Edgard Varèse

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer.

Varèse's music features an emphasis on timbre and rhythm. He was the inventor of the term "organized sound", a phrase meaning that certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together, sublimating into a whole new definition of sound. His use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music" while Henry Miller described him as "The stratospheric Colossus of Sound". He is also known to have re-introduced the 'Idee-fixe', a term first introduced by the French composer Hector Berlioz.

Early life

Varèse was born in Paris and spent his youth in that city, in Villars and in Turin. From 1904 he was a student at the Schola Cantorum (founded by pupils of César Franck); afterwards he went to study composition with Charles Widor at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1908 he moved to Berlin. He married the actress Suzanne Bing in 1907 and they had one child. They divorced in 1913.

During these years, Varèse became acquainted with Satie, Debussy and Busoni, the last two being particular influences on him at the time. The first performance of his Bourgogne in Berlin in 1910 caused a scandal. After being invalided out of the French Army during World War I, he moved to the United States in 1915.

Early years in the United States

He spent the first few years in the United States meeting important contributors to American music, promoting his vision of new electronic art music instruments, conducting orchestras, and founding the New Symphony Orchestra. It was also about this time that Varèse began work on his first composition in the United States, Amériques, which was finished in 1921. It was at the completion of this work that Varèse, along with Carlos Salzedo, founded the International Composers' Guild, dedicated to the performances of new compositions of both American and European composers, for which he composed many of his pieces for orchestral instruments and voices. Specifically, during the first half of the 1920s, he composed Offrandes, Hyperprism, Octandre, and Intégrales.

He took American citizenship in 1926.

Life in Paris

In 1928, Varèse returned to Paris to alter one of the parts in Amériques to include the recently constructed Ondes Martenot. Around 1930, he composed his most famous non-electronic piece entitled Ionisation, the first to feature solely percussion instruments. Although it was composed with pre-existing instruments, Ionisation was an exploration of new sounds and methods to create them.

In 1933, while Varèse was still in Paris, he wrote to the Guggenheim Foundation and Bell Laboratories in an attempt to receive a grant to develop an electronic music studio. His next composition, Ecuatorial, completed in 1934, contained parts for theremins, and Varèse, anticipating the successful receipt of one of his grants, eagerly returned to the United States to finally realize his electronic music.

Back in the United States

Varèse wrote his Ecuatorial for two fingerboard Theremins, bass singer, winds and percussion in the early 1930s. It was premiered on April 15 1934, under the baton of Nicolas Slonimsky. Then Varèse left New York City, where he had lived since 1915, and moved to Santa Fe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1936 he wrote Density 21.5. By the time Varèse returned in late 1938, Leon Theremin had returned to Russia. This devastated Varèse, who had hoped to work with Theremin on a refinement of his instrument. Varèse had also promoted the theremin in his Western travels, and demonstrated one at a lecture at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque on November 12 1936. The University of New Mexico has an RCA theremin, which may be the same instrument.

When, in the late 1950s, Varèse was approached by a publisher about making Ecuatorial available, there were very few theremins—let alone fingerboard theremins—to be found, so he rewrote/relabelled the part for Ondes Martenot. This new version was premiered in 1961.

International recognition

By the early 1950s, Varèse was in dialogue with a new generation of composers, such as Boulez and Dallapiccola. When he returned to France to finalise the tape sections of Déserts, Pierre Schaeffer helped arrange for suitable facilities. The first performance of the combined orchestral and tape sound composition came as part of an ORTF broadcast concert, between pieces by Mozart and Tchaikovsky and received a hostile reaction.

Le Corbusier was commissioned by Phillips to present a pavilion at the 1958 World Fair and insisted (against the sponsors' resistance) on working with Varèse, who developed his Poème électronique for the venue, where it was heard by an estimated two million people.

He composed "Poeme Electronique" for use at the 1958 Worlds Fair. Using 400 speakers separated throughout a series of rooms, Varese created a sound and space installation geared towards experiencing sound as you move through space. received with mixed reviews, this piece chalenged audience expectations and traditional means of composing, breathing life into electronic synthesis and presentation.

Varèse's best known student is the Chinese-born composer Chou Wen-Chung (b. 1923), who met Varèse in 1949 and assisted him in his later years. He became the executor of Varèse's estate following the composer's death and edited and completed a number of Varèse's works. He is professor emeritus of composition at Columbia University.

Idee Fixe

Some of Edgard Varese's later works make use of the 'Idee Fixe', a fixed theme, repeated certain times in a work. The 'Idee Fixe' is generally not transposed, differencing it from the leitmotiv, used by Richard Wagner.

Works

Un grand sommeil noir (1906)
Amériques (1918-21)
Offrandes (1921)
Hyperprism (1922-23)
Octandres (1923)
Intégrales (1924-25)
Arcana (1925-27)
Ionisation (1929-31)
Ecuatorial (1932-34)
Density 21.5 (1936)
Tuning Up (1947)
Dance for Burgess (1949)
Déserts (1950-54)
Poème électronique (1957-58)
Nocturnal (1961)

Trivia

One of Varèse's biggest fans was the American guitarist and composer Frank Zappa, who, upon hearing a copy of The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Vol. 1, which included Intégrales, Density 21.5, Ionisation, and Octandre, became obsessed with the composer's music. On his 15th birthday, December 21, 1955, Zappa's mother, Rosemarie, allowed him a call to Varèse as a present. At the time Varèse was in Brussels, Belgium, so Zappa spoke to Varèse's wife Louise instead. Eventually Zappa and Varèse spoke on the phone, and they discussed the possibility of meeting each other, although this meeting never took place. Zappa also received a letter from Varèse. Varèse's spirit of experimentation and redefining the bounds of what was possible in music lived on in Zappa's long and prolific careerRusso, Greg. Cosmik Debris: The Collected History and Improvisations of Frank Zappa. New York: Antique Trader Publications, Crossfire Publications, Chris Sansom, 1998, pp. 9-11.
Another admirer was the rock/jazz group Chicago, whose Pianist/keyboardist Robert Lamm credited Varèse with inspiring him to write many number one hits. In tribute, one of Lamm's songs was called "A Hit By Varèse".
The record label Varèse Sarabande Records is named after the composer.

References

External links

BBC.co.uk: Music Profiles: Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varese - Father of Electronic Music
Edgard Varese: The Idol of My Youth by Frank Zappa
Thereminvox.com
- Interview with musicologist Olivia Mattis about Edgard Varèse's Ecuatorial and the Theremin Cello
- Edgard Varèse links
- A Letter to Leon Theremin by Edgard Varèse
Theremin.info: Edgard Varèse
OHM- The Early Gurus of Electronic Music: Varese
SoNHoRS : Edgard Varèse

Listening

Art of the States: Edgard Varèse Nocturnal (1961/1968)

Notes

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Edgard Varèse