Editing Pascal Dusapin (section)

==Notable works==

===''Musique captive'' (1980) and ''Musique fugitive'' (1980)===
Two of Dusapin's earlier works composed in the same year, ''Musique captive'' (1980) and ''Musique fugitive'' (1980), might be studied together in that they are both unstable and aim to avoid any sort of repetition. At the same time, however, the pieces go about achieving these goals in two very different ways. ''Musique captive'' is written for nine wind instruments (piccolo, oboe, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, contrabassoon, two trumpets, and bass trombone) and lasts just three minutes, for, as Stoïnova suggests, the tension and high demands on the performers are such that the piece could not last any longer.<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 186"/> Stoïnova further describes the piece as internally destroying itself, writing, "The musical ideas of this piece—tremolo textures, a rising chromatic figure, violent crescendi, an expanding mass of detail etc.—destroy each other or to be more exact annihilate each other."<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 189">Stoïnova, "Febrile Music", 189.</ref> Dusapin thus throws many musical ideas together, a concept that Pace relates to free jazz.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The resulting music is highly unstable and simply cannot endure longer than its three-minute duration. The piece was first performed in July 1981 in La Rochelle, France.

''Musique fugitive'', on the other hand, achieves its instability through musical "ruptures."<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 188"/> Written for string trio, the piece avoids the traditional process of statement and variation, thus breaking away from any sense of unity and continuity. Dusapin achieves this effect by stating one idea, then abruptly changing course through either sudden silence or the introduction of a new musical progression.<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 189"/> Premiered in Aix-en-Provence, France, in June 1980, ''Musique fugitive'', Pugin claims, has become "virtually a repertoire piece in France."<ref>Pugin, "New Intimacy in French Music", 20.</ref> The Arditti String Quartet recording of the piece can be heard on [[Spotify]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://open.spotify.com/track/5BLpGQNmyRIqrCokhkfMAW|title=String Trio, "Musique Fugitive"|website=[[Spotify]]|date=1 April 2013}}</ref>

===''La Rivière'' (1979) and ''L'Aven'' (1980–81)===
''La Rivière'' (1979) and ''L'Aven'' (1980–81) are two orchestral pieces based on ideas of nature that, according to Julian Anderson, show off the "more exuberant, violent side of Dusapin's style."<ref name="Anderson, Dusapin, Pascal, 251"/> Both pieces focus on characteristics of water and symbolize its fluidity and strength through music. The first piece opens with solo cello, which "spreads through" and "absorbs" the whole orchestra, as water would do.<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 191">Stoïnova, "Febrile Music", 191.</ref> Indeed, in this piece Dusapin aims to realize the "movement of changing speeds, of the strength of flow."<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 191"/> ''L'Aven'', on the other hand, captures the image of water slowly dripping and opening a hollow in stone. A concerto for flute and orchestra, the work begins with the flute being just barely audible over the orchestra, but it gradually pushes its way through the orchestral texture until it is the prominent voice of the work.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Thus, the flute represents the dripping water, and the orchestra represents the stone. The flute plays without stop for ten minutes, always pushing against the orchestra and ultimately coming out on top.<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 191"/> Both pieces received their premiere in Metz, France: ''La Rivière'' in November 1979, and ''L'Aven'' in November 1983.

===''Niobé ou le Rocher de Sypile'' (1982)===
''Niobé ou le Rocher de Sypile'' (1982) is a thirty-eight-minute work for twelve mixed voices, solo soprano (Niobé), and eight instruments (oboe doubling English horn, two clarinets [the second doubling bass clarinet], two bassoons [the second doubling contrabassoon], trumpet and two tenor trombones), with a neo-Latin text by Martine Irzenski. Irzenski's text is taken from fragments of Latin literary works and does not necessarily follow the chronology of the Greek myth of [[Niobe]].<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 193">Stoïnova, "Febrile Music", 193.</ref> Dusapin himself classifies the work as a "staged oratorio", rather than an opera or piece of musical theatre, and in it he once again avoids repetition and continuity and seeks to freely make textural connections.<ref>Stoïnova, "Febrile Music", 192.</ref> The solo soprano voice is pitted against the twelve voices of the mixed chorus, who serve a number of different purposes throughout the course of the work, sometimes extending the timbre of Niobé's voice, sometimes moving in relation to the text.<ref name="Stoïnova, Febrile Music, 193"/> In his article on Dusapin, Anderson also highlights the variety of vocal techniques and textures used in the oratorio, including microtonal chords for the chorus and the monodic soprano line at the end of the work.<ref name="Anderson, Dusapin, Pascal, 252"/> Through its non-linear text and multiple textural layers, 'Niobé ou le Rocher de Sypile' maintains the same sense of discontinuity as Dusapin's earlier chamber works. The work was first performed in Paris on 16 June 1984.

===''Roméo et Juliette'' (1985–88)===
According to Ian Pace, Dusapin's first opera, ''Roméo et Juliette'' (1985–88) is the "pivotal work" in the composer's career, for it is in this work that he first "properly" combines his ideas of narrative to the theatrical realm.<ref name="Pace, Never To be Naught, 18">Pace, "Never To be Naught", 18.</ref> Pugin views Dusapin's opera as a return to the "more fruitful" style of ''Niobé'', and cites Dusapin's vocal pieces ''Mimi'' (1986–87), ''Il-Li-Ko'' (1987), and ''Anacoluthe'' (1987) as study pieces for the creation of his first opera, particularly for the setting of the French language.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Anderson, meanwhile, notes the greater amount of lyricism that exists in Dusapin's opera as compared to his earlier works.<ref name="Anderson, Dusapin, Pascal, 252"/> All three authors seem to agree that the opera is a noteworthy point in Dusapin's compositional career.

The libretto, written by [[Olivier Cadiot]], is divided into nine numbers: the first four dealing with events before the revolution, the final four involving events after the revolution, and the fifth and central number being the revolution itself.<ref name="Pace, Never To be Naught, 18"/> This central movement is the only one played purely by the orchestra. The opera focuses not only on Roméo and Juliette, but also on their doubles, Roméo 2 and Juliette 2, who appear before the revolution and seem to symbolize "an expansion of their personalities."<ref name="Pace, Never To be Naught, 18"/> The opera also involves a chorus that comments on the action and a vocal quartet that serves as an intermediary and teaches Roméo and Juliette revolutionary concepts.<ref name="Pace, Never To be Naught, 18"/> Finally, there is the character of Bill, who teaches Roméo and Juliette to sing, but who himself only speaks until the eighth number, when he at last sings as well.<ref name="Pace, Never To be Naught, 18"/> In the latter half of the work, the characters discuss the possibility of creating a real opera, only to discover the "impossibility of opera, the story and even language itself", and the music breaks down into microtonality and fragmentation.<ref name="Pace, Never To be Naught, 18"/> The opera was premiered on 10 June 1989 in Montpellier, France.

===''Seven Solos for Orchestra'' (1992–2009)===
His next major project was the large-scale orchestral cycle ''[[Seven Solos for Orchestra]]'' composed between 1992 and 2009. It consists of seven works that can be played independently but were from the start conceived as a whole.<ref name=Musicwebinternational>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Sept10/Dusapin_MD782180.htm|title=Pascal DUSAPIN Seven Solos for Orchestra – NAÏVE MO 782180 [HC]: Classical Music Reviews – September 2010 MusicWeb-International|first=MusicWeb|last=International|website=musicweb-international.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://culture.ulg.ac.be/jcms/prod_196759/fr/pascal-dusapin-7-solos-pour-orchestre|title=Pascal Dusapin : 7 solos pour orchestre|website=culture.ulg.ac.be}}</ref>

In the composer's own words:

{{Blockquote|In the early 1990s I wanted to get away from the running times of between ten and twenty minutes that are invariably associated with commissions for orchestra. Since no one was offering me commissions to produce longer symphonic forms I decided to bide my time. I dreamt of an extended, complex form comprising seven autonomous episodes regenerating themselves from within, fertilising other possibilities, and proliferating on the interstices left open&nbsp;..."<ref name=Musicwebinternational />
}}

The cycle treats the orchestra as a large solo instrument<ref name=Musicwebinternational /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/dusapin-7-solos-for-orchestra|title=Dusapin – (7) Solos for Orchestra|first=Arnold|last=Whittall|date=9 January 2013|website=gramophone.co.uk}}</ref> and is the closest Dusapin has come to traditional symphonic thinking.<ref name=Musicwebinternational />

===Current projects===

In May 2016, [[Alisa Weilerstein]] and the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] premièred ''[[Outscape]]'', Dusapin's second cello concerto, to positive critical reception.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-cso-dusapin-premiere-ent-0528-20160527-column.html|title=Weilerstein compelling in world premiere of Dusapin cello concerto with CSO|first=John von|last=Rhein|website=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=27 May 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://seenandheard-international.com/2016/06/weilerstein-excels-in-new-dusapin-concerto/|title=Weilerstein Excels in New Dusapin Concerto – Seen and Heard International|website=seenandheard-international.com}}</ref> The same year Dusapin was invited to Geneva in the framework of the [[CERN#Arts at CERN|Arts at CERN programme]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-13 |title=Pascal Dusapin {{!}} Arts at CERN |url=https://arts.cern/artist/pascal-dusapin |access-date=2024-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613050414/https://arts.cern/artist/pascal-dusapin |archive-date=13 June 2019 }}</ref>

His most recent opera, ''Macbeth Underworld'', premièred at [[La Monnaie]] in Brussels in September 2019.