Victor Legley: some notes on his thoughts and Cathédrale d’acier

Abstract

The article proposes to extend the knowledge of the figure and work of Victor Legley. It offers some notes about his life, studies and professional activities. It informs about his activities as a musical philosopher, and makes some of his thoughts known about contemporary composition, music’s social function, the composer’s role, and the relations between composer, interpreter, critic and management, today. The major part of the article is dedicated to his compositions. La Cathédrale d’acier, opus 52, from 1958, has been chosen for an analytical research on his intense thematic work, typical for his production, and also to establish the general characteristics of this composition, representative of much of his work. Finally, we present some conclusions on the importance of his ideas and his production as a composer