This descriptive chronology of Vivier’s works is based on a study of all the known manuscripts of the composer, together with information gleaned from his correspondence, interviews, and various other documentary materials. It builds upon the information given in Jaco Mijnheer and Thérèse Desjardins, “La chronologie des oeuvres de Claude Vivier: historisation de la déshistoire.” The description “not performed in Vivier’s lifetime” in the list below means there is no known documentation of a public performance; it is possible that at least some of these works may have been rehearsed, perhaps in Vivier’s presence. The standard order of instrumentation is used here: flute.oboe.clarinet.bassoon—horn.trumpet. trombone.tuba—perc—other—violin1.violin2.viola.cello.doublebass. All Vivier’s works are now published by Boosey & Hawkes.

1968: Quatuor à cordes #1

Two movements only are extant: first movement 15 pp., second movement 12 pp. (originally marked at top “3º mouvement,” but crossed out and “2º pièce” written above). It is not clear whether the second of the surviving movements is actually complete. The manuscript is undated. Premiered August 10, 1968, under the name Quatuor en deux mouvements, at a concert titled “Musique d’Aujourd’hui” at Festival Orford 68 at Magog, Quebec. The performers were participants in the Centre JMC Orford: Hansheinz Schneeberger and Anka Moravek, violins; Norbert Blume, viola; Eric Wilson, cello; conductor Marius Constant. First professional performance: June 2005, Zephyr Kwartet, Holland Festival, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

1968: Ojikawa, for soprano, clarinet, and percussion (four timpani and vibraphone)

Two manuscript scores are extant: the first incomplete, 7 pp.; the second complete, 8 pp., the definitive version. Neither manuscript is dated. Text by Vivier. Premiered March 1969, at the fifth Symposium of Student Composers, McGill University, Montreal.

1968–69: Musique pour une liberté à bâtir, for women’s voices and orchestra

The manuscript is in several parts: a first part of 23 pp., then a short aleatoric second part of 2 pp. (at the start of which Vivier has written “the 3 events of this part are to be played in any order, following each other without pause”); then a long section, 24 pp., with the title “Musique pour une liberté à bâtir II.” (Th is “part II” is possibly a later replacement for the originally aleatoric part 2.) The manuscript is undated. Not performed in Vivier’s lifetime.