Intonarumori
Intonarumori (dt. "Noise generator") are acoustic or mechanical instruments that generate noises. They were designed by the futuristic artist Luigi Russolo in the 1910s and 20s. In doing so, he expanded the spectrum of musical expression of the orchestra to include noise and elevated it to a musical design element. For this reason, Russolo is considered a forerunner of musique concrète .
The intonarumori were initially four and later up to 27 different instruments, named after the type of noises they produce. They consist of wooden boxes with horns that contain special devices for generating specific sounds. Various parameters of the sound such as pitch and volume can be changed using levers and cranks.
The original Russolo instruments have not been preserved. However, there are replicas for which further compositions have been written since 2009.
Influence and theoretical preparatory work
On February 21, 1913, Russolo saw the futuristic concert of the composer Balilla Pratella Musica Futurista in Rome . Inno alla vita - sinfonia futurista op.30 . Inspired by the concert, Russolo assessed the tonal possibilities of acoustic orchestral instruments as too limited and began to look for new, futuristic possibilities of tonal expression.
Only 20 days later, on March 11, 1913, Russolo wrote his manifesto L'arte dei rumori (The Art of Noises), first as a letter to Pratella. In 1916 he brought it out in the volume of the same name, along with other texts. This was the theoretical preparatory work for the intonarumori insofar as it propagated (random) noises as part of musical compositions.
With this, Russolo expressed the need to "go beyond this narrow circle of pure tones and to include the infinite variety of noise tones" in composed music, thus formulating "a new acoustic will". This corresponded to the zeitgeist, people like the musicologist Ferrucio Busoni had already expressed themselves in a similar way on the subject, for example in Saggio di una nuova estetica musicale (dt., Draft of a new aesthetic of musical art). He described z. B. in a text the Telharmonium by Thaddeus Cahill, which generated primordial sound waves in an electronic-mechanical way. During this time, organ-like acoustic instruments were created in various places around the world, which generated noises and which flowed into the development of electro-acoustic music. Apart from the decidedly musically motivated developments, machines were already used in theaters before that, making noises such as thunder and the like. Ä. Generated. In this context, Russolo researched microtonality , dissonance and dodecaphony , researched new basic rules and structures of music, sound sources and instruments. Russolo's musicalization of noise contributed to the emancipation of musical language from the dialectics consonance – dissonance, movement – standstill, graceful – non-gracious.
Russolo categorized the sounds in question into six "sound families":
- Humming, thundering, bursting, crackling, plopping, roaring
- Whistling, hissing, blowing
- Whispers, murmurs, humming, whirring, boiling
- Crunching, cracking, crackling, humming, rattling, rubbing
- Beats on metal, wood, leather, stones, ceramics
- Voices of animals and people: shouts, screams, roars, howls, laughs, rattles, sobs
Construction and functioning of the intonarumori
The intonarumori were 27 different instruments named for the type of noise they made. Russolo developed it together with the musician and painter Ugo Piatti, who worked as his assistant.
The intonarumori consist of wooden boxes with cardboard horns that contain specially treated membranes or eardrums and strings to produce the specific noises. Possibly. a cog rattles on the string, which is attached to the skin of a drum, which in turn acts as a resonator. A horn at the exit of the box increases the volume of the sound.
Using levers and cranks , musicians designated as helpers changed various parameters of the sound such as pitch (tension of the string) and volume using the notation specially created by Russolo.
The first four intonarumori that existed were ululatore (howler), rombatore (brewer), crepitatore (knatterer), stropicciatore (scratcher). Later came scoppiatore (crackers), ronzatore (brummer), gorgogliatore (gurgler), sibilatore (whistler), frusciatore (crackling), gracidatore (Quaker) and others. There are editions of individual intonarumori in different pitches or frequency spectra, others were able to reproduce larger spectra as a single instrument.
Performances with the intonarumori and reception
In 1913 and 1914 Russolo played his first concerts with the Intonarumori in Milan, Genoa and London. The audience responded with either great enthusiasm or great hostility.
In 1921 three concerts with 27 different intonarumori were played in Paris (on June 17th, 20th and 24th) under the title Trois concerts exceptionnels des briuteurs futuristes . There were six compositions by Antonio Russolo. The numerous artists present in the audience, such as B. Igor Stravinsky , Maurice Ravel , Arthur Honegger , Sergei Diaghilev and Piet Mondrian were positively received.
Piet Mondrian then wrote an extensive article about intonarumori in his magazine De Stijl under the title De “briuteurs futuristes italien” en “het” nieuwe in de muziek . He writes there u. a .: “While the classical instruments silently and artificially suppress the natural sounds, they show us the bruiteurs in stark everyday banality. The bruiteurs unconsciously demonstrate the need for instruments that do not produce natural sounds, and further show that 'art' is very different from 'nature'. "
In 1922 Balilla Pratella composed the work Tamburo di fuoco for a small orchestra and intonarumori, which was performed in Pisa, at the National Theater in Prague and at the Teatro Lirico in Milan. The text is by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and the set is by Enrico Prampolini.
In 1929, Russolo played his last concert in Paris to open a futuristic exhibition at Galerie 23 . The concert was presented by Edgar Varèse .
Further developments
In 1923, Russolo began to further develop the concept of sound generating instruments by developing the prototype of the Rumorarmonio . That was a sound harmonium in which he combined different intonarumori in one instrument. A helper controlled parameter changes of various sounds simultaneously in real time by operating pedals.
In 1925, Russolo patented the arco enarmonico (enharmonic bow) , "consisting of a kind of long screw that, when pulled diagonally across the string, makes it vibrate".
In 1931 Russolo patented the piano enarmonico , the enharmonic piano.
In 1932 Russolo wrote his last article on the subject of "music" under the title "L 'Enarmomismo" for the magazine Dinamo Futurista , since then other topics have occupied him more intensely than music.
Intonarumori in the present
Destruction of the originals
Most of the Intonarumori were destroyed by the bombing of Paris at the end of the Second World War , the whereabouts of the rest is unclear.
Contemporary replicas of the intonarumori
Using the construction sketches that were still available and a few audio recordings, reconstructions of the intonarumori could be made. In 2009, the artists Luciano Chessa and Luthier Keith Cary made replicas of the first intonarumori, which Russolo had built in 1913. There are 16 instruments that belong to eight different families of sounds and some of them produce different frequency ranges. A concert was played in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on October 16, 2009 as part of the Performa Festival, more followed on November 12 in New York in The Town Hall and in September 2010 in Rovereto in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art .
In 2013, on the 100th anniversary of Russolo's Manifesto, the artists Golan Levin, Spike Wolff and Carl Bajandas made ten more intonarumori at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, for which the composer John Ozbay wrote compositions.
The Dutch artist Wessel Westerveld made further replicas of the Intonarumori. However, the boxes are made of hardwood instead of softwood, and the horns - originally made of cardboard - he made of steel. There are also variants with an open construction, which make the functionality of the intonarumori visible. Westerveld plays the intonarumori together with the artist Yuri Landman.
Contemporary works for intonarumori
- Pauline Oliveros : Waking the Noise Intoners (2009)
- Joan La Barbara : Striations (2009)
- Jennifer Walshe and Tony Conrad : Fancy Palaces (2009)
- Blixa Bargeld : The Mantovani Machine Part I: Motor (2009)
- Blixa Bargeld: The Mantovani Machine Part II: Cucina (Gamberetti Eroica sul campo di battaglia) (2010)
- Blixa Bargeld: The Mantovani Machine Part III: Gas (2011)
- Lee Ranaldo : It all begins now (Whose Streets? Our Streets!) (2011)
- Theresa Wong : Meet Me at the Future Garden (2009)
- Christopher Auerbach-Brown : Money is the Devil (2016)
- Luciano Chessa: On dîne à la terrasse du Casino / Si pranza sulla terrazza del Kursaal (2010)
- Luciano Chessa: Vathek on the Edge of the Chasm (2013)
- James Fei : New Acoustical Pleasures (A Furious Meow) (2009)
- Ellen Fullman: Sunday Industrial (Post Futurist Reverie) (2009)
- Pablo Ortiz : Tango Futurista (2009)
- Mike Patton : Kostnice (2009)
- Teho Teardo : Oh! (2010)
- Miroslav Pudlak Intonarumori concerto (2018)
Web links
- thereminvox.com about Intonarumori
- digicult.it about intonarumori
- Russolo article on Bart Hopkin's website
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Daniele Lombardi: Luigi Russolo and the musicalization of noise. In: Irene Chytraeus-Auerbach, Georg Maag (ed.): Futurism: Art, Technology, Speed and Innovation at the Beginning of the 20th Century, pp. 77 ff.
- ↑ Luigi Russolo (1885-1947). In: Ubuweb: Sound, undated
- ↑ a b c d Micaela Mantegani: Luigi Russolo, Italy. 1885-1947. In: Ubuweb: Historical, undated
- ↑ Barclay Brown: The Noise Instruments of Luigi Russolo, in: Perspectives of New Music 20, No. 1 & 2 (Fall-Winter 1981, Spring-Summer 1982), pp. 31-48; Quote from p. 36
- ↑ Luciano Chessa: The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners. In: Website of the Performa Festival, Tech-Rider of The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners.
- ^ Intonarumori, in: Archive of the Festival Transart 10 , September 30, 2010