ABSTRACT
Attempting a coherent history of the style incantatoire is difficult. The vast majority of composers adopting this approach never labelled what they were writing in this or any other way; phenomenon has received little scholarly attention in any language, even in volumes dealing with twentieth-century French music. Jolivet's writings tend to mix terms somewhat confusingly, with the words 'magic', 'incantation', 'spiritual', 'cosmic', 'cosmos' and 'universe' being tossed about rather interchangeably. Having identified the main features of the style incantatoire, these tendencies should be matched with specific instances occurring in actual pieces. Nicholas Maw's criticism at head of this article, referring to incantatory music by Jolivet from the 1950s, indicates a more complicated reality. Jolivet's Third Symphony is not only among his most complex works but also the one in which he reconnects most directly with his earliest music. In February 1945, Jolivet analysed his Cinq danses rituelles in both their piano and orchestral versions for Messiaen's Paris Conservatoire Analysis class.
