New York Philharmonic Releases Pierre Boulez Archive

More than 13,000 documents are now available digitally to the public, in celebration of the composer's 100th anniversary

To mark 100 years since the birth of the conductor and composer Pierre Boulez, the New York Philharmonic has released more than 13,000 archival documents that derive from Boulez's tenure as the orchestra's Music Director between 1971 and 1977.

Many of the documents give an insight into Boulez's priorities when planning programming for the orchestra. The materials comprise letters, planning papers, and audience response surveys, among other documents.

Much of the material is administrative, but these items still give significant insight into Boulez's thinking around which music should be performed by the orchestra and why.

There are also documents with personal touches, such as a handwritten letter in French discussing the significance of Stravinsky's works (particularly Petruchka and Pulcinella) in the landscape of twentieth-century music.

A student of Olivier Messiaen and Rene Leibowitz, Pierre Boulez played a central role in the development of serialism and electronic music. He was also a highly respected conductor, holding positions with the Cleveland Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonie de Paris.

Widely respected as one of the most influential voices in contemporary music, he received 26 GRAMMY Awards across his career.

The New York Philharmonic's Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives were launched in February 2011, with the goal of making every document in the orchestra's archives from 1842 to 1978 available digitally to the public. At present, the archive contains more than four million pages, including printed programs, marked conducting scores, business documents, and photographs. More documents are being added continually.