XenakisAlloys
In 1947, en route from Athens to America, Iannis Xenakis stopped in Paris. He was introduced to the famous architect Le Corbusier and began working with him on architectural projects. In 1951, pursuing his interest in music, he met the composer Olivier Messiaen and attended his class at the Paris Conservatory.
As Xenakis’s musical ideas became better known, he was invited to prepare a Doctorat d’État, equivalent to a PhD, presenting his life’s work (music scores, architectural projects, writings). The defense for his Doctorat d’État took place on May 18, 1976, at the Sorbonne in Paris. The jury included five eminent French intellectuals: Michel Ragon, architecture historian; Olivier Revault d’Allonnes, philosopher; Michel Serres, science historian; Bernard Teyssèdre, art critic; and Olivier Messiaen, composer. Xenakis was awarded a Doctor of Letters and Humanities with a Very Honorable ranking.
Originally published in 1985 by Pendragon Press, this ebook is a revised edition of Sharon Kanach’s original translation that features new references and explanations that provide exceptional insight into Xenakis’s thoughts on music and on its link between arts and sciences as alloys.
The cover image is based on the Polytope of Cluny.
A polytope is a multimedia spectacle of light and sound. The Polytope of Cluny took place in 1972-73 in Paris at the Roman Thermal Baths of the Cluny Museum, a space of stone in the 5th arrondissement between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-Jacques.
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Iannis Xenakis: Who Is He?
Iannis Xenakis is one of the most original and important of the post-World War II composers: he is original and important because his music redefines the traditional principles of musical structure; and post-World War II because of the chronology of his career. But there’s more to it … go here
Listen!
Diamorphoses (composed in 1957, then presented at the Polytope de Persepolis in 1967)
Concrete PH (composed in 1958 for the Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair)
S.709 (composed in 1994 with software titled GENDYN)