*Bilingual English-French* ‘Journal de mes sons’ is an essential text for defining Pierre Henry’s thought.
It is a musical biography in the sense of a diary and an autobiography in forty-two sequences that accompanied him in various forms between 1977 and 2005. In the first person singular or plural. At one and the same time a manifesto, a historical record, notes to himself, a stock-taking, points of view or a declaration of love for his nearest and dearest — it took shape at the pinnacle of a life lit up by the desire to create.

The version published here is the integral original text. In addition to the text, a sound file is included with the book, the eponymous work ‘Journal de mes sons’ in the French version, in which part of the text is read out by Florence Delay in 1983 under the direction of the composer, and set to music. In order to identify the passages that do not figure on the recording, we have adopted a colour code: the sequences from the text that are read out are printed in blue, and those that are not are in black.

The musical materials are extracts or parts of finished works; cut, combined, re-composed or mixed together. The layout of the text, completed by a listening guide in the margin, follows the organisation of the music. In the appendices are the lists in order of appearance of all the works quoted and heard, which could provide material for further listening. In addition to these hitherto unpublished materials, it is important to mention that the present edition contains the first translation into English by Christine North & John Dack.