Edgard Varese Biography
| Born as | Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse |
| Occup. | Composer |
| From | France |
| Born | December 22, 1883
Paris, France |
| Died | November 6, 1965
New York City, New York, USA |
| Aged | 81 years |
Early Life
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse was born upon December 22, 1883, in Paris, France. He matured in a varied and innovative environment as his dad was an engineer and his mother, a descendant of an old Italian family, was an amateur autograph collector and budding author. Edgard demonstrated an early interest in music and began studying with regional teachers by the age of 10.
Education and Musical Studies
Varese's formal musical education started at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where he studied composition under Albert Roussel and counterpoint with Charles-Wilfred Bériot. He later on participated in the Paris Conservatoire, where he enhanced his research studies in structure under Charles-Marie Widor and harmony under Charles Tournemire. By 1907, Varese had actually completed his studies and moved to Berlin to work as a conductor and pursue his profession as a composer.
While in Berlin, Varese ended up being familiarized with various prominent authors of the time, consisting of
Richard Strauss, Ferruccio Busoni, and
Arnold Schoenberg. Through these relationships, Varese developed an interest in the avant-garde and speculative music of the time, and his structures started to show these brand-new musical concepts.
Profession and Compositions
During World War I, Varese was required to leave Germany and moved to the United States in 1915. He settled in New York City, where he started to explore new noises and ideas in music. He formed the New Symphony Orchestra in 1919 and later on arranged the International Composers' Guild in 1921 to promote contemporary music.
Varese's own compositions were experimental and ingenious. He shunned traditional musical types and looked for brand-new methods to express his musical ideas. Amongst his earliest and most notable works are "Amériques" (1921), "Offrandes" (1921), and "Hyperprism" (1922). These pieces display Varese's pioneering usage of percussion instruments and his bold method to composition and orchestration.
In the following years, Varese continued to experiment and innovate, writing compositions such as "Octandre" (1923), "Intégrales" (1924), and "Arcana" (1927). In the 1930s, he began to check out making use of electronic instruments in music. His piece "Ionisation" (1931) is thought about among the very first compositions to include a completely percussion-based ensemble, consisting of various instruments that produce electronic noise.
Varese spent the 1940s and early 1950s in relative obscurity, struggling to find methods to incorporate the rapidly establishing world of electronic and recorded music innovation into his compositions. However, by the mid-1950s, interest in his work started to reappear, and he was granted several distinguished commissions. One of his last major structures, "Poème électronique" (1958), was developed for the World Exposition in Brussels and showcased his innovative usage of electronic sound sources.
Tradition and Final Years
Throughout his career, Edgard Varese stayed a committed advocate for modern music and the expansion of musical horizons. His unrelenting pursuit of new sounds, instruments, and strategies motivated lots of young authors and stays prominent today. Among the composers who have been directly influenced by Varese's work are
John Cage,
Karlheinz Stockhausen, and
Frank Zappa.
In 1962, Varese was awarded the Koussevitzky International Recording Award for his life time contributions to music. He continued to compose and work with electronic music till his death on November 6, 1965, in New York City at the age of 81.
Edgard Varese left a small however innovative body of work that pushed the boundaries of what music could be. His expeditions of rhythm, noise, and experimentation continue to inspire and challenge authors to this day.
Our collection contains 10 quotes who is written / told by Edgard, under the main topic
Art.
Related authors: Richard Strauss (Composer), Arnold Schoenberg (Composer), Frank Zappa (Musician), Charles V (Royalty), John Cage (Composer), Karlheinz Stockhausen (Composer)
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