André Jolivet’s Cosmogonie is a standalone Prelude for Orchestra composed in 1938, derived from his earlier piano piece. The orchestral version lasts approximately 8 minutes and was first performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de France under Hubert d’Auriol on March 4, 1942 in Nice.

Stylistically, Cosmogonie belongs to Jolivet’s “primitivist” aesthetic, influenced by Edgard Varèse’s concept of the corps sonore. The harmonic language eschews traditional tonality in favor of spectral sonorities and ritualistic gestures. Shimmering harp and celesta figures, combined with modal wind lines and sustained string sonorities, evoke a cosmic genesis atmosphere—an incantatory evocation of universal forces rather than a descriptive narrative.