Clostre, Adrienne(b Thomery, 9 Oct 1921). French composer. She
studied at the Paris Conservatoire,where her teachers included Yves
Nat for piano, Messiaen for analysis and aesthetics,and Milhaud and
Jean Rivier for composition. She was awarded the Prix de Rome
forher cantata La rsurrection de Lazare in 1949, since when she has
dedicated herselfexclusively to composition, winning the Grand Prix
Musical de la Ville de Paris in 1955and the Prix Florence Gould in
1976, as well as the Grand Prix de la Musique of theSocit des
Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques in 1987.Clostre has found her
inspiration above all in extra-musical sources visual and,
moreespecially, literary and composing for the theatre has
naturally become her preferredmedium. She has endeavoured to go
beyond narrative to produce a kind of theatre ofthe soul, in which
dramatic action is transcended in favour of a musical
trans-figurationof the inner, metaphysical quest of the characters.
Many of her librettos drawn onpersonal diaries and private letters.
A technique essential to achieving the necessarysincerity of
expression, and one already evident in La rsurrection de Lazare,
has beenthe gradual replacement of the normal vocal line by
declamation and the spoken word;this development began to blossom
in Nietzsche (19725) and found its culmination inL'albatros
(19868).Clostre's musical language, generally atonal but free from
any rigid system, reliesprimarily on melody and rhythm; her formal
structures of juxtaposed sequences favour acontrasting and
ever-changing compositional style. Though her music is
constantlyevolving, there are nevertheless occasional moments of
respite in the form of chorales,where all the harmonic ideas are
concentrated, as if to stop time momentarily. Clostreshowed herself
to be ahead of her time when in 1970 she introduced into her
OboeConcerto (1970) quarter-tones, multiphonics and multiple
trills, instrumental techniquesthat were then barely known in
France. Her latest works have tended towards anincreasingly austere
style.WORKS(selective list)Stage: Le chant du cygne (chbr op, 1, A.
Clostre, after A.P. Chekhov), 1960; Julienl'apostat (drame lyrique,
8 scenes, Clostre, after H. Ibsen), 1970; Nietzsche
(actionMusicale, 12 scenes, after F. Nietzsche), 19725; 5 scnes de
la vie italienne(Clostre), 1980; Le secret (lecture musicale, S.
Kierkegaard), 1981; Romans, 1983;L'albatros (action dramatique, 9
scenes, Clostre, after C.P. Baudelaire), 19868;Annapurna (action
musicale, 7 scenes, Clostre, after M. Herzog), 1988Other dramatic
and vocal: Tre fioretti di San Francesco d'Assisi, chbr cant., 6vv,
10insts, 1953; El tigre de oro y sombro, (lecture musicale, J.L.
Borges), S, a fl, perc,celtic hp, 1979; Dans la nuit ... le pote
(dramatic cant., F. Hlderlin), S, fl, vn, pf,tape, 1984; Froid
comme le mtal ... brulant comme la passion (dramatic cant., H.von
Kleist), S, Mez, fl, vc, pf, tape, 1989; Peinture et libert,
radiophonic melodrama(J. Michelet and J.L. David), nar, inst ens,
tape, 1989; Fantaisie la manire deCallot (dramatic cant. E.T.A.
Hoffmann), Mez, vn, 1990; L'criture du Dieu,melodrama (Borges),
nar, inst ens, 1991; Le Zare, sung melodrama (Borges), Bar,recorded
music, tape, 1992Orch: Sym., str, 1949, rev. 1962; Concert pour le
souper du roi Louis II, 1957;Conc., ob, chbr orch, 1970; Conc., fl,
vn, chbr orch, 1972Chbr and solo inst: 6 dialogues, ob, 1972;
Permutations, tpt, ob, va, trbn, 1972;Feux d'artifice pour le 111me
anniversaire de Bilbo, 8 variations, pf, 1976; Premierlivre des
rois, sonata, org, 1980; Brother Blue, celtic hp, perc, 1981;
Variationsitaliennes, 4 interludes, pf, 1981; La reine de Saba,
fresque musicale, org, perc,1990; Sun (lecture de Virginia Woolf
par le quatuor cordes), str qt, 1991; Waves(lecture au piano de
Virginia Woolf), pf, 1991Principal publishers: Billaudot, Choudens,
Editions Transatlantiques
