Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer ofclassical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at theParis Conservatoire and won its top prize, thePrix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service inWorld War I.
Ibert pursued a successful composing career, writing (sometimes in collaboration with other composers) seven operas, five ballets, incidental music for plays and films, works for piano solo, choral works, and chamber music. He is probably best remembered for his orchestral works includingDivertissement (1930) andEscales (1922).
As a composer, Ibert did not attach himself to any of the prevalent genres of music of his time, and has been described as an eclectic. This is seen even in his best-known pieces:Divertissement for small orchestra is lighthearted, even frivolous, andEscales (1922) is a ripely romantic work for large orchestra.
In tandem with his creative work, Ibert was the director of theAcadémie de France at theVilla Medici in Rome. DuringWorld War II he was proscribed by the pro-Nazi government in Paris, and for a time he went into exile in Switzerland. Restored to his former eminence in French musical life after the war, his final musical appointment was in charge of theParis Opera and theOpéra-Comique.
Ibert was born in Paris. His father was a successful businessman, and his mother a talented pianist who had studied withAntoine François Marmontel and encouraged the young Ibert's musical interests. From the age of four, he began studying music, first learning the violin and then the piano from his mother, despite his father's wishes that his son would follow in his business profession. After leaving school, he earned a living as a private teacher, as an accompanist, and as a cinema pianist. He also started composing songs, sometimes under the pen name William Berty, and helped his father's business, which had suffered a financial setback. In 1910, Ibert became a student at theParis Conservatoire, studying withÉmile Pessard (harmony),André Gedalge (counterpoint) andPaul Vidal (composition).[1] Gédalge also gave him private lessons in orchestration; Ibert's fellow-students at these private classes includedArthur Honegger andDarius Milhaud.[2]
Ibert's musical studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, in which he served as a naval officer. After the war he married Rosette Veber, daughter of the painter Jean Veber. Resuming his studies, he won the Conservatoire's top prize, thePrix de Rome at his first attempt, in 1919.[2] The prize gave him the opportunity to pursue further musical studies in Rome. In the course of these, Ibert composed his first opera,Persée et Andromède (1921), to a libretto by his brother-in-law, the author Michel Veber, writing under the pen name "Nino".[3]
Among Ibert's early orchestral compositions wereLa Ballade de la geôle de Reading, inspired byOscar Wilde'spoem, andEscales (Ports of Call), inspired by his experiences of Mediterranean ports.[4] The first of these works was played at the Concerts Colonne in October 1922, conducted byGabriel Pierné; the second was performed in January 1924 withPaul Paray conducting theOrchestre Lamoureux. The two works made Ibert an early reputation both at home and abroad. His publisherAlphonse Leduc commissioned two collections of piano music from him,Histoires andLes Rencontres, which enhanced his popularity.[2] In 1927 his opéra-bouffeAngélique was produced; it was the most successful of his operas, a musical farce, displaying eclectic style and flair.[3]
In addition to composing, Ibert was active as a conductor and in musical administration. He was a member of professional committees, and in 1937 he was appointed director of theAcadémie de France at theVilla Medici in Rome. Ibert, with the enthusiastic support of his wife "threw himself wholeheartedly into his administrative role and proved an excellent ambassador of French culture in Italy."[2] He held the post until the end of 1960, except for an enforced break while France and Italy were at war during World War II.
The war years were difficult for Ibert. In 1940 theVichy government banned his music and he retreated toAntibes, in the south of France, and later to Switzerland and theHaute-Savoie. In August 1944, he was readmitted to the musical life of the country whenGeneral de Gaulle recalled him to Paris. In 1955 Ibert was appointed administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux, which ran both theParis Opera and theOpéra-Comique. After less than a year, his health obliged him to retire. Shortly afterwards he was elected to theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts.[2]
Ibert died in Paris aged 71, and is buried atPassy Cemetery in the city's16th arrondissement.
Ibert refused to ally himself to any particular musical fashion or school, maintaining that "all systems are valid", a position that has caused many commentators to categorise him as "eclectic".[3] His biographer Alexandra Laederich writes, "His music can be festive and gay … lyrical and inspired, or descriptive and evocative … often tinged with gentle humour … all the elements of his musical language bar that of harmony relate closely to the Classical tradition."[2] The early orchestral works, such asEscales, are in "a lush Impressionist style",[5] but Ibert is at least as well known for lighthearted, even frivolous, pieces, among which are theDivertissement for small orchestra and the Flute Concerto.[5]
Ibert's stage works similarly embrace a wide variety of styles. His first opera,Persée et Andromède, is a concise, gently satirical piece.Angélique displays his "eclectic style and his accomplished writing of pastiche set pieces".[3]Le roi d'Yvetot is written, in part in a simple folklike style. The opéra bouffeGonzague is another essay in the old opera bouffe style.L'Aiglon, composed jointly with Honegger, employscommedia dell'arte characters and much musical pastiche in a style both accessible and sophisticated.[2] For the farcicalLes petites Cardinal the music is in set pieces in the manner of an operetta. By contrastLe chevalier errant, a choreographic piece incorporating chorus and two reciters, is in an epic style.[3] Ibert's practice of collaborating with other composers extended to his works for the ballet stage. His first work composed expressly for the ballet was a waltz forL'éventail de Jeanne (1929) to which he was one of ten contributors, others of whom wereRavel andPoulenc. He was the sole composer of four further ballets between 1934 and 1954.[2]
For the theatre and cinema, Ibert was a prolific composer of incidental music. His best-known theatre score was music forEugène Labiche'sUn chapeau de paille d'Italie, which Ibert later reworked as the suiteDivertissement. Other scores ranged from music for farce to that forShakespeare productions. His cinema scores covered a similarly broad range. He wrote the music for more than a dozen French films, and for American directors he composed a score forOrson Welles's 1948 film ofMacbeth, and theCircus ballet forGene Kelly'sInvitation to the Dance in 1952.[2]
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