Gérard Masson

Gérard Masson (born 12 August 1936 in Paris) is a French composer.

Gérard Masson grew up listening to jazz, played jazz trumpet, and began studying the piano in 1945, but had no formal training in composition until, after military service in Algeria, he returned to France in 1962. He approached Max Deutsch, who sent Masson to one of his students for lessons in counterpoint (Serrou 2002). At about this same time, he made the acquaintance of Pierre Souvtchinsky, who introduced him to Igor Stravinsky. Masson brought to his meeting with Stravinsky his first orchestral score, Dans le deuil des vagues, in which Stravinsky showed considerable interest. When, upon returning to the United States, Stravinsky was asked by a reporter whether he had heard any young musicians, Stravinsky replied "none at all, except Gérard Masson" (Serrou 2002). It was Souvtchinsky who suggested that Masson go to Cologne to study with , which he did in 1965–66 and again in 1966–67 (Serrou 2002; CDMC biography n.d.; , 200–204). He was particularly impressed by Momente, about which Stockhausen lectured at the Cologne Courses for New Music in those years (Serrou 2002).

Though an admirer of Stockhausen's music, Masson's attitude toward serialism is ambivalent:

I have never really felt at home with serialism. I make use of it, initially because I am terrified to know what I should do. And logic can occupy me for five minutes, but it ends by annoying me very quickly. Often, a schema precedes the piece and it takes form as I write the work. I write once, then I edit, like in the cinema. The beginning of Adlib, for example, has seen half-a-dozen versions. This cost me two years of work. (Serrou 2002)

His early orchestral composition Dans le deuil des vagues II (1968) showed some influence of Debussy, but also of earlier music (Larner 1969, 47).

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