Jean Barraqué

Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué (January 17, 1928 – August 17, 1973) was a French composer. Barraqué was born in Puteaux. He studied in Paris with Jean Langlais and Olivier Messiaen and, through Messiaen, became interested in serialism. It is thought that Barraqué destroyed many of his early works, leaving his Piano Sonata, for which he gave the date 1952, as his earliest acknowledged work. It is a large piece, lasting over forty minutes, and is divided into two connected sections, roughly equal in length.