jacues ibert

(b paris, 15 aug 1890; d paris, 5 feb 1962). french composer. his father was in the export trade, and his mother was a gifted pianist who had studied with marmontel and le couppey, both teachers at the paris conservatoire. she used to play chopin, bach and mozart, musicians for whom her son retained a particular liking. ibert began learning the violin at the age of four, and then took piano lessons from marie dhéré (1867–1950), who came to occupy a special position in his life. it was through her that he was introduced to the veber family, into which he later married. after obtaining his baccalaureat, ibert decided to devote himself to composition, but he also had to earn a living by giving lessons, accompanying singers and writing programme notes. he became a cinema pianist and also began composing songs, some of which were published under the pseudonym william berty. he joined emile pessard’s harmony class at the paris conservatoire in 1910, went on to gédalge’s counterpoint class in 1912, and then studied composition with paul vidal in 1913. gédalge was the most significant influence in his three years of training; ibert described him as ‘an adviser, a confidant and a very good friend’. while gédalge’s teaching activities at the conservatoire were confined to counterpoint, he also advised his pupils on orchestration and organized a private class for the best of them. it was in that class that ibert met honegger and milhaud.

ibert was not a member of les six, a group in any case united more by the random remarks of critics than by any real aesthetic affinity. even had he wished to join them, his circumstances would have made it difficult, since first the war and then the award of the prix de rome kept him away from paris. during world war i he was first a nurse and stretcher-bearer at the front, then a naval officer stationed at dunkirk. that he won first prize in the prix de rome at his first attempt in 1919 was therefore a remarkable achievement after the four years of enforced interruption to his musical activities. ibert now launched his career as a composer with the support of his wife rosette, a sculptor, who was the daughter of the painter jean veber and the sister of michel veber, active as a writer and librettist under the pseudonym nino.

the first public concert of works by ibert was given at the concerts colonne on 22 october 1922, with pierné conducting la ballade de la geôle de reading. ibert’s success was reinforced on 6 january 1924 when paray conducted his escales with the lamoureux orchestra. these two works quickly made ibert known to a large public both in france and abroad. on the advice of his publisher alphonse leduc, he wrote two collections for piano, histoires and les rencontres, and they too helped to establish him. the first work of ibert’s to be given at the opéra, in 1925, was the ballet from the second of these piano works, les rencontres. the success in 1927 of his opéra-bouffe angélique finally confirmed his status as one of the best-known composers of his generation.

ibert also contributed to musical life by sitting on professional committees and conducting his own works both in france and abroad. in 1937 the government made him director of the académie de france at the villa medici, an appointment that caused controversy in the press, since traditionally candidates were chosen from members of the institut de france. appointed to this eminent position, however, ibert threw himself wholeheartedly into his administrative role and proved an excellent ambassador of french culture in italy, supported admirably by his wife. although travelling between paris and rome often caused him inconvenience and fatigue, ibert loved the villa medici and felt happy in its atmosphere of calm. he held the post of director until the end of 1960, apart from an interruption during world war ii. the war was an especially difficult period for ibert. in 1940 the vichy government banned his music and he was forced to take refuge in antibes, southern france, where he continued to compose, producing works such as the string quartet andle songe d’une nuit d’été. after several months in switzerland (1942–3) he returned to france, and lived in the haute-savoie until august 1944, when general de gaulle recalled him to paris. in 1955 ibert accepted an appointment as administrator of the réunion des théâtres lyriques nationaux, which put him in charge of both the opéra and the opéra-comique. after less than a year, however, serious health problems forced him to resign. two months later he was elected to the académie des beaux-arts to fill the vacancy left by the death of ropartz.

ibert’s music embraces a remarkable variety of genres as well as a considerable diversity of mood. his music can be festive and gay (as in the well-known divertissement from his music for un chapeau de paille d’italie), lyrical and inspired, or descriptive and evocative (as in the orchestral escales), often tinged with gentle humour. neither atonal nor serial, and very rarely polytonal, all the elements of his musical language bar that of harmony relate closely to the classical tradition. he makes regular use of chords of the 9th, 11th and 13th, altered and added-note chords; his modernity is also apparent in the contrapuntal writing that is the motor element in many of his works, though the sense of a tonal centre is preserved through the use of traditional cadential formulae. evidence of the influence of other composers, even quotations, are found right across his output: the debussian imprint inpersée et andromède, the homage to dukas in la ballade de la geôle de reading, his admiration for roussel in the ouverture de fête and the bartók quotation in the symphonie concertante. but the blend of tenderness and irony, lyricism and the burlesque are characteristics distinctly his own.

dramatic works form a significant part of ibert’s output. he contributed enthusiastically to film music in its early years and to the development of broadcast music. attracted by the theatre, he wrote seven ballets, two of which, diane de poitiers and le chevalier errant, were collaborations with ida rubinstein; five of his symphonic works were also adapted for dance. he composed six operas, two of them in collaboration with his friend honegger. in angélique, the second of two works for which ibert’s brother-in-law nino provided the libretto, he sought to renew the genre of opéra-bouffe; like others of his contemporaries, such as poulenc, milhaud and sauguet, ibert looked to the example of chabrier in an attempt to revive the french virtues of clean-cut melody, clear tonality, transparent textures and freshness of inspiration. with l’aiglon, his first honegger collaboration, ibert demonstrated his ability to judge the spirit of the time. composed when france was governed by the popular front, the opera’s style proved both accessible enough not to deter a broad public, and at the same time sophisticated enough not to disappoint the admirers of the two composers, both of whom drew on the full resources of their technique.

ibert was drawn to the mélodie early in his career. most of his essays in the genre were composed in the decade between 1920 and 1930; thereafter he tended to compose songs only as part of operatic, theatrical, cinematic or radio works. he was equally adept at writing for solo instruments. he composed over 30 pieces for piano, as well as works for flute, harp, guitar, violin, cello, bassoon, trumpet and saxophone. his string quartet has had several recordings, and is often performed alongside the quartets of debussy and ravel. it was for the orchestra, however, in works such as the three concertos, two symphonies (one unfinished) and eight symphonic movements, that he reserved the best of his creative inspiration. here his writing is always brilliant and assured, his concise and sharply-etched style marked by clarity of form and sureness of balance. his orchestration is always transparent and avoids undue complexity, showing a good understanding of instrumental possibilities.

ibert’s articles and interviews provided an outlet for his views on the present and future state of music in france. in particular, he defended film music, criticizing the difficult working conditions suffered by composers. he stated his position on the uncertain future of opera both as a genre and as an institution. his ideas, like his music, display the same libertarian tendency that kept him from subscribing to aesthetic movements of any kind. the honesty and courage of his views allowed him, at one and the same time, to admire the works of wagner, appreciate the creative force of schoenberg and take an interest in the innovations of musique concrète, which the sound effects in his incidental music for don quichotte(suggesting the creaking of windmill sails and the noise of battle) might be held to anticipate