Editing Pierre Boulez (section)

===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>