Luigi Russolo (April 30, 1885 - February 4, 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter and composer, and the author of the manifestoes The Art of Noises (1913) and Musica Futurista.

Biography

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Russolo was born at Portogruaro, in the Veneto region, the son of an organist in the local cathedral and director of the Schola Cantorum of Latisana. His brothers were also musicians.

Russolo moved to Milan in 1901, frequenting the Brera Academy, and took part to the restoration of Leonardo's Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie. In his first works Russolo applied the divisionist techniques to a fantastic-symbolic view of subject related to the city or the industrial society.

An adherent of the Futurism movement, he worked closely with futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

In 1913 he published the treatise The Art of Noises (L'arte dei rumori). He is considered one of the first theorists of electronic music. Russolo even invented and built instruments including: intonarumori ("intoners" or "noise machines"), mostly percussion, to create "noises" for performance. Unfortunately, none of his original intonarumori survived World War II. Luigi's brother Antonio Russolo also composed futurist music.

In 1941-1942 Russolo started again to paint, with a new style that he defined "classic modernist".

He died at Cerro di Laveno (province of Varese) in 1947.

External links

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• http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/noises.html The Art of Noises
• http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/futurist/art_of_noise.html The Art of Noises
• http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/intonarumori/audio/1/ Intonarumori
• Luigi Russolo and the Italian Futurists
• Luigi Russolo and The Art of Noise (retrieved from the Internet archive)
• THE SOUND W0RLD, INSTRUMENTS AND MUSIC OF LUIGI RUSSOLO by Hugh Davies
• Peggy Guggenheim Collection: Luigi Russolo
• http://www.zakros.com/mica/soundart/f02/futurist.html
• JahSonic.com: Luigi Russolo
• Bob Osborn's Futurism: Luigi Russolo

Further reading

• UbuWeb Historical: Russolo's Art of Noise

Audio

• Modern recordings of noise intoners and a fragment of Luigi Russolo's key Futurist composition The Awakening of a City can be heard on the audio CD Musica Futurista: The Art of Noises.
• UbuWeb Dada for Now, 1985, UK featuring Russolo's Veglio di una citta.

1885 births | 1947 deaths | Natives of the Veneto | Italian composers | 20th century classical composers | Italian painters | Modern painters | Futurism

Luigi Russolo | Luigi Russolo | Luigi Russolo | Luigi Russolo | Luigi Russolo