Home > Edgar Varèse

He spent the first few years in the United States meeting important contributors to American music, promoting his vision of new electronic music instruments, conducting orchestras, and founding the New Symphony Orchestra . It was also about this time that Varèse began work on his first composition in the United States, Amériques , which was finished in 1921. It was at the completion of this work that Varèse along with Carlos Salzedo founded the International Composers' Guild, dedicated to the performances of new compositions of both American and European composers, for which he composed many of his pieces for orchestral instruments and voices, specifically, during the first half of the 1920s, he composed Offrandes , Hyperprism , Octandre , and Intégrales .

In 1928, Varèse returned to Paris to alter one of the parts in Amériques to include the recently constructed Ondes Martenot. Varèse followed Amériques by composing his most famous non-electronic piece about 19301930 is the common year starting on Wednesday. see link for calendar) Events January-February January 6 The first diesel-engine automobile trip is completed ( Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City). January 27 Miguel Primo de Rivera resigns January 30 G entitled Ionisation , the first piece to feature solely percussionPercussion instruments are played by being struck or shaken. They are perhaps the oldest form of musical instruments. Some percussion instruments play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony. Classifications Most percussion instruments have a distinc instruments. Although it was composed with pre-existing instruments, Ionisation was composed as an exploration of new sounds and methods to create them. In 1933Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 See also 1933 in aviation 1933 in film 1933 in literature 1933 in mu, while Varèse was still in Paris, he wrote to the Guggenheim Foundation and Bell Laboratories in an attempt to receive a grant to develop an electronic music studio. His next composition, Ecuatorial, completed in 1934Events January-April January 1 Alcatraz becomes a federal prison. January 7 First Flash Gordon comic strip is published. January 10 Execution of Marinus van der Lubbe January 24 Einstein visits White House January 26 The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, Ne, contained parts for thereminLeon Theremin playing an early Theremin The Thereminvox or Theremin is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments. Invented in 1919 by Russian Lev Sergeivitch Termen (later gallicized to Leon Theremin), the Thereminvox was an offshoot of govs, and Varèse, anticipating the successful receipt of one of his grants, eagerly returned to the United States to finally realize his electronic music.

Varèse wrote his Ecuatorial for two fingerboard ThereminLeon Theremin playing an early Theremin The Thereminvox or Theremin is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments. Invented in 1919 by Russian Lev Sergeivitch Termen (later gallicized to Leon Theremin), the Thereminvox was an offshoot of govs, bassBass ( SAMPA: [beIs], rhyming with "face"), when used as an adjective, describes tones of low frequency. Played in an ensemble/ orchestra such notes are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter- melody, in an harmonic context either to outline singer, windsA wind instrument consists of a tube containing a column of air which is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set into the end of the tube. The pitch is determined by the length of the tube and hence the length of the vibra and percussion in the early 1930s. It was premiered on April 15 1934, under the baton of Nicolas Slonimsky. Then Varèse left New York City, where he had lived since 1915, and moved to Santa Fe, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1936 he wrote Density 21.5. By the time Varèse returned in late 1938, Leon Theremin had returned to Russia. This devastated Varèse, who had hoped to work with Theremin on a refinement of his instrument. Varèse had also promoted the theremin in his Western travels, and demonstrated one at a lecture at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque on November 12 1936. The University of New Mexico has an RCA theremin, which may be the same instrument.

When, in the late 1950s, Varèse was approached by a publisher about making Ecuatorial available, there were very few theremins--let alone fingerboard theremins--to be found, so he rewrote/relabelled the part for Ondes Martenot. This new version was premiered in 1961.