Iannis Xenakis - Revision history

Diogooutra at 15:39, 12 February 2020

2020-02-12T15:39:00Z

Diogooutra: /* 1922–47: Early years */

2020-02-12T15:38:18Z

‎1922–47: Early years

Diogooutra: /* 1922–47: Early years */

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‎1922–47: Early years

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‎Cited sources

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Diogooutra at 15:21, 12 February 2020

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Diogooutra at 15:18, 12 February 2020

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Diogooutra at 18:31, 11 February 2020

2020-02-11T18:31:03Z

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2020-02-11T16:16:37Z

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 Xenakis himself describes this period of his life as such (in ''Le fait culturel'' by Gérard Montassier, 1980):
-''"War came and I joined the resistance against the Germans: nationalist organizations, and then communist ones. At the time, those were the only groups that were well structured, and they could demonstrate a sense of total sacrifice. There was a time when perhaps 60 or 70 % of the Greek population had joined the Communist Party, until it committed such political errors that the Right won, and remained in power practically until the Colonels.
+''"War came and I joined the resistance against the Germans: nationalist organizations, and then communist ones. At the time, those were the only groups that were well structured, and they could demonstrate a sense of total sacrifice. There was a time when perhaps 60 or 70 % of the Greek population had joined the Communist Party, until it committed such political errors that the Right won, and remained in power practically until the Colonels.''
-During these war years I was often imprisoned. Then I fought against the English, who had demanded that the liberation forces give up their weapons. The English bombed the city with their fleet and aviation, and they even installed canons at the Acropolis, something the Germans had never dared do. It was during this combat that I was wounded.
+''During these war years I was often imprisoned. Then I fought against the English, who had demanded that the liberation forces give up their weapons. The English bombed the city with their fleet and aviation, and they even installed canons at the Acropolis, something the Germans had never dared do. It was during this combat that I was wounded.''
-Even before the end of the war, I had decided, in my distress, to compose music. Only music could help me regain a little calm."''
+''Even before the end of the war, I had decided, in my distress, to compose music. Only music could help me regain a little calm."''
 The Technical University operated intermittently during these years. Despite this, and Xenakis's other activities, he was able to graduate in 1947, with a degree in civil engineering. [14] Xenakis was then conscripted into the national armed forces. Around 1947 the Greek government began arresting former resistance members that were left-wing oriented and were sent to prison. Xenakis, fearing for his life, went into hiding. With the help of his father and others he fled Greece through Italy. Later, when publishing the score for his work ''Nuits'', which he had been working on while still in Greece, he would include the following dedication to political prisoners in Greece and elsewhere:

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 Even before the end of the war, I had decided, in my distress, to compose music. Only music could help me regain a little calm."''
-The Technical University operated intermittently during these years. Despite this, and Xenakis's other activities, he was able to graduate in 1947, with a degree in civil engineering. [14] Xenakis was then conscripted into the national armed forces. Around 1947 the Greek government began arresting former resistance members that were left-wing oriented and were sent to prison. Xenakis, fearing for his life, went into hiding. With the help of his father and others he fled Greece through Italy. On 11 November 1947 he arrived in Paris. In a late interview, Xenakis admitted to feeling tremendous guilt at leaving his country, and that guilt was one of the sources of his later devotion to music:
+The Technical University operated intermittently during these years. Despite this, and Xenakis's other activities, he was able to graduate in 1947, with a degree in civil engineering. [14] Xenakis was then conscripted into the national armed forces. Around 1947 the Greek government began arresting former resistance members that were left-wing oriented and were sent to prison. Xenakis, fearing for his life, went into hiding. With the help of his father and others he fled Greece through Italy. Later, when publishing the score for his work ''Nuits'', which he had been working on while still in Greece, he would include the following dedication to political prisoners in Greece and elsewhere:
 ''"For years I was tormented by guilt at having left the country for which I'd fought. I left my friends—some were in prison, others were dead, some managed to escape. I felt I was in debt to them and that I had to repay that debt. And I felt I had a mission. I had to do something important to regain the right to live. It wasn't just a question of music—it was something much more significant."'' [15]

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 == Biography ==
 === 1922–47: Early years ===
 Xenakis was born in Brăila, [[:Category:Romania|Romania]]. He was the eldest son of Klearchos Xenakis, a Greek businessman from Euboea, and Fotini Pavlou from Lemnos. His parents were both interested in music, and it was Fotini who introduced the young Xenakis to music. Her early death, when Xenakis was five years old, was a traumatic experience that, in his own words, "deeply scarred" the future composer. [5] He was subsequently educated by a series of governesses, and then, in 1932, sent to a boarding school on the Aegean island of Spetses, Greece. He sang in the school's boys' choir, where the repertoire included works by Palestrina, and Mozart's ''Requiem'', which Xenakis memorized in its entirety. [6] It was also at the Spetsai school that Xenakis studied notation and solfège, and became enamoured with Greek traditional and sacred music. [6]
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 In 1938, after graduating from the Spetses school, Xenakis moved to Athens to prepare for entrance exams at the National Technical University of Athens. Although he intended to study architecture and engineering, he also took lessons in harmony and counterpoint with Aristotelis Koundouroff. [7] In 1940 he successfully passed the exams, but his studies were cut short by the Greco-Italian War, which began with the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940. Although Greece eventually won the war, it was not long before the German army joined the Italians in the Battle of Greece, in April 1941. This led to the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, which lasted until late 1944, when the Allies began their drive across Europe, forcing the Axis forces to withdraw. Xenakis joined the National Liberation Front early during the war, participating in mass protests and demonstrations, and later becoming part of armed resistance—this last step was a painful experience Xenakis refused to discuss until much later in life. [8][9] After the Axis forces left, Churchill ordered that British forces step in to help restore the Greek monarchy; they were opposed by the Democratic Army of Greece, and the country plunged into a civil war. In December 1944, during the period of Churchill's martial law, [10] Xenakis (who was by then a member of the communist students' company of the left-wing Lord Byron faction of ELAS) became involved in street fighting against British tanks. He was wounded and facially disfigured when shrapnel from a tank blast hit his cheek and left eye, which was blinded; [11] that Xenakis survived the injury has been described as a miracle. [12][13]
-[[File:Reflexion.jpg|thumb|Xenakis in his studio, Paris, circa 1987. Picture presented here courtesy of the Friends of Xenakis organization.]]
+Xenakis himself describes this period of his life as such (in ''Le fait culturel'' by Gérard Montassier, 1980):
 The Technical University operated intermittently during these years. Despite this, and Xenakis's other activities, he was able to graduate in 1947, with a degree in civil engineering. [14] Xenakis was then conscripted into the national armed forces. Around 1947 the Greek government began arresting former resistance members that were left-wing oriented and were sent to prison. Xenakis, fearing for his life, went into hiding. With the help of his father and others he fled Greece through Italy. On 11 November 1947 he arrived in Paris. In a late interview, Xenakis admitted to feeling tremendous guilt at leaving his country, and that guilt was one of the sources of his later devotion to music:

@@ Line 105: / Line 105: @@
 * Matossian, Nouritza (1986). Xenakis. London: Kahn and Averill. ISBN 1-871082-17-X.
 * Varga, Bálint András (1996). Conversations with Iannis Xenakis. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-17959-2.
 == Further reading ==

@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 == External links ==
 * [http://xenakis.musicportal.gr/ xenakis.musicportal.gr from the Institute for Research on Music and Acoustics, Athens (Greece) – in Greek and English with many score and audio examples]
 * [http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/ Iannis-Xenakis.org by the Friends of Xenakis]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Xenakis pioneered the use of mathematical models in music such as applications of set theory, stochastic processes and game theory and was also an important influence on the development of electronic and computer music. He integrated music with architecture, designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances.
 Among his most important works are ''Metastaseis'' (1953–54) for orchestra, which introduced independent parts for every musician of the orchestra; percussion works such as ''Psappha'' (1975) and ''Pléïades'' (1979); compositions that introduced spatialization by dispersing musicians among the audience, such as ''Terretektorh'' (1966); electronic works created using Xenakis's UPIC system; and the massive multimedia performances Xenakis called polytopes, which were a distillation of his interests and skills. [4] Among the numerous theoretical writings he authored, the book ''Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition'' (French edition 1963, English translation 1971) is regarded as one of his most important. As an architect, Xenakis is primarily known for his early work under Le Corbusier: the Sainte Marie de La Tourette, on which the two architects collaborated, and the Philips Pavilion at Expo 58, which Xenakis designed by himself.
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 === 1947–59: Architecture and music ===
 Although he was an illegal immigrant in Paris, Xenakis was able to get a job at Le Corbusier's architectural studio. He worked as engineering assistant at first, but quickly rose to performing more important tasks, and eventually to collaborating with Le Corbusier on major projects. These included a kindergarten on the roof of an apartment block in Nantes (Rezé) (Also: Unité d'Habitation of Nantes-Rezé), parts of government buildings in Chandigarh, India, the "undulatory glass surfaces" of Sainte Marie de La Tourette, a Dominican priory in a valley near Lyon, and the Philips Pavilion at Expo 58 — the latter project was completed by Xenakis alone, from a basic sketch by Le Corbusier. [17] The experience Xenakis gained played a major role in his music: important early compositions such as ''Metastaseis B'' (1953–54) were based directly on architectural concepts.
 At the same time, while working for Le Corbusier, Xenakis was studying harmony and counterpoint, and composing. He worked long and hard, frequently far into the night, [18] and sought guidance from a number of teachers, most of whom, however, ultimately rejected him. Such was the case with Nadia Boulanger, who was the first person Xenakis approached about lessons. He then tried studying with Arthur Honegger, whose reaction to Xenakis's music was unenthusiastic. As Xenakis recounted in a 1987 interview, Honegger dismissed a piece which included parallel fifths and octaves as "not music". Xenakis, who was by that time well acquainted with music of Debussy, Béla Bartók, and Stravinsky, all of whom used such devices and much more experimental ones, was furious and left to study with Darius Milhaud, but these lessons also proved fruitless. [19] Then, Annette Dieudonné, a close friend of Boulanger's, recommended that Xenakis try studying with Olivier Messiaen. [20] Xenakis approached Messiaen for advice: should he once again start studying harmony and counterpoint? Messiaen later recalled:
 ''"I understood straight away that he was not someone like the others. [...] He is of superior intelligence. [...] I did something horrible which I should do with no other student, for I think one should study harmony and counterpoint. But this was a man so much out of the ordinary that I said... No, you are almost thirty, you have the good fortune of being Greek, of being an architect and having studied special mathematics. Take advantage of these things. Do them in your music." [21]''
 Francisco Estévez has described this work as "mathematical formulas translated . . . into beautiful, exciting, and above all, convincing music." [22]
 Xenakis attended Messiaen's classes regularly in 1951–53. Messiaen and his students studied music from a wide range of genres and styles, with particular attention to rhythm. [23] Xenakis's compositions from 1949–52 were mostly inspired by Greek folk melodies, as well as Bartók, Ravel, and others; after studying with Messiaen, he discovered serialism and gained a deep understanding of contemporary music (Messiaen's other pupils at the time included, for example, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Jean Barraqué). Messiaen's modal serialism was an influence on Xenakis's first large-scale work, ''Anastenaria'' (1953–54): a triptych for choir and orchestra based on an ancient Dionysian ritual. The third part of the triptych, ''Metastaseis'', is generally regarded as the composer's first mature piece; it was detached from the triptych to mark the beginning of the "official" Xenakis oeuvre. [17]
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 === Later life ===
 After leaving Le Corbusier's studio in 1959, Xenakis supported himself by composition and teaching, and quickly became recognized as one of the most important European composers of his time. He became especially known for his musical research in the field of computer-assisted composition, for which he founded the Equipe de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales (EMAMu) in 1966 (known as CEMAMu: Centre d’Etudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales, since 1972). He taught at Indiana University in 1967–72 (and established a studio similar to EMAMu there), and worked as visiting professor at the Sorbonne in 1973–89. [17] Xenakis frequently gave lectures (for instance, from 1975 to 1978 he was Professor of Music at Gresham College, London, giving free public lectures), [29] taught composition, and his works were performed at numerous festivals worldwide, including the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran. Notable students include Pascal Dusapin, Henning Lohner, Miguel Ángel Coria and Susan Frykberg.
 In addition to composing and teaching, Xenakis also authored a number of articles and essays on music. Of these, ''Musiques formelles'' (1963) became particularly known. A collection of texts on applications of stochastic processes, game theory and computer programming in music, it was later revised, expanded and translated into English as ''Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition'' (1971) during Xenakis's tenure at Indiana University.
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 == Works ==
 Specific examples of mathematics, statistics, and physics applied to music composition are the use of the statistical mechanics of gases in ''Pithoprakta'', statistical distribution of points on a plane in ''Diamorphoses'', minimal constraints in ''Achorripsis'', the normal distribution in ''ST/10'' and ''Atrées'', Markov chains in ''Analogique'', game theory in ''Duel'', ''Stratégie'', and ''Linaia-agon'', group theory in ''Nomos Alpha'' (for Siegfried Palm), set theory in ''Herma'' and ''Eonta'', [34] and Brownian motion in ''N'Shima''. Persephassa, commissioned by the Shiraz Arts Festival, performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourg, receiving its world premiere in Persepolis in 1969. This is a "polytope" composed specific to the historic site. Subsequently, he was once again commissioned by the Shiraz Arts Festival and composed Persepolis for the occasion. [35]
 Although electroacoustic compositions represent only a small fraction of Xenakis's output, they are highly relevant to musical thinking in the late 20th century. Important works in this medium include ''Concret PH'' (1958), ''Analogique A–B'' (1958–59), ''Bohor'' (1962), ''La légende d'Eer'' (1977), ''Mycenae-Alpha'' (1978), ''Voyage absolu des Unari vers Andromède'' (1989), ''Gendy301'' (1991), and ''S709'' (1994).[36]
-[[File:XenakisCorbusier.jpg|thumb|Xenakis and Le Corbusier circa 1955. Picture courtesy of the Friends of Xenakis organization.]]
+[[File:XENAKISOrdinateur.jpg|thumb|Xenakis with UPIC in 1989. Picture presented here courtesy of the Friends of Xenakis organization.]]By 1979, he had devised a computer system called UPIC, which could translate graphical images into musical results. [37] "Xenakis had originally trained as an architect, so some of his drawings, which he called 'arborescences', resembled both organic forms and architectural structures." These drawings' various curves and lines that could be interpreted by UPIC as real time instructions for the sound synthesis process. The drawing is, thus, rendered into a composition. ''Mycenae-Alpha'' was the first of these pieces he created using UPIC as it was being perfected. [38]
 == Writings ==
 Xenakis, Iannis. 2001. Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition (Harmonologia Series No.6). Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 1-57647-079-2
 == References ==
 * Gagné, Nicole V. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810867656. p. 299: "Xenakis settled in Paris, becoming a French citizen in 1965."
 *  Hoffmann: "[Xenakis] belonged to the pioneering generation of composers who revolutionized 20th-century music after World War II."

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	Iannis Xenakis (also spelt as Yannis Xenakis) (Greek: Γιάννης (Ιάννης) Ξενάκης [ˈʝanis kseˈnacis]; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a [[:Category:Greece\|Greek]]-French composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer. After 1947, he fled Greece, becoming a naturalized citizen of France. [1] He is considered an important post-World War II composer whose works helped revolutionize 20th century classical music.[2][3]		Iannis Xenakis (also spelt as Yannis Xenakis) (Greek: Γιάννης (Ιάννης) Ξενάκης [ˈʝanis kseˈnacis]; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a [[:Category:Greece\|Greek]]-French composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer. After 1947, he fled Greece, becoming a naturalized citizen of France. [1] He is considered an important post-World War II composer whose works helped revolutionize 20th century classical music.[2][3]

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 * [http://xenakis.musicportal.gr/ xenakis.musicportal.gr from the Institute for Research on Music and Acoustics, Athens (Greece) – in Greek and English with many score and audio examples]
 * [http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/ Iannis-Xenakis.org by the Friends of Xenakis]
-* [http://www.medieval.org/music/modern/xenakis.html * Medieval.org: Modern Music: Xenakis]
+* [http://www.medieval.org/music/modern/xenakis.html Medieval.org: Modern Music: Xenakis]
 * [http://www.sergioluque.com/stochastics Luque, Sergio. 2009. "The Stochastic Synthesis of Iannis Xenakis." Leonardo Music Journal (19): 77–84]
 * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514135847/http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/formcat/actuel/XENAKIS2006.pdf Works catalogue 70-page PDF from Xenakis's publisher [https://web.archive.org/web/20160208011815/http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/ Éditions Durand-Salabert-Eschig]

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 == External links ==
-[http://xenakis.musicportal.gr/ * xenakis.musicportal.gr from the Institute for Research on Music and Acoustics, Athens (Greece) – in Greek and English with many score and audio examples]
+* [http://xenakis.musicportal.gr/ xenakis.musicportal.gr from the Institute for Research on Music and Acoustics, Athens (Greece) – in Greek and English with many score and audio examples]
+* [http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/ Iannis-Xenakis.org by the Friends of Xenakis]
-[http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/ * Iannis-Xenakis.org by the Friends of Xenakis]
+* [http://www.medieval.org/music/modern/xenakis.html * Medieval.org: Modern Music: Xenakis]
+* [http://www.sergioluque.com/stochastics Luque, Sergio. 2009. "The Stochastic Synthesis of Iannis Xenakis." Leonardo Music Journal (19): 77–84]
-[http://www.medieval.org/music/modern/xenakis.html * Medieval.org: Modern Music: Xenakis]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514135847/http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/formcat/actuel/XENAKIS2006.pdf Works catalogue 70-page PDF from Xenakis's publisher [https://web.archive.org/web/20160208011815/http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/ Éditions Durand-Salabert-Eschig]
+* [http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2822 Iannis Xenakis @ Boosey & Hawkes Publisher]
-[http://www.sergioluque.com/stochastics * Luque, Sergio. 2009. "The Stochastic Synthesis of Iannis Xenakis." Leonardo Music Journal (19): 77–84]
+* [http://www.furious.com/perfect/xenakis.html Iannis Xenakis: the aesthetics of his early works by Markos Zografos]
+* [http://leonardo.info/isast/spec.projects/Xenakisbib.html Iannis Xenakis Bibliography and Discography compiled by James Harley for Leonardo/ISAST]
 * Two articles by Grant Chu Covell (2006) documenting then-recent Xenakis recordings and books about Xenakis: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120219062421/http://www.lafolia.com/archive/covell/covell200610xenakis1.html Part 1] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120219062440/http://www.lafolia.com/archive/covell/covell200612xenakis2.html Part 2]
+* [http://brahms.ircam.fr/composers/composer/3397/ "Iannis Xenakis biography" (in French). IRCAM.]
-[http://brahms.ircam.fr/composers/composer/3397/ * "Iannis Xenakis biography" (in French). IRCAM.]
+* [http://www.musiquecontemporaine.fr/en/search?disp=all&query=Xenakis&exp_inl=on&exp_aud=on&so=ta Excerpts from sound archives of Xenakis's works.]
-[http://www.musiquecontemporaine.fr/en/search?disp=all&query=Xenakis&exp_inl=on&exp_aud=on&so=ta * Excerpts from sound archives of Xenakis's works.]
+* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/xenakis.html Interview with Iannis Xenakis, 25 March 1997]
 ''Text partially adapted from Wikipedia.''
 [[Category: Greek Profiles]]