Grimaud Yvette

Yvette Jeanne Grimaud (b. January 29, 1920, Algeria – d. February 19, 2012, Villiers-le-Bel, France) was a French composer, pianist, expert in ethnomusicology and researcher of Georgian music. She graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris (was the student of Olivier Messiaen). She taught at the Lyon and Paris Conservatories. She was the first performer of P. Boulez's work. As an ethnomusicologist, she recorded and researched the folklore of various peoples (Bushmen, Pygmy peoples, Kabyle and Algerian Berbers, Iranians, Japanese, etc.).

Grimaud was interested in Georgian folk music. In 1967, she came to Georgia and traveled to many corners of Georgia with G. Chkhikvadze and recorded 350 folk songs. In 1989, she released part of this expeditionary material in Paris as a CD (Géorgien. Chants de travail, chants religieux). In the 1960s–1980s, she published articles in the Kartvelological journal of Paris “Bedi Kartlisa” (about Svan songs, Kartli-Kakhetian “Orovela”, and, in general, Georgian folk and church music).

 

Literary works: Musique traditionelle de Géorgie (1969), «Bedi Kartlisa», vol. 26, P., C. N. R. S.; Musique vocale géorgienne d’Europe orientale (1977), vol.25; Symboles d’un chant svane (Géorgie d’Europe orientale) (1978), vol.36; Géorgie. Chants religieux (1970), vol.37; Note sur le chant géorgien „Orovela“ de Kartl-Kakhete (1980), vol.37; Géorgie. Chants de travail (1981), vol.37.

N. Nakashidze