges Dandelot]]. He made rapid progress, and by May 1944 Dandelot was describing him as "the best of the class".<ref>O'Hagan, 13.</ref>
[[File:4 rue Beautrellis, Paris, France.jpg|alt=refer to caption|thumb|left|upright|4, [[rue Beautreillis]] in Paris, where Boulez lived from 1945 to 1958]]
Around the same time he was introduced to [[Andrée Vaurabourg]], wife of the composer [[Arthur Honegger]]. Between April 1944 and May 1946 he studied counterpoint privately with her.<ref>Heyworth (1986), 5; Archimbaud, 24.</ref> In June 1944 he approached [[Olivier Messiaen]] and asked to study harmony with him. Messiaen invited him to attend the private seminars he gave to selected students; in January 1945, Boulez joined Messiaen's advanced harmony class at the Conservatoire.<ref>Heyworth (1986), 9; Merlin, 28.</ref>

Boulez moved to two small attic rooms on [[Rue Beautreillis]] in the [[Le Marais|Marais]] district of Paris, where he lived for the next thirteen years.<ref>Barbedette, 212; Peyser, 30.</ref> In February 1945 he attended a private performance of [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]'s [[Wind Quintet (Schoenberg)|Wind Quintet]], conducted by [[René Leibowitz]], the composer and follower of Schoenberg. The strict use of [[twelve-tone technique]] in the Quintet was a revelation to Boulez, who organised a group of fellow students to take private lessons with Leibowitz. It was here that he also discovered the music of [[Anton Webern|Webern]].<ref>Peyser (1976), 32–33; Jameux, 15–16.</ref> He eventually found Leibowitz's approach too doctrinaire and broke angrily with him in 1946 when Leibowitz tried to criticise one of his early works.<ref>Samuel (2002), 24; Peyser (1976), 39; Barbedette, 212–213.</ref>

In June 1945, Boulez was one of four Conservatoire students awarded [[First Prize (music diploma)|''premier prix'']]. He was described in the examiner's report as "the most gifted—a composer".<ref>O'Hagan, 14.</ref> Although registered at the Conservatoire for the academic year 1945–46, he soon boycotted [[Simone Plé-Caussade]]'s counterpoint and fugue class, infuriated by what he described as her "lack of imagination", and organised a petition that Messiaen be given a full professorship in composition.<ref>O'Hagan, 37.</ref><ref>Peyser (1976), 31–32.</ref>{{refn|Messiaen was not appointed professor of composition until 1949.<ref>Peyser (1976), 32.</ref>|group=n}} Over the winter of 1945–46 Boulez immersed himself in [[Balinese music|Balinese]] and [[Japanese music]] and [[African drumming]] at the [[Musée Guimet]] and the [[Musée de l'Homme]] in Paris:<ref>Barbedette, 212; Boulez (2017), 96.</ref> "I almost chose the career of an [[ethnomusicologist]] because I was so fascinated by that music. It gives a different feeling of time."<ref name=Bully>{{cite news |last=Culshaw |first=Peter |date=10 December 2008 |title=Pierre Boulez: 'I was a bully, I'm not ashamed' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3702982/Pierre-Boulez-I-was-a-bully-Im-not-ashamed.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=9 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422212009/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3702982/Pierre-Boulez-I-was-a-bully-Im-not-ashamed.html |archive-date=22 April 2016 }}</ref>

===1946–1953: Early career in Paris===
[[File:Jean-Louis Barrault and Madeleine Renaud.jpg|alt=Barrault and Renaud standing in front of a poster for their company|thumb|[[Jean-Louis Barrault]] and [[Madeleine Renaud]] in 1952, by [[Carl Van Vechten]]]]
On 12 February 1946, the pianist [[Yvette Grimaud]] gave the first public performances of Boulez's music (''Douze Notations'' and ''Trois Psalmodies'') at the Concerts du Triptyque.<ref>Merlin, 36.</ref> Boulez earned money by giving maths lessons to his landlord's son.<ref name=TelegraphObituary>{{cite news|title=Pierre Boulez—obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12084616/Pierre-Boulez-obituary.html|access-date=13 April 2016|work=The Telegraph|date=6 January 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420093549/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12084616/Pierre-Boulez-obituary.html|archive-date=20 April 2016}}</ref> He also played the [[ondes Martenot]] (an early electronic instrument), improvising accompaniments to radio dramas and occasionally deputising in the pit orchestra of the [[Folies Bergère]].<ref>Boulez (2017), 165; Archimbaud, 39.</ref> In October 1946, the actor and director [[Jean-Louis Barrault]] engaged him to play the ondes for a production of ''[[Hamlet]]'' for the new company he and his wife, [[Madeleine Renaud]], had formed at the [[Théâtre Marigny]].<ref>Barrault, 161.</ref> Boulez was soon appointed music director of the Compagnie Renaud-Barrault, a post he held for nine years. He arranged and conducted incidental music, mostly by composers whose music he disliked (such as [[Darius Milhaud|Milhaud]] and [[Tchaikovsky]]), but it gave him the chance to work with professional musicians, while leaving time to compose during the day.<ref>Barbedette, 213–215; Peyser (1976), 52–53; Merlin, 37.</ref>

His involvement with the company also broadened his horizons: in 1947 they toured to Belgium and Switzerland ("absolutely ''[[Cockaigne|pays de cocagne]]'', my first discovery of the big world");<ref name=Coleman /> in 1948 they took ''Hamlet'' to the second [[Edinburgh International Festival]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eif.co.uk/news/2016/pierre-boulez-1925-2016 |title=Pierre Boulez: 1925–2016 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=7 January 2016 |website=Edinburgh International Festival |access-date=1 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729021122/http://www.eif.co.uk/news/2016/pierre-boulez-1925-2016#.WJJNwRicYUQ |archive-date=29 July 2016 }}</ref> in 1951 they gave a season of plays in London, at the invitation of [[Laurence Olivier]];<ref>Campbell and O'Hagan, 303–305.</ref> and between 1950 and 1957 there were three tours to South America and two to North America.<ref>Campbell and O'Hagan, 4–5.</ref> Much of the music he wrote for the company was lost after the occupation by students of the [[Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe|Théâtre de l'Odéon]] during the [[May 68|civil unrest in May 1968]].<ref>Boulez (2017), 68.</ref>

The period between 1947 and 1950 was one of intense compositional activity for Boulez. New works included the [[Piano sonatas (Boulez)|first two piano sonatas]] and initial versions of two cantatas on poems by [[René Char]], ''[[Le Visage nuptial]]''{{refn|The Nuptial Countenance.|group=n|name=visage}} and ''[[Le Soleil des eaux]]''.<ref>Samuel (2002), 421–22.</ref>{{refn|The Sun of the Waters,|group=n|name=soleil}} In October 1951, a substantial work for eighteen solo instruments, ''[[Polyphonie X]]'', caused a scandal at its premiere at the [[Donaueschingen Festival]], some audience members whistling and hissing during the performance.<ref>Peyser (1976), 66.</ref>

Around this time, Boulez met two composers who were to be important influences: [[John Cage]] and [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]. His friendship with Cage began in 1949 when Cage was visiting Paris. Cage introduced Boulez to two publishers ([[Heugel (music publisher)|Heugel]] and Amphion) who agreed to take his recent pieces; Boulez helped to arrange a private performance of Cage's ''[[Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano]]''.<ref>Peyser (1976), 60–61; Boulez and Cage, 41–48.</ref> When Cage returned to New York they began an intense, six-year correspondence about the future of music. Their friendship later cooled as Boulez could not accept Cage's increasing commitment to compositional procedures [[Aleatoric music|based on chance]]; he later broke off contact with him.<ref>Peyser (1976) 82–85; Di Pietro, 27–34; Boulez and Cage, 29–33.</ref> In 1952 Stockhausen arrived in Paris to study with Messiaen.<ref name="Barbedette, 214">Barbedette, 214.</ref> Although Boulez knew no German and Stockhausen no French, the rapport between them was instant: "A friend translated [and] we gesticulated wildly&nbsp;... We talked about music all the time—in a way I've never talked about it with anyone else."<ref>Peyser (1976), 76.</ref>

In July 1952, Boulez attended the [[Darmstädter Ferienkurse|International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt]] for the first time. As well as Stockhausen, Boulez was in contact there with other composers who would become significant figures in contemporary music, including [[Luciano Berio]] and [[Luigi Nono]]. Boulez quickly became one of the leaders of the post-war modernist movement in the arts. As the music critic [[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]] observed: "at all times he seemed absolutely sure of what he was doing. Amid the confusion of postwar life, with so many truths discredited, his certitude was reassuring."<ref>Ross, 360.</ref>

===1954–1959: Le Domaine musical===
[[File:Theatre Marigny - Salle Popesco.jpg|alt=refer to caption|thumb|The Salle Popesco in Paris, formerly the Petit Marigny]]

In 1954, with the financial backing of Barrault and Renaud, Boulez started a series of concerts at the Petit Marigny theatre, which became known as the [[Domaine musical]]. The concerts focused initially on three areas: pre-war classics still unfamiliar in Paris (such as [[Bela Bartók|Bartók]] and Webern), works by the new generation (Stockhausen, Nono) and neglected masters from the past ([[Machaut]], [[Carlo Gesualdo|Gesualdo]])—although the last category fell away in subsequent seasons, in part because of the difficulty of finding musicians with experience of playing early music.<ref>Jameux 61–62, 71–72; Aguila, 156.</ref> Boulez proved an energetic and accomplished administrator and the concerts were an immediate success.<ref>Heyworth (1986), 21; Jameux, 62–64; Campbell and O'Hagan, 9; Aguila, 55.</ref> They attracted musicians, painters and writers, as well as fashionable society, but they were so expensive that Boulez had to turn to wealthy patrons for support.<ref>Jameux, 65–67; Peyser (1976), 111–112.</ref>

Key events in the Domaine's history included a Webern festival (1955), the European premiere of Stravinsky's ''[[Agon (ballet)|Agon]]'' (1957) and first performances of Messiaen's ''[[Oiseaux exotiques]]'' (1955) and ''[[Sept haïkaï]]'' (1963). Boulez remained director until 1967, when Gilbert Amy succeeded him.<ref>Steinegger, 64–66; Hill and Simeone, 211 and 253.</ref>

On 18 June 1955, [[Hans Rosbaud]] conducted the first performance of Boulez's best-known work, ''[[Le Marteau sans maître]]'',{{refn|The Hammer without a Master.|group=n|name=marteau}} at the ISCM Festival in Baden-Baden. A nine-movement cycle for alto voice and instrumental ensemble based on poems by René Char,<ref name=Nichols6Jan>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/06/pierre-boulez|title=Pierre Boulez obituary|work=The Guardian|first=Roger|last=Nichols|date=6 January 2016|access-date=6 January 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106151953/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/06/pierre-boulez|archive-date=6 January 2016}}</ref> it was an immediate, international success.<ref>Jameux, 79–80.</ref> [[William Glock]] wrote: "even at a first hearing, though difficult to take in, it was so utterly new in sound, texture and feeling that it seemed to possess a mythical quality like that of Schoenberg's ''[[Pierrot lunaire]]''".<ref>Glock, 132.</ref> When Boulez conducted the work in Los Angeles in early 1957, Stravinsky attended the performance; he later described the piece as "one of the few significant works of the post-war period of exploration".<ref name=Nichols6Jan/> Boulez dined several times with the Stravinskys and (according to [[Robert Craft]]) "soon captivated the older composer with new musical ideas, and an extraordinary intelligence, quickness and humour".<ref>Walsh, 359; Heyworth (1986), 15 and 22.</ref> Relations between the two composers soured the following year over the first Paris performance of Stravinsky's ''[[Threni (Stravinsky)|Threni]]'' for the Domaine musical. Poorly planned by Boulez and nervously conducted by Stravinsky, the performance broke down more than once.<ref>Walsh, 385–387; Glock, 74.</ref>

In January 1958, the ''Improvisations sur Mallarmé (I et II)'' were premiered, forming the kernel of a piece which grew over the next four years into a large-scale, five-movement "portrait of [[Stéphane Mallarmé|Mallarmé]]", ''[[Pli selon pli]]''.{{refn|Fold upon Fold.|group=n|name=pli}} It received its premiere in Donaueschingen in October 1962.<ref>Barbedette, 216–218.</ref>

Around this time, Boulez's relations with Stockhausen deteriorated as (according to the biographer [[Joan Peyser]]) he saw the younger man supplanting him as the leader of the avant-garde.<ref>Peyser (1976), 131–137.</ref>

===1959–1971: International conducting career===
In 1959, Boulez left Paris for [[Baden-Baden]], where he had an arrangement with the [[Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra]] to work as composer-in-residence and to conduct some smaller concerts.<ref>Kenyon, 359.</ref> He also had access to an electronic studio where he could work on a new piece (''Poésie pour pouvoir'').<ref>Barbedette, 46–48.</ref>{{refn|Poetry for Power.|group=n|name=poesie}} He moved into, and eventually bought, a large hillside villa, which was his main home for the rest of his life.<ref>Peyser (1976), 145; Jameux, 114; Boulez and Cage, 224.</ref>

During this period, he turned increasingly to conducting. His first engagement as an orchestral conductor had been in 1956, when he conducted the [[Venezuela Symphony Orchestra]] while on tour with Barrault.<ref>Vermeil, 142</ref> His breakthrough came in 1959 when he replaced the ailing Hans Rosbaud at short notice in demanding programmes of twentieth-century music at the [[Aix-en-Provence Festival|Aix-en-Provence]] and Donaueschingen Festivals.<ref>Vermeil, 180–82; Boulez (2003), 4–5.</ref> This led to debuts with the [[Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra|Amsterdam Concertgebouw]], [[Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra|Bavarian Radio Symphony]] and [[Berlin Philharmonic]] orchestras.<ref>Vermeil, 182–86</ref> 
[[File:George Szell , dirigent, en Clevelandorkest op Schiphol, Bestanddeelnr 908-6780.jpg|alt=George Szell, seated, in a pin-stripe suit, gesturing with his left hand|thumb|left|[[George Szell]] in 1957]]
In 1963 Boulez conducted his first opera, Berg's ''[[Wozzeck]]'' at the [[Opéra National de Paris]], directed by Barrault. The conditions were exceptional, with thirty orchestral rehearsals instead of the usual three or four; the critical response was favourable and after the first performance the musicians rose to applaud him.<ref>Steinegger, 260–68; Peyser (1976), 170.</ref> He conducted ''Wozzeck'' again in April 1966 at the [[Oper Frankfurt]] in a new production by [[Wieland Wagner]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Weber|first=Hildegard|date=September 1966|title=The First Boulez-Wagner Production|url=http://opera.archive.netcopy.co.uk/article/september-1966/53/the-first-boulez-wagner-production|newspaper=Opera Magazine|access-date=25 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425224539/http://opera.archive.netcopy.co.uk/article/september-1966/53/the-first-boulez-wagner-production|archive-date=25 April 2016}}</ref>

Wieland Wagner had already invited Boulez to conduct Wagner's ''[[Parsifal]]'' at the [[Bayreuth Festival]] later in the season, and Boulez returned to conduct revivals in 1967, 1968 and 1970.<ref>Vermeil, 192–98.</ref> He also conducted performances of Wagner's ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' with the Bayreuth company at the Osaka Festival in Japan in 1967, but the lack of adequate rehearsal made it an experience he later said he would rather forget.<ref name=Blight/> His conducting of the new production (by [[Václav Kašlík]]) of Debussy's ''[[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|Pelléas et Mélisande]]'' at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] in 1969 was praised for its combination of "delicacy and sumptuousness".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Higgins|first1=John|title=Boulez in the Wardrobe|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/13th-december-1969/32/arts-boulez-in-the-wardrobe|access-date=27 March 2016|work=The Spectator|date=12 December 1969|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20160328115853/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/13th-december-1969/32/arts-boulez-in-the-wardrobe|archive-date=28 March 2016}}</ref>

In 1965, the [[Edinburgh International Festival]] staged the first large-scale retrospective of Boulez as composer and conductor.<ref>Campbell and O'Hagan, 327 and 332.</ref> In 1966, he proposed a reorganisation of French musical life to the minister of culture, [[André Malraux]], but Malraux instead appointed the conservative [[Marcel Landowski]] as head of music at the Ministry of Culture. Boulez expressed his fury in an article in the ''Nouvel Observateur'', announcing that he was "going on strike with regard to any aspect of official music in France".<ref>Vermeil, 144–145 (note 27).</ref>

In March 1965, Boulez had made his orchestral debut in the United States with the [[Cleveland Orchestra]].<ref>Rosenberg, 378; Boulez (2017), 58 and 194.</ref> In February 1969 he became its principal guest conductor and, on the death of [[George Szell]] in July 1970, assumed the role of music advisor for two years.<ref>Rosenberg, 402.</ref> In the 1968–69 season, he also made guest appearances in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.<ref>Vermeil, 188–95</ref>

Apart from ''Pli selon pli'', Boulez's only substantial new work to emerge in the first half of the 1960s was the final version of Book 2 of his ''Structures'' for two pianos.<ref>Samuel (2002), 425.</ref> Midway through the decade, he produced several new works, including ''[[Éclat]]'' (1965),{{refn|The French word has many meanings, including "splinter" and "burst".|group=n|name=eclat}} a short and brilliant piece for small ensemble,<ref>Griffiths (1978), 52.</ref> which by 1970 had grown into a substantial half-hour work, ''[[Éclat/Multiples]]''.<ref>Samuel (2002), 426–27</ref>

===1971–1977: London and New York===
Boulez first conducted the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] in February 1964, at [[Worthing]], accompanying [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]] in a [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] piano concerto. Boulez recalled: "It was terrible, I felt like a waiter who keeps dropping the plates."<ref>Kenyon, 317.</ref> His appearances with the orchestra over the next five years included his debuts at the [[The Proms|Proms]] and at [[Carnegie Hall]] (1965)<ref>Vermeil, 189; Glock, 106.</ref> and tours to Moscow and Leningrad, Berlin and Prague (1967).<ref>Glock, 107 and 109; Vermeil, 191.</ref> In January 1969 William Glock, controller of music at the BBC, announced his appointment as chief conductor.<ref name="Glock, 139">Glock, 139.</ref> Two months later, Boulez conducted the [[New York Philharmonic]] for the first time.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Schonberg|first1=Harold C.|title=Music: A First for Boulez|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/03/14/90066065.pdf|access-date=8 February 2016|work=The New York Times|date=14 March 1969}}</ref> His performances so impressed both orchestra and management that he was offered the chief conductorship in succession to [[Leonard Bernstein]]. Glock was dismayed and tried to persuade him that accepting the New York position would detract both from his work in London and his ability to compose but Boulez could not resist the opportunity (as Glock put it) "to reform the music-making of both these world cities" and in June the New York appointment was confirmed.<ref>Glock, 139–40.</ref>
[[File:Roger Woodward and Pierre Boulez rehearsing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra Bartok's first Piano Concerto in 1972.jpg|alt=refer to caption|thumb|left|Boulez rehearsing with the pianist [[Roger Woodward]] for a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert in 1972]]

His tenure in New York lasted between 1971 and 1977 and was not an unqualified success. The dependence on a subscription audience limited his programming. He introduced more key works from the first half of the twentieth century and, with earlier repertoire, sought out less well-known pieces.<ref>Vermeil, 54.</ref> In his first season, he conducted Liszt's ''The Legend of Saint Elizabeth'' and [[Via crucis (Liszt)|''Via Crucis'']].<ref>Vermeil, 202–203.</ref> Performances of new music were comparatively rare in the subscription series. The players admired his musicianship but regarded him as dry and unemotional compared to Bernstein, although it was widely accepted that he improved the standard of playing.<ref name="Heyworth(1986), 36">Heyworth (1986), 36.</ref> He returned on only three occasions to the orchestra in later years.<ref>Vermeil, 228 and 239.</ref>

Boulez's time with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was happier. With the resources of the BBC behind him, he could be bolder in his choice of repertoire.<ref name="Heyworth(1986), 36"/> There were occasional forays into the classical and romantic repertoire, particularly at the Proms (Beethoven's [[Missa solemnis (Beethoven)|Missa solemnis]] in 1972; the [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] ''[[A German Requiem (Brahms)|German Requiem]]'' in 1973),<ref>Vermeil, 205 and 209.</ref> but for the most part he worked intensively with the orchestra on the music of the twentieth century. He conducted works by the younger generation of British composers—such as [[Harrison Birtwistle]] and [[Peter Maxwell Davies]]—but [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]] and [[Michael Tippett|Tippett]] were absent from his programmes.<ref>Vermeil, 205, 209, 211 and 216.</ref> His relations with the musicians were generally excellent.<ref>Glock, 135; Kenyon, 391–95.</ref> He was chief conductor between 1971 and 1975, continuing as chief guest conductor until 1977. Thereafter he returned to the orchestra frequently until his last appearance in an all-[[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]] programme at a 2008 Prom.<ref>{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=18 August 2008 |title=Prom 40, BBCSO/Boulez |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/aug/18/proms.classicalmusicandopera1 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=29 March 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330085423/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/aug/18/proms.classicalmusicandopera1 |archive-date=30 March 2017 }}</ref>

In both cities, Boulez sought out venues where new music could be presented more informally: in New York he began a series of "Rug Concerts"—when the seats in [[Avery Fisher Hall]] were taken out and the audience sat on the floor—and a contemporary music series called "Prospective Encounters" in [[Greenwich Village]];<ref>Peyser (1976), 245–46; Vermeil, 150.</ref> in London he gave concerts at the [[Roundhouse (venue)|Roundhouse]], a former railway turntable shed which [[Peter Brook]] had also used for radical theatre productions. His aim was "to create a feeling that we are all, audience, players and myself, taking part in an act of exploration".<ref>Glock, 141.</ref>

In 1972, [[Wolfgang Wagner]], who had succeeded his brother Wieland as director of the Bayreuth Festival, invited Boulez to conduct the [[Jahrhundertring|1976 centenary production]] of Wagner's ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]''.<ref>Wagner, 165.</ref>{{refn|Known as the ''[[Jahrhundertring]]''.|group=n}} The director was [[Patrice Chéreau]]. Highly controversial in its first year, according to Barry Millington by the end of the run in 1980 "enthusiasm for the production vastly outweighed disapproval".<ref name=Millington>{{cite news|last1=Millington|first1=Barry|title=Patrice Chéreau and the bringing of dramatic conviction to the opera house|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/08/patrice-chereau-by-barry-millington|access-date=6 May 2018|work=The Guardian|date=8 October 2013|archive-date=13 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013051405/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/08/patrice-chereau-by-barry-millington|url-status=live}}</ref> It was televised around the world.<ref name=Kozinn />

A few new works emerged during this period, of which perhaps the most important is ''[[Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna]]'', a large-scale orchestral work, prompted by the death at a relatively young age of Boulez's friend and fellow composer.<ref>Simon (2002), 427.</ref>

===1977–1992: IRCAM===
In 1970 Boulez was asked by President [[Georges Pompidou|Pompidou]] to return to France and set up an institute specialising in musical research and creation at the arts complex—now known as the [[Centre Georges Pompidou]]—which was planned for the Beaubourg district of Paris. The [[IRCAM|Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique]] (IRCAM) opened in 1977.

Boulez's model was the [[Bauhaus]], which had been a meeting place for artists and scientists of all disciplines.<ref>Jameux, 187.</ref> IRCAM's aims included research into acoustics, instrumental design and the use of computers in music.<ref name=Nichols6Jan/> The original building was constructed underground, partly to isolate it acoustically (an above-ground extension was added later).<ref>Jameux, 175.</ref> The institution was criticised for absorbing too much state subsidy, Boulez for wielding too much power.<ref name=Nichols6Jan/> At the same time he founded the [[Ensemble intercontemporain]], a virtuoso ensemble dedicated to contemporary music.<ref>Barbedette, 219–21.</ref>

In 1979, Boulez conducted the world premiere of the three-act version of Berg's ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' at the [[Palais Garnier|Paris Opera]] in [[Friedrich Cerha]]'s completion of the work, left unfinished at Berg's death. It was directed by Chéreau.<ref name="Barbedette, 221"/> Otherwise he scaled back his conducting commitments to concentrate on IRCAM. Most of his appearances during this period were with his own Ensemble intercontemporain—including tours to the United States (1986), Australia (1988), the Soviet Union (1990) and Canada (1991)<ref>Vermeil, 228, 231, 234 and 236.</ref>—although he also renewed his links in the 1980s with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.<ref>Vermeil, 226, 230, 233.</ref>

Boulez composed significantly more during this period, producing a series of pieces which used the potential, developed at IRCAM, electronically to transform sound in real time. The first of these was ''[[Répons]]'' (1981–1984), a 40-minute work for soloists, ensemble and electronics. He also radically reworked earlier pieces, including ''Notations I-IV'', a transcription and expansion for large orchestra of tiny piano pieces (1945–1980),<ref name="Barbedette, 221">Barbedette, 221.</ref> and his cantata on poems by Char, ''Le Visage nuptial'' (1946–1989).<ref name=Visage>Samuel (2002), 421–422.</ref>

From 1976 to 1995, he held the Chair in ''Invention, technique et langage en musique'' at the [[Collège de France]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Pierre Boulez|url=http://www.college-de-france.fr/site/pierre-boulez/index.htm#content.htm|publisher=College de France|access-date=7 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213045307/http://www.college-de-france.fr/site/pierre-boulez/index.htm#content.htm|archive-date=13 February 2016}}</ref> In 1988 he made a series of six programmes for French television, ''Boulez XXe siècle'', each of which focused on a specific aspect of contemporary music (rhythm, timbre, form etc.)<ref name=FM>{{cite web|url=https://www.francemusique.fr/musique-contemporaine/pierre-boulez-biographie-complete-2768|title=Pierre Boulez: biographie complète|author=Staff|date=8 January 2016|website=France Musique|publisher=Radio France|access-date=26 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226182246/https://www.francemusique.fr/musique-contemporaine/pierre-boulez-biographie-complete-2768|archive-date=26 December 2017}}</ref>

===1992–2006: Return to conducting===
In 1992, Boulez gave up the directorship of IRCAM and was succeeded by Laurent Bayle.<ref name="Barbedette, 223">Barbedette, 223.</ref> He was composer in residence at that year's [[Salzburg Festival]].<ref>Samuel 2002, 419–20.</ref> The previous year he began a series of annual residencies with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1995 he was named principal guest conductor in Chicago, a post he held until 2005, when he became conductor emeritus.<ref>{{cite news|last=von Rhein|first=John|date=7 January 2016|title=CSO conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez dies at 90|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-pierre-boulez-dead-20160106-story.html|newspaper=The Chicago Tribune|access-date=2 May 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603093142/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-pierre-boulez-dead-20160106-story.html|archive-date=3 June 2016}}</ref> His 70th birthday in 1995 was marked by a six-month retrospective tour with the London Symphony Orchestra, taking in Paris, Vienna, New York and Tokyo.<ref>Vermeil, 242–43.</ref> In 2001 he conducted a major Bartók cycle with the Orchestre de Paris.<ref name="Barbedette, 223"/>
[[File:Boulez25oct2004.jpg|alt=refer to caption|thumb|left|Boulez at a conference at the [[Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels|Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels]] in 2004]]
This period also marked a return to the opera house, including two productions with [[Peter Stein (director)|Peter Stein]]: Debussy's ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' (1992, [[Welsh National Opera]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rockwell|first1=John|title=Boulez and Stein Stage 'Pelleas' With Modern Nuances in Wales|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/24/arts/boulez-and-stein-stage-pelleas-with-modern-nuances-in-wales.html|access-date=7 February 2016|work=The New York Times|date=24 February 1992|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213030644/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/24/arts/boulez-and-stein-stage-pelleas-with-modern-nuances-in-wales.html|archive-date=13 February 2016}}</ref> and [[Théâtre du Châtelet|Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris]]); and Schoenberg's ''[[Moses und Aron]]'' (1995, [[Dutch National Opera]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Glass|first1=Herbert|title=Schoenberg Masterpiece by Ear Only|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-10-ca-63100-story.html|access-date=7 February 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=10 November 1996|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20160207153102/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-11-10/entertainment/ca-63100_1_und-aron|archive-date=7 February 2016}}</ref> and [[Salzburg Festival]]). In 2004 and 2005 he returned to Bayreuth to conduct a controversial new production of ''Parsifal'' directed by [[Christoph Schlingensief]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Ross|first1=Alex|title=Nausea|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/08/09/nausea|access-date=7 February 2016|magazine=The New Yorker|date=9 August 2004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311175533/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/08/09/nausea|archive-date=11 March 2016}}</ref>

His two most substantial compositions from this period are ''[[...explosante-fixe...]]'' (1993), which had its origins in 1972 as a tribute to Stravinsky and which again used the electronic resources of IRCAM,<ref>Samuel (2002), 429.</ref> and ''[[sur Incises]]'' (1998), for which he was awarded the 2001 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.<ref>{{cite web|title=2001—Pierre Boulez|date=20 July 2001 |url=http://grawemeyer.org/2001-pierre-boulez/|publisher=The Grawemeyer Awards|access-date=7 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219232455/http://grawemeyer.org/2001-pierre-boulez/|archive-date=19 February 2016}}</ref>

Boulez continued to work on institutional organisation. He co-founded the [[Cité de la musique]], which opened in La Villette on the outskirts of Paris in 1995.<ref name=TelegraphObituary/> Consisting of a modular concert hall, museum and mediatheque—with the Conservatoire de Paris on an adjacent site—it became the home to the Ensemble intercontemporain and attracted a diverse audience.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Whitney|first1=Craig|title=Unruly Paris Music Scene Relishes the Eclat Of a Boulez Coup|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/13/arts/unruly-paris-music-scene-relishes-the-eclat-of-a-boulez-coup.html|access-date=10 May 2016|work=The New York Times|date=13 May 1996|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604082417/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/13/arts/unruly-paris-music-scene-relishes-the-eclat-of-a-boulez-coup.html|archive-date=4 June 2016}}</ref> In 2004, he co-founded the [[Lucerne Festival|Lucerne Festival Academy]], an orchestral institute for young musicians, dedicated to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Service|first1=Tom|author-link=Tom Service|title=A day for Boulez: moving tributes and newly composed homages at the Lucerne festival|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2015/aug/26/pierre-boulez-day-lucerne-festival-rihm-kurtag|access-date=7 February 2016|work=The Guardian|date=26 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208085809/http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2015/aug/26/pierre-boulez-day-lucerne-festival-rihm-kurtag|archive-date=8 February 2016}}</ref> For the next ten years he spent the last three weeks of summer working with young composers and conducting concerts with the Academy's orchestra.<ref>Barbedette, 224.</ref>

===2006–2016: Last years===
Boulez's last major work was ''Dérive 2'' (2006), a 45-minute piece for eleven instruments.<ref>O'Hagan, 316.</ref> He left several compositional projects unfinished, including the remaining ''Notations'' for orchestra.<ref name=Nichols6Jan/>
[[File:Boulez2008.jpg|alt=refer to caption|thumb|left|upright=.8|Boulez at the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2008 with the [[Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra|SWR Sinfonieorchester]]]]
He remained active as a conductor over the next six years. In 2007 he was re-united with Chéreau for a production of Janáček's ''[[From the House of the Dead]]'' (Theater an der Wien, Amsterdam and Aix).<ref>{{cite news | url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/operalivereviews/story/0,,2094571,00.html | title=From the House of the Dead | work=The Guardian| author=Tim Ashley | date=4 June 2007 | access-date=7 September 2007 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105101721/http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/operalivereviews/story/0,,2094571,00.html | archive-date=5 January 2008 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> In April that year, as part of the Festtage in Berlin, Boulez and [[Daniel Barenboim]] gave a cycle of the [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]] symphonies with the [[Staatskapelle Berlin]], which they repeated two years later at Carnegie Hall.<ref>{{cite news|last=Oestreich|first=James|author-link=James Oestreich|date=7 May 2009|title=Wagner Masters Offer Mahler Cycle|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/arts/music/08staa.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=7 May 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226235338/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/arts/music/08staa.html |archive-date=26 December 2017}}</ref> In late 2007 the Orchestre de Paris and the Ensemble intercontemporain presented a retrospective of Boulez's music<ref>{{cite news |last=Machart|first=Renaud |author-link = Renaud Machart |date=29 November 2011 |title=L'oeil vif et le geste précis de Pierre Boulez|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2007/11/29/musique-l-oeil-vif-et-le-geste-precis-de-pierre-boulez_983955_3246.html|newspaper=[[Le Monde]] |location=Paris|access-date=1 August 2016}}</ref> and in 2008 the [[Louvre]] mounted the exhibition ''Pierre Boulez, Œuvre: fragment''.<ref name=FM />

His appearances became more infrequent after an eye operation in 2010 left him with severely impaired sight. Other health problems included a shoulder injury resulting from a fall.<ref name="WQXR">[http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/310993-pierre-boulez-breaks-his-shoulder-cancels-lucerne/ WQXR Staff, "Pierre Boulez Breaks His Shoulder, Cancels in Lucerne"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051111091533/http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=madaboutmusic%2Fmam010204.ra |date=11 November 2005 }}, 6 August 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2016.</ref> In late 2011, when he was already quite frail,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hewett|first1=Ivan|title=Exquisite Labyrinth: the music of Pierre Boulez, Southbank Centre, review|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalconcertreviews/8805832/Exquisite-Labyrinth-the-music-of-Pierre-Boulez-Southbank-Centre-review.html|access-date=27 March 2016|work=The Telegraph|date=4 October 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410153105/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalconcertreviews/8805832/Exquisite-Labyrinth-the-music-of-Pierre-Boulez-Southbank-Centre-review.html|archive-date=10 April 2016}}</ref> he led the combined Ensemble intercontemporain and Lucerne Festival Academy, with the soprano [[Barbara Hannigan]], in a tour of six European cities of his own ''Pli selon pli''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pierre Boulez: ''Pli selon pli''|url=http://www.barbarahannigan.com/press/boulez-reviews|publisher=Barbara Hannigan|access-date=26 March 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406204042/http://www.barbarahannigan.com/press/boulez-reviews/|archive-date=6 April 2016}}</ref> His final appearance as a conductor was in Salzburg on 28 January 2012 with the [[Vienna Philharmonic]] Orchestra and [[Mitsuko Uchida]] in a programme of Schoenberg (''[[Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene]]'' and the [[Piano Concerto (Schoenberg)|Piano Concerto]]), Mozart (Piano Concerto No.19 in F major K459) and Stravinsky (''[[Pulcinella (ballet)#Pulcinella Suite|Pulcinella Suite]]'').<ref>{{cite web|title=Salzburg Mozartwoche Programme 2012|url=http://www.mozarteum.at/assets/files/Mozartwoche2012.pdf|publisher=Salzburger Festspiele|access-date=25 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120822064647/http://www.mozarteum.at/assets/files/Mozartwoche2012.pdf|archive-date=22 August 2012}}</ref> Thereafter he cancelled all conducting engagements.

In mid-2012 Boulez was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease, probably a form of [[Parkinson's disease|Parkinson's]].<ref>Merlin, 548.</ref> Later that year, he worked with the Diotima Quartet, making final revisions to his only string quartet, ''[[Livre pour quatuor]]'', begun in 1948.<ref>{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=11 May 2016 |title=Boulez: Livre pour Quatuor 'Révisé' CD review—rapturous beauty from the Diotimas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/boulez-livre-pour-quatuor-revise-cd-review-quatuor-diotima-megadisc-classics-classical-music |newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=12 May 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512110247/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/boulez-livre-pour-quatuor-revise-cd-review-quatuor-diotima-megadisc-classics-classical-music |archive-date=12 May 2016 }}</ref> In 2013 he oversaw the release on [[Deutsche Grammophon]] of ''Pierre Boulez: Complete Works'', a 13-CD survey of all his authorised compositions. He made his last public appearance on 30 May 2013 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, discussing Stravinsky with Robert Piencikowski, to mark the centenary of the premiere of ''The Rite of Spring''.<ref>Merlin, 549.</ref> 

From 2014 he scarcely left his home in Baden-Baden.<ref>Merlin, 548–9.</ref> His health prevented him from taking part in the many celebrations held across the world for his 90th birthday in 2015, which included a multi-media exhibition at the [[Musée de la Musique]] in Paris, focusing on the inspiration he had drawn from literature and the visual arts.<ref>Barbedette, 12–13.</ref>
[[File:Baden-Baden-Hauptfriedhof-25-Grabmal Boulez-2016-gje.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Boulez's grave in Baden-Baden, 28 November 2016|alt=tombstone bearing Boulez's name and dates]]

Boulez died at home on 5 January 2016.<ref>Merlin, 548–9 and 552.</ref> He was buried on 13 January in Baden-Baden's main cemetery following a private funeral service at the town's Stiftskirche. At a memorial service the next day at the [[Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Saint-Sulpice]] in Paris, eulogists included Barenboim, [[Renzo Piano]], and Laurent Bayle, then president of the [[Philharmonie de Paris]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roux|first1=Marie-Aude|title=Pierre Boulez, inhumé à Baden-Baden, célébré à Saint-Sulpice|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/musiques/article/2016/01/15/pierre-boulez-inhume-a-baden-baden-celebre-a-saint-sulpice_4847798_1654986.html|access-date=15 January 2016|work=Le Monde|date=15 January 2016|language=fr|archive-date=26 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626200032/https://www.lemonde.fr/musiques/article/2016/01/15/pierre-boulez-inhume-a-baden-baden-celebre-a-saint-sulpice_4847798_1654986.html|url-status=live}}</ref> whose large concert hall had been inaugurated the previous year, thanks in part to Boulez's influence.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roux|first1=Marie-Aude|title=La Philharmonie de Paris a inauguré la grande salle Pierre Boulez|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/musiques/article/2016/10/26/pierre-boulez-donne-son-nom-a-la-salle-de-concerts-de-la-philharmonie_5020496_1654986.html|access-date=10 May 2018|work=[[Le Monde]]|date=26 October 2016| language=fr}}</ref>