André Boucourechliev facts for kids
André Boucourechliev (born July 28, 1925 – died November 13, 1997) was a French composer who had Bulgarian roots. A composer is someone who writes music.
André was born in Sofia, which is the capital city of Bulgaria. He studied piano at the Conservatory there, which is a special school for music. Later, he moved to Paris, France, and continued his studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He even taught piano there!
He started writing his own music around 1954. He learned a lot by going to famous music workshops in Darmstadt, Germany. To get even better at composing, he went to Milan, Italy, to learn from well-known composers like Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna.
His Piano Sonata (a long piece for piano) became very successful in 1959. He also created music where the performers could make their own choices, making each performance a bit different. After this, he visited America and met famous artists like John Cage (another composer), Merce Cunningham (a dancer), and Robert Rauschenberg (a painter).
His ideas about giving performers freedom really shone in his work called Archipels (created between 1967 and 1971). Many of his later musical pieces continued to explore and expand on these exciting ideas. André Boucourechliev passed away in Paris in 1997 when he was 72 years old.
Awards and Honours
André Boucourechliev received several important awards for his contributions to music:
- Grand Prix Musical de la Ville de Paris in 1976. This is a major music award from the city of Paris.
- Grand Prix National de la Musique in 1984. This is a national music award in France.
- Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. This is a special honour given by the French government for contributions to arts and literature.
- Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. This is one of the highest honours in France.
Writings
André Boucourechliev also wrote several books, mostly about music and famous composers:
- Schumann, published in 1956 (French), 1959 (English), and 2010 (Bulgarian).
- Chopin: eine Bildbiographie, published in 1962 (German) and 1963 (English).
- Beethoven, published in 1963 (French).
- Stravinsky, published in 1982 (French) and 1987 (English).
- Essai sur Beethoven, published in 1991.
- Le langage musical (The Musical Language), published in 1993.
- Dire la musique (To Speak Music), published in 1995.
- Regards sur Chopin (Views on Chopin), published in 1996 (French) and 2010 (Bulgarian).
- Debussy. La révolution subtile (Debussy. The Subtle Revolution), published in 1998 (French).
See Also
In Spanish: André Boucourechliev para niños
