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Categories: Sound
Source text:
Russolo, Luigi «L'Arte dei Rumori»
Relevant passages:
Dieter Daniels «Media → Art / Art → Media
Forerunners of media art in the first half of the twentieth century»
Golo Föllmer «Audio Art»
Luigi Russolo
«Intonarumori»
After a «long and unending period of research in his laboratory,» futuristic painter Luigi Russolo builds what he calls the «intonarumori,» devices for producing a broad spectrum of modulated, rhythmic sounds similar to those made by machines, but without imitating or reproducing them. These sounds are to be understood rather as «abstract materials» freed of their mechanical origins and now under human control, writes Russolo in his extensive Sound Art Manifesto. By composing pieces for the «intonarumori,» Russolo also develops a new, graphic form of musical score. In 1914, the first concert for 18 «intonarumori,» a work divided into eight different categories of sounds, caused a huge scandal in Milan. In 1914 as well, the twelve concerts staged in London drew more positive reactions. After World War I, concerts for «intonarumori» were staged together with classical symphony orchestras.
DD
