Prolific Swiss composer Pierre Mariétan dies aged 89

Death of Valais composer Pierre Mariétan Keystone-SDA

Pierre Mariétan, one of the most prolific Swiss composers of his generation, died in Paris on Sunday in his 90th year, according to his family.

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“The Canton of Valais salutes the memory of a composer whose work was original and diverse, and who devoted a well-known and recognised body of research and writing in the field of sound ecology, notably within the Laboratory of Acoustics and Urban Music,” Mathias Reynard, the Valais State Councillor for Culture told Keystone-ATS.

“Both Pierre Mariétan’s musical work and his philosophical, aesthetic and poetic reflections are linked to canton Valais, where he has led an original programme of exploration of the sound environment, in particular by organising the Architecture-Music-Ecology Encounters”, said the politician.

Winner of the Valais State Cultural Prize in 1999, Mariétan deposited his rich manuscript and sound archives with the Médiathèque Valais in 2006, thus ensuring that his work would be preserved and passed on to present and future generations. “Valais has lost one of its most renowned cultural ambassadors in the field of music,” said Reynard.

More than 300 works

During his long career, Pierre Mariétan wrote over 300 instrumental, orchestral, numbered-electro-acoustic and vocal works, not to mention some 40 radio productions, mainly for Radio France, as well as numerous temporary and permanent sound installations.

At the same time as composing, the Valais-born artist was also working on the aesthetics of sound in the environment.

Born in Monthey in 1935, Pierre Mariétan studied at the Geneva Conservatoire, in Venice, at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne and at the Musikakademie in Basel.

Director of the Garges Conservatory in the Paris region from 1972 to 1977, Pierre Mariétan was also a lecturer at the University of Paris I and then Paris VIII from 1969 to 1988, and at the Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris La Villette from 1993.

In 1966 he founded the Groupe d’étude et réalisation musicale (GERM) and the acoustics and urban music laboratory at the Ecole d’architecture de Paris la Villette. He was also producer of the Atelier de création radiophonique on France Culture.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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