SATBB; instrumental ensemble of 14 (or 18) performers also divided into 3

groups: 2.0.2.0, 0.1.2.0, percussion (3 performers), piano (with 3rd pedal),

organ (or positive), 1 (or 2) violin(s), 1 (or 2) viola(s). The performance of
the work requires 3 conductors (the 3rd equipped with a pair of maracas).
Percussion instruments:
I: marimba, 3 woodblocks, 1 medium tom, 1 bass drum, 3 cymbals on felt (high,
medium, low), 3 suspended cymbals (high, medium, low), low tam-tam, 1 metal
block (or a metallophone bar)
II: xylomarimba, 3 tom-toms or Saharan drums (high, medium, low), 1 double-
bass tom, 4 woodblocks, 2 cymbals on felt (high, low), 2 Chinese suspended
cymbals, 2 tam-tams (medium, low)
III: vibraphone, 4 temple blocks, 1 tambourine, 2 low bongos (or Saharan drums),
1 low tom, 1 side drum, 1 cymbal on felt, 2 Chinese suspended cymbals, 2 gongs
(medium, low), 1 medium tam-tam, 1 guiro
! Publisher: Jobert, 1975.
‘With the Office des Oracles, I had begun to prompt amateurs to join us—
somewhat from a need for oxygen. It seemed to me that this famous
“contemporary music”, whose very name makes me shiver, had overly practised
music cut off from the world, in a laboratory, with a kind of atmosphere where
haughty people seemed to be saying to each other: “This is not for everyone”,
whereas I would prefer that what I do be for everyone.’
‘Office des Oracles is written for an inexperienced or amateur chorus but with
very solid, very professional soloists and musicians taking them in hand, as it
were. In fact, the work became something by itself, by its own virtue, and there
again, I thought this work could be given the title “Office” because it set in
motion a crowd and officiating priests, in particular the soloists, the four solo
women’s voices, and then the conductors, who are sort of high priests organising
all that according to a combinatorial, but not aleatory, analysis, which they can
choose.’
‘The oracles, like all these very ancient rituals, are very appealing to me. And
there is perhaps an imagery in the oracles, a sort of suggestion so that you can
give free rein to your imagination, i.e., imagine things that have existed for
thousands of years, which is always a guarantee, if not of renewal at least of a
possibility of making something new because it is based on something that has a
tradition, and that you risk going a level lower in the deepening of this tradition if
you have the good fortune to succeed therein.’

LYS DE MADRIGAUX (no. 79) Playing time: approx. 23’

for soli, women’s chorus and small ensemble
6 uninterrupted parts: I-Calypso; II-Circé; III-Star mad blues; IV-Parques; V-
Tropique de la Vierge: VI-Miroir de Sapho
" Forces: 3 soprano soloists, 3 mezzo soloists chosen from within a women’s
chorus of 24 voices minimum (12 sopranos, 12 mezzos), percussion (1
performer), piano (with 3rd pedal), organ (or positive), cithara in thirds of
tones and chromatic cithara (1 performer)
Percussion instruments: vibraphone, 2 bongos (low, medium), 2 m’tumbas
(medium, high), low tom or double-bass tom, 2 Chinese cymbals, 3 suspended
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