Gilles Tremblay
Encyclopedia
Gilles Tremblay, is a Canadian
composer. He studied at the Conservatories of Montreal
and Paris
(1954–61), where his teachers including Olivier Messiaen
(analysis), Yvonne Loriod
(piano), and Maurice Martenot
(ondes Martenot
). He also attended Stockhausen
's summer courses at Darmstadt
, where he became interested in electro-acoustic techniques. Since 1962 he has taught composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Among his notable pupils are Serge Arcuri, Raynald Arseneault
, Yves Daoust
, François Dompierre, Marc Hyland, Ramon Lazkano
, Robin Minard
, Éric Morin
, Silvio Palmieri, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux
, André Villeneuve
and Claude Vivier
.
Early in his career he performed as a specialist on the ondes Martenot (Orton and Davies 2001).
In 1991, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
composer. He studied at the Conservatories of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1954–61), where his teachers including Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
(analysis), Yvonne Loriod
Yvonne Loriod
Yvonne Loriod was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod.-Life:...
(piano), and Maurice Martenot
Maurice Martenot
Maurice Martenot was a French cellist, a radio telegrapher during the first World War, and an inventor.Born in Paris, he is best known for his invention of the ondes Martenot, an instrument he first realized in 1928 and spent decades improving. He unveiled a microtonal model in 1938...
(ondes Martenot
Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
). He also attended Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
's summer courses at Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, where he became interested in electro-acoustic techniques. Since 1962 he has taught composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Among his notable pupils are Serge Arcuri, Raynald Arseneault
Raynald Arseneault
Raynald Arseneault was a Canadian composer and organist. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists of more than 50 works. His style was particularly influenced by Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Giacinto Scelsi; both of whom he met with in Europe during the 1970s...
, Yves Daoust
Yves Daoust
Yves Daoust is a Canadian composer who is particularly known for his works of electroacoustic music. He currently resides in Montréal.-Life:...
, François Dompierre, Marc Hyland, Ramon Lazkano
Ramon Lazkano
Ramon Lazkano is a contemporary Spanish Basque composer of classical music.-Career:Ramon Lazkano attended piano and composition classes at the San Sebastián Higher Conservatory of Music, where he obtained a Higher Degree in Composition...
, Robin Minard
Robin Minard
- Biography :Minard was born in Montreal, Canada. He began his studies of composition at the University of Ontario, then at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, studying under Gilles Tremblay. He then continued his studies with John Rea at McGill University. He was a member of the...
, Éric Morin
Éric Morin
Éric Morin is a Canadian composer. He has been awarded several prizes for his compositions, including the 2003 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his D'un Château l'autre and the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers which he won twice...
, Silvio Palmieri, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux
Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux
Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux was a Canadian composer and music educator who played an important role in the contemporary classical music scene of Canada and France from the late 1960s through the mid 1980s...
, André Villeneuve
André Villeneuve
André Villeneuve is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec, who was elected to represent the riding of Berthier in the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2008 provincial election...
and Claude Vivier
Claude Vivier
-Biography:Born to unknown parents in Montreal, Vivier was adopted at the age of three by a poor French-Canadian family. From the age of thirteen, he attended boarding schools run by the Marist Brothers, a religious order that prepared young boys for a vocation in the priesthood. At the age of...
.
Early in his career he performed as a specialist on the ondes Martenot (Orton and Davies 2001).
In 1991, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
.
Compositions (selective list)
- Champs I, for piano and 2 percussionists (1965)
- Cantique de durées, for seven groups of instruments (1960)
- Sonorisation du Pavillion du Québec, 24-channel electronic music (1967)
- Souffles (Champs II), for 2 flutes, oboe, clarinet, horn, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, piano, 2 percussionists, and contrabass (1968)
- Vers (Champs III), for 2 flutes, clarinet, trumpet, horn, 3 percussionists, 3 violins, and contrabass (1969)
- Jeux de solstices, for orchestra (1974)
- Oralléluiants, for soprano, bass clarinet, horn, 2 percussionists, and 3 contrabasses (1975)
- Fleuves, for piano, percussion, and orchestra (1976)
- Vers le soleil, for orchestra (1978)
- Le Signe du lion, for horn and tam-tam (1981)
- Triojubilus "À Raphaël", for flute, harp, and cowbells (1985)
- Les Vêpres de la Vierge, for soprano and orchestra (1986)
- Musique du feu, for piano and orchestra (1991)
- L’arbre de Borobudur, for horn, 2 harps, double bass, ondes Martenot, 2 percussionists, and gamelan ensemble (1994)
- L’espace du coeur (Miron-Machaut), for mixed voices and percussion (1997)
- Les pierres crieront, for cello and large orchestra (1998)
- A quelle heure commence le temps?, for baritone, percussion, piano, and orchestra (1999)
- L’appel de Kondiaronk: symphonie portuaire, environmental work for battle sirens and 2 locomotives (2000)
- String Quartet ‘Croissant’ (2001)
- En partage (Concerto), for viola and orchestra (2002)
- Opéra Féerie, (2009)
Writings
- 1968. "Note pour Cantique de durées." Revue d'esthetique 21, nos. 2–4 ("Musiques nouvelles"): 51–58.
Sources
- Mather, Bruce. 2001. "Gilles Tremblay". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley SadieStanley SadieStanley Sadie CBE was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which was published as the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie was educated at St Paul's School,...
and John TyrrellJohn Tyrrell (professor of music)John Tyrrell was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1942. He studied at the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Brno. In 2000 he was appointed Research Professor at Cardiff University....
. London: Macmillan Publishers. - Orton, Richard, and Hugh Davies. 2001. "Ondes martenot". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley SadieStanley SadieStanley Sadie CBE was a leading British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , which was published as the first edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.Sadie was educated at St Paul's School,...
and John TyrrellJohn Tyrrell (professor of music)John Tyrrell was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in 1942. He studied at the universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Brno. In 2000 he was appointed Research Professor at Cardiff University....
. London: Macmillan Publishers. - Peyser, Joan. 1976Joan PeyserJoan Peyser was an American musicologist and writer, particularly known for her writing on 20th century music and for her biographies of George Gershwin, Pierre Boulez, and Leonard Bernstein...
. Boulez: Composer, Conductor, Enigma. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028717007; London: Cassell. ISBN 0304299014 - Villeneuve, André. 2001. "Souffles (Champs II, the Mobile, and the Musical Language of Gilles Tremblay." Ex tempore 10, no. 2 (Spring-Summer): 58–147.
External links
- Gilles Tremblay at The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
- The Living Composers Project