The Association “Les Amis d’André Jolivet” was founded in 1975 with the aid on behalf of Emmanuel Bondeville, Henri Sauguet, Maurice Schumann, Daniel-Lesur, Henri Dutilleux and Maurice Bercoff. Among the personalities on the first Honorary Board were Georges Auric, Henry Barraud, Yves Baudrier, Paul Le Flem, Olivier Messiaen and Jean Roy.
One of its first initiatives was to ask the French composer, Michel Philippot, to complete the orchestration of the opera Bogomilé ou le lieutenant perdu as Jolivet died before the work was finished.
The Association not only organised several concerts but also participated in the preparation of a record entitled “Jolivet conducts Jolivet and Bach”. This and the first publication of Jolivet’s three symphonies were made possible by the material in the collection of the INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel).
The Association also awarded several prizes which helped to make Jolivet’s production known to students of music academies. Several “André Jolivet” prizes were awarded between 1987 and 1991. Among the prize winners are Patrick Burgand, Piotr Moss and Thierry Escaïch.
Since 1990, as almost all of the musical manuscripts, correspondence, iconography, etc. have been kept together, the Association has been working on the classification of Jolivet’s archives with the help of his daughter Christine Jolivet-Erlih. Access to these unpublished materials has made possible academic theses on the composer’s works and new publications such as the book, André Jolivet, Portraits, printed by Actes Sud in 1994.
The new edition of the completely revised and updated catalogue is thanks to the initiative of the Association. The latter also helped in the preparation of a travelling exhibition devoted to the composer and other temporary exhibitions in 1995-1996 in various venues like the Musée of Montmartre, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Public Libraries of Amiens and Strasbourg. In 1999, the Association organised a colloquium entitled “Around André Jolivet, humanism and universalism in music” at the Cité de la musique in Paris.
The present activities are mainly devoted to the events which will take place in 2003 and the celebration of the first centenary of Jolivet’s birth in 2005.