Pousseur, Henri (1929– )

Belgian composer. His works investigate computer and aleatory techniques, influenced by Luciano Berio and Stockhausen. He was strongly influenced by post-Webernian serialism, one of his earliest works being Quintet in Memory of Webern. His later music makes use of open forms, where the performer has freedom to decide the order of the musical material (for example, Mobile for two pianos and Caracteres for piano solo).

Pousseur was born at Malmedy, in eastern Belgium. He studied at Brussels Conservatory and took private composition lessons from André Souris and Pierre Boulez. In 1958 he founded a studio for electronic music in Brussels. He lectured at Darmstadt 1957–67, Cologne, and the State University of New York, Buffalo, 1966–69. He was appointed professor of composition at Liège Conservatory in 1971.

Works Stage the operas Votre Faust (1969) and Die Erprobung des Petrus Hebraïcus (1974); Schoenbergs Gegenwart for actors, singers, and instruments (1974); chamber opera Leçons d'enfer (1991).

Chamber Trois Chants sacrés for soprano and string trio; Symphonies for 15 solo instruments; Modes for string quartet; quintet to the memory of Webern (1955); Répons for seven musicians (1960); Mobile for two pianos.

Orchestral Couleurs croisées for orchestra (1967); L'effacement du Prince Igor for orchestra (1971); Chronique illustrée for baritone and orchestra (1976); Nuits des Nuits for orchestra (1985).

Electronic with voice and orchestra Seismographs for magnetic tape; Scambi for tape (1957); Rimes pour différentes sources sonores for orchestra and tape (1959); Portrait de Votre Faust for soloists, instruments, and tape (1966); Système des paraboles, seven tape studies (1972); Agonie for voices and electronics (1981); Déclarations d'Orage for soloists, tape, and orchestra (1989).