André Jolivet studied at the University of Paris under Varèse.

With Olivier Messiaen, Daniel Lesur and Yves Baudrier, he founded the Jeune France group of composers who aimed to re-establish a more humanized style of composition.

As director of music for the Comédie Française he wrote a quantity of incidental music.

He was appointed a professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire in 1965.

His compositions reflect his interest in the sonorities of instruments and are transparent and dissonant.

Jolivet wrote a number of concertos, all demanding considerable virtuosity from the soloist.

These include the Concerto for Ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument developed in France in the 1920s, and concertos for trumpet and piano, for flute, for piano, for harp, for bassoon and harp, for percussion, for cello and for violin.

In addition to his varied incidental music, whether for Molière, Claudel, Corneille or Plautus, Jolivet wrote music for the ballet and for marionette plays.

Jolivet made an early impression on Messiaen with the six piano pieces that constitute Mana.

Chamber music includes music involving the flute, an instrument he particularly favoured for its primitive human associations.