Henri Tomasi, a great Mediterranean composer

It was in this very armchair, with this admirable face, which clearly shows that contemplation and inner thoughts touch a world more beautiful than ours, that on the morning of 13 January 1971, with the discretion that only certain souls possess, Henri Tomasi fell asleep forever. (…)

Soon, Paris will try to claim his glory. And that is why we, the people of Provence, must never forget that Henri Tomasi was born in Marseille; that he was born there on 17 August 1901 in a small suburb, close to the shore, that his first childhood games were dazzled by the freedom of the wind, the sun and the waves; that his music was always so deeply Mediterranean. And that, exiled in Paris where his professional obligations kept him, he always sought a blue sky above the houses and trees. (…)

From his native Provence, Henri Tomasi retained an admirable grandeur and balance that allowed him to pursue all his daring projects while remaining in control, and, with his ever-moving sensitivity, to never stray from nobility and humanity.

His ballet, Les Noces de Cendres, and his operas, Miguel Mañara and L’Atlantide, are, as Emile Vuillermoz wrote, three revelations of paramount importance in the history of contemporary French music. And what successes all his other operas and works are, from La chèvre de Monsieur Seguin to Chant pour le Vietnam and from La Mort du petit Dauphin to Symphonie du Tiers Monde!

Future generations will know better than we ourselves do that a child born in Marseille, named Henri Tomasi, became, while retaining his pure soul, one of the greatest composers and one of the finest musicians of his time. (…)

Henri Bonnefoy of the Académie de Marseille

(in Revue Marseille, 1971)