An Expanding Universe

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 10 combines a discussion of Boulez’s rise as a conductor with a consideration of several unpublished works. Both have major ramifications for his creative process. In “Becoming Bourgeois (and a Conductor),” Boulez’s activities as music director, conductor, and administrator have a profound impact on his approach to composition, including his aesthetics and experimentalism. His activities and later reflections highlight how quickly he converted knowledge from the podium into his practices as a composer. This prepares a discussion of several key unpublished manuscripts. In partial reaction to his increasingly busy schedule, Boulez’s reliance on revision—and now, overt transcription—increased significantly. Several unpublished works connecting back to 1955 highlight the continual presence of self-borrowing in Boulez’s oeuvre as a complement to serialism and his blocs sonores. More than any other phase, this path of experimentation synthesizes Boulez as a musician—composer, conductor, arranger, collaborator—in ways that epitomize his formative period.