Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

[North Star]

I like conductors whose names I can pronounce

Just kidding I love Celibidache as well!

[serdžu tšelibida´ke]

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

[serdžu tšelibida´ke]

Now I can add him to my list of conductors whose names I can pronounce

[André]

Don't worry, Jay. The pronunciation of names can be very different from one case to the other. Not like nouns or articles, where there is a good grounding in some standard rules. Like nez (nose) which pronounces nay. Don't extend syllables in French, it's totally different from English, especially the English (UK) type, where last syllables are commonly lingered on  (I just listened to 50 minutes of rehearsals from the War Requiem (with Britten)  and that was quite interesting).

When it comes to names it's better to check locally if you can. For example, Baugnez (a town) is pronounced Bôôgnay (long bôô, short gnay). Whereas 'gagnez' (the verb 'you win') is pronounced gâniay (medium-short) or ganiay (short-short). I hink Boulez is an exception of sorts 

When in doubt, don't hesitate to ask. French is a d... difficult language  and locals are always delighted to help.         

[SimonNZ]

I might be misremembering this but I seem to recall reading somewhere that at the start of his career Boulez had to correct even French announcers and interviewers on the correct pronounciation of his name, it being a regional peculiarity.

[Jay F]

Don't worry, Jay. The pronunciation of names can be very different from one case to the other. Not like nouns or articles, where there is a good grounding in some standard rules. Like nez (nose) which pronounces nay. Don't extend syllables in French, it's totally different from English, especially the English (UK) type, where last syllables are commonly lingered on  (I just listened to 50 minutes of rehearsals from the War Requiem (with Britten)  and that was quite interesting).

When it comes to names it's better to check locally if you can. For example, Baugnez (a town) is pronounced Bôôgnay (long bôô, short gnay). Whereas 'gagnez' (the verb 'you win') is pronounced gâniay (medium-short) or ganiay (short-short). I hink Boulez is an exception of sorts 

When in doubt, don't hesitate to ask. French is a d... difficult language  and locals are always delighted to help.         

Merci, Andre.

[André]

I might be misremembering this but I seem to recall reading somewhere that at the start of his career Boulez had to correct even French announcers and interviewers on the correct pronounciation of his name, it being a regional peculiarity.

You may well be right. I think Savoyards and Swiss pronounce names ending in 'az' and 'oz' with a mute z. IOW they don't pronounce it. De Gaulle used to muse that you couldn't rule a country with 5000 different types of cheese. Just think: every cheese is from a different 'terroir', with all that implies geographically, agriculturally, and phonetically  .

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I might be misremembering this but I seem to recall reading somewhere that at the start of his career Boulez had to correct even French announcers and interviewers on the correct pronounciation of his name, it being a regional peculiarity.

So I guess he does have something in common with "Rafe" Vaughan Williams.

[Joaquimhock]

Can't explain it off the top of my head, but it may be a regionalism typical of the central area of France where B. was born. Cf. Berlioz, whose name is also pronounced with the Z and who was born close to Boulez's home town of Montbrison.

Ez is pronoucend "é" at the end of verbs, second-person plural (vous avez, vous mangez et.) For family names there is not always rules... It's a habit.

Out off topic, as mentionned above, I've never understood the difference of pronouciation in English between Ralph Vaughan Williams http://fr.forvo.com/word/ralph_vaughan_williams/#en and Ralph Lauren http://fr.forvo.com/word/ralph_lauren/#en  for instance...

[lescamil]

Something applicable to the conversation:

http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~wedgwood/framesetpronunciation.html

[not edward]

Can't explain it off the top of my head, but it may be a regionalism typical of the central area of France where B. was born. Cf. Berlioz, whose name is also pronounced with the Z and who was born close to Boulez's home town of Montbrison.

I'm late to the party again but I seem to remember that he was asked about this once at an Edinburgh Festival Q&A and he said it was a regional variation (and he mentioned Berlioz as another example of it).

[snyprrr]

THE END MUST BE NEAR for B if this is the topic of discussion on the Thread, lol!!!

[knight66]

How right you are. Odd that in contrast, no one here cared whilst he was alive.

Anyway, more substantively here are some of the wise sayings or Chairman Boulez.

  ^{http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/26/boulez-in-his-own-words}   

Imagine if he had his radical Taliban way and what we were left with was him.

Mike

[Karl Henning]

je suis mixeur

[knight66]

Indeed.

[Marsch MacFiercesome]

I wouldn't often respond to one of these posts made by you...but seriously? What the hell? Do you not even understand what Boulez is saying when Boulez's words are there in plain English? Just reminding you that if you show that you understand Boulez's conversation about functional architecture then Simon, I and others probably wouldn't even be finding it somewhat embarrassing to read this thread....which has gone completely off topic anyway. :/

AND I find it extraordinarily disrespectful to both people who have recently died. Pleeeeeeease move this conversation to the Boulez thread! Currently there is nothing really interesting going on over there. It's just a conversation as to the pronunciation of the Z in his name!

The only architectural flair I see is in Boulez's nostrils.

There's nothing "functional" about blowing up existing opera houses and museums, unless of course one's a partisan of lost causes like Italian Futurism and Fascism.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Here's a compilation of lovely quotes http://ronsen.org/boulez/boulez5.html

[knight66]

Very enjoyable, a bit of a savaging. Only time will tell I guess.

Mike

[North Star]

[Boulez] came to give a composer's workshop at the Conservatoire I studied at. I was pleasantly surprised by him.
The first question to him (asked by me) was: "You have been quoted as saying that the idea of a great English composer is a genetic impossibility, are we wasting our time?"

Hilarity and applause ensued. " The only time you seem to be wasting" Boulez replied " is in reading my old interviews."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R203R8J6GZMFD0/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

As a huge Boulez fan, reading those quotes are stomach-churningly enjoyable!

[Karl Henning]

Boulez fandom is a mixed bag, innit?