Character and personal life As a young man Boulez was an explosive, often confrontational figure. Jean-Louis Barrault, who knew him in his twenties, caught the contradictions in his personality: "his powerful aggressiveness was a sign of creative passion, a particular blend of intransigence and humour, the way his moods of affection and insolence succeeded one another, all these had drawn us near to him".Barrault, 205. Messiaen said later: "He was in revolt against everything."Samuel (1976), 111. At one point Boulez turned against Messiaen, describing his Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine as "brothel music" and saying that the Turangalîla-Symphonie made him vomit. It was five years before relations were restored.
Character and personal life As a young man Boulez was an explosive, often confrontational figure. Jean-Louis Barrault, who knew him in his twenties, caught the contradictions in his personality: "his powerful aggressiveness was a sign of creative passion, a particular blend of intransigence and. humour, the way his moods of affection and insolence succeeded one another, all these had drawn us near to him"Barrault, 205. Messiaen said later: "He was in revolt against everything."Samuel (1976), 111. At one point Boulez turned against Messiaen, describing his Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine as "brothel music" and saying that the Turangalîla-Symphonie made him vomit. It was five years before relations were restored.