Hugues Dufourt

Hugues Dufourt was born on 28 September 1943 in Lyon (France). He studied at the Geneva conservatory under Louis Hiltbrand (piano) and Jacques Guynnet (composition, electroacoustics) and parallel philosophy under Francois Dagognet and Gilles Deleuze at the university in Lyon.

After his studies Hugues Dufourt first worked as a lecturer in philosophy at the university in Lyon for several years. He continued his two-tier activities and also promoted his musical career. In 1973 Hugues Dufourt co-founded together with Tristan Murail, Gerard Grisey and Michael Levinas the composer group "L'Itineraire". This group advanced the compositional use of overtones and so created a music called "musique spectrale". In 1977 Hugues Dufourt also founded the Collectif de Recherche Instrumentale et de Synthese Sonore (CRISS) with Alain Bancquart and Tristan Murail. Goal of this organisation was to merge the different existing movements of eletroacoustic music and push them to a new form of expression.
In 2000 Hugues Dufourt was awarded the Prix du Président de la République from the Academie Charles Cros for his complete works.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the saxophone quartet by Hugues Dufourt. The manuscript is written on translucent paper for whiteprint reproduction and in the unusual large size of 54x81cm (like a similar one in the photo above). The work was written in 1993 and premiered by the Rasher Saxophone Quartet on 19 September 1993. The score was published the same year by Editions Une Corda and later by Henry Lemoine. Interestingly my manuscript differs slightly to the printed score.