A metaphor for what is finishing, the end of all things. Our state of mind at that moment. The instant of departure, of separation, when the present becomes the past…

A tribute to remembrance, when words are useless.

To express through music what is left inside us when communication breaks down and, beyond language, to hold back what isn’t anymore, for just one more moment, like the ultimate step before silence, before oblivion.

Through its use of reminders and returns, this piece induces the emergence or the reactivation of memory.

— Patrick Ascione [English translation: François Couture, ii-15]

Et puis l’oubli… [And then, oblivion…] was realized in 1998 in the studio of the Institut international de musique électroacoustique de Bourges (IMEB, France) and premiered in June 1998 at the Grand théâtre de la Maison de la culture de Bourges as part of Synthèse festival (Bourges, France). It was commissioned by the IMEB.

Premiere

• June 1998, Synthèse 1998: Concert, Grand théâtre — Maison de la culture de Bourges, Bourges (Cher, France)

Awards

• Mention, Studio Electroacoustic Music Prize, 25th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition 1998, Bourges (Cher, France)