Initially conceived in 1971 as a memorial for Igor Stravinsky, who died in April of that year, several different versions of the work were composed by Boulez between 1972 and 1993, culminating in a piece for solo MIDI-flute and chamber orchestra.
[1] The first version of ...explosante-fixe... (1971–1972) is a one-page aleatoric work in seven parts entitled, according to one report, Originel and Transitoires II–VII,[2] though the manuscript score (published as two pages of music and twelve pages of instructions) bears the title in the composer's hand [... Explosante-fixe ...], and the indications "Originel" and "Transitoires II–VII" are the names of the groups into which the work is divided.
[8] In the two subsequent years, Boulez developed ...explosante-fixe... into a work for solo flute, accompanied by clarinet, trumpet, harp, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello and electronics.
[2] There were actually two main variants, a "preliminary" version based on the bare bones of the outline score and scored for a trio of violin, clarinet, and trumpet, first performed by the London Sinfonietta in St John's, Smith Square in June 1972, and a longer, more sophisticated, and seemingly definitive form for septet, premiered in New York on 5 January 1973 and subsequently revised several times, for performances in Rome on 13 May 1973, at the Promenade Concerts in London in August 1973, at the Donaueschinger Musiktage on 21 October 1973 (by which time it had become an octet) and at the Théâtre d'Orsay in Paris as part of the Festival d'Automne 1974, where it created a sensation.
[14] Between 1991 and 1993, while at IRCAM,[2] Boulez composed a new version of ...explosante-fixe..., for solo MIDI-flute with live electronics, two "shadow" flutes and a chamber orchestra.