Beyond Surrealism: The Developing Keyboard Style of André Souris

André Souris (1899-1970) is perhaps best known as a musical contributor to the Belgian surrealist group founded by Paul Nougé, but he assumed many roles throughout his life, including composer, writer, director, and promoter of modern music. His various interests influenced the style of his compositions, which remain largely unpublished and have received little scholarly attention beyond researchers of surrealism. Through this survey of many of Souris’ works for keyboard, I attempt to lay the groundwork for further discussion about Souris’ musical contributions not only through the lens of surrealism but also throughout his compositional career. This descriptive analysis of Souris’ keyboard style spans decades of his writings from hand-written manuscripts and provides performance recommendations for pianists and performers wishing to take a deeper look into Souris’ compositions.