Luigi Russolo (1885 - 1947)
Related: futurism - Italy - music - sound art
At first the art of music sought and achieved purity, limpidity and sweetness of sound. Then different sounds were amalgamated, care being taken, however, to caress the ear with gentle harmonies. Today music, as it becomes continually more complicated, strives to amalgamate the most dissonant, strange and harsh sounds. In this way we come ever closer to noise-sound. --Luigi Russolo: "The Art of Noises" (1913)
Biography
Luigi Russolo (1885 Portogruaro (Veneto) - 1947 Cerro di Lavenio) was an Italian futurist painter composer and the author of Art of Noises (1913) and Musica Futurista. As indicated by the former title, he believed in and sought the use of noise in and as music, and even invented and built instruments: intonarumori ("intoners" or "noise machines"), mostly percussion, to create "noises" for performance. Unfortunately, none of the intonarumori survived World War II.
He worked closely with futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Luigi's brother Antonio Russolo also composed futurist music. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Russolo [Jan 2006]
Art of Noises (1913)
To most people, “The Art of Noise” means one thing: British superproducer Trevor Horn's early-'80s studio group and their still-cool hit “Close to the Edit.” But the band's moniker was taken from the name of an artistic manifesto written in 1913 by a painter-turned-composer named Luigi Russolo, a member of the now-legendary Italian Futurist movement. The Futurists were strident iconoclasts who sought to represent the Machine Age staples of speed, noise and progress through aggressive, dynamic art and music. -- James Rotondi http://remixmag.com/ar/remix_luigi_russolo/Futurism and Music Halls/Variety Theatre
Futurists praised the qualities of the popular entertainment of variety theatres and music halls.