Yannis Xenakis, Music: History, Composers, And Performers, Biographies

Related Category: Music: History, Composers, And Performers, Biographies

Yannis Xenakis[yAn´is zAnA´kis] Pronunciation Key, 1922–2001, Greek-French composer, b. Braila, Romania. Xenakis studied civil engineering in Athens (1940–47) and worked as an architect in Paris (1947–59) with Le Corbusier. He was also a composition pupil of Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Olivier Messiaen. Xenakis used both Greek folk elements and twelve-tone technique in his music. He also developed a "probabilistic" technique of composition, based on the mathematical probability of the recurrence of notes and rhythms. His works include MEtastasis (1953–54) for orchestra, Pithoprakta (1957) for strings, and Achorripsis (1958) for 21 instruments. In 1958, Xenakis collaborated with Edgar VarEse on the PoEme Electronique. His later compositions often include electronic sound, as in Bohor (1962) and Polytope de Cluny (1972), or virtuoso percussion, as in Psappha (1975), Rebonds (1988), and his last piece, O : Mega (1997). He was a founder of the Centre d'Etudes MathEmatiques et Automatiques in Paris and of the Center for Mathematical and Automated Music at Indiana Univ. Xenakis wrote several treatises explaining his various theories.

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