A journey into Henri Pousseur's archives.
"Over 15 years ago, the Basel-based Fondation Paul Sacher, which preserves archives related to 20th century music, sent its best expert, musicologist Dr. Albi Rosenthal, to Henri Pousseur's home. Upon finding out the scope of documents Pousseur had kept, the musical antiquarian's eyes almost POPPED OUT! Pousseur's past, present and future archives are all donated to the Foundation: magnetic tapes, scores, correspondence, along with his most complex research work, the most obscure sound materials, the most random memos. For the fourth time, Henri leads the convoy en route to BaselŠ This film tells the tale of this last journey."
The Belgian composer Henri Pousseur (born 1929 in Malmédy) studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1953. He was closely associated with Pierre Froidebise and André Souris. He encountered Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio and thereafter devoted himself to avant-garde research. Beginning around 1960, he collaborated with
Michel Butor on a number of projects, most notably the opera
Votre Faust (1961-68). Pousseur has taught in Cologne, Basel, and in the United States at SUNY Buffalo, as well as in his native Belgium. From 1970 until his retirement in 1988 he taught at the University and Conservatory of Liège where he also founded the Centre de recherches et de formation musicales de Wallonie.
See also:
Marianne Pousseur;
Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles.
