Grandfather of Modern Sound 

  The Futurists were activists in both the arts and politics. Marinetti, a lawyer, was the leader of the group. He saw the past as obsolete and sought to shape the future by publishing manifestos. The Futurists were basically a political movement until after world war one. Mussolini became a follower of the Futurists until he silenced them after attaining the power he needed. This embittered the Futurist and caused them to withdraw from politics.

 They wrote manifestos on visual arts, sculpture, painting, and music. We will concentrate on Russolo and his contribution to modern electronic music.

 Russolo had served in the war  as a motorcycle driver and been wounded.

 It was Russolo's belief that noise was the sound of music for the new century. In his manifesto Art of Noises  (1913), he wrote, "Ancient life was all silence. In the nineteenth century, with the invention of the machine, Noise was born. Today, Noise triumphs and reigns supreme over the sensibilities of men."(1) He further believed that rhythm and pitch selection had been determined at an early point in man's history and the complex components such as polyphony were man's ways of adding progress to music. It was because music had reached such a great complexity, he concluded that the incorporation of noise as part of the musical language was the next logical step. He further wrote, "we must break out of this narrow circle of pure musical sounds, and conquer the infinite variety of noise sounds...Let us wander through a great modern city with our ears more alert than our eyes, and enjoy distinguishing between the sounds of water, air, or gas in metal pipes, the purring of motors ) which breathe and pulsate with indisputable animalism), the throbbing of valves, the pounding of pistons, the screeching of gears, the clatter of streetcars on their rails, the cracking of whips, the flapping of awnings and flags. We shall enjoy fabricating the mental orchestrations of the banging of store shutters, the slamming of doors, the hustle and bustle of crowds, the din of railroad stations, foundries, spinning mills, printing presses, electric power stations, and underground railways." (2)

 In another manifesto, Musica Futurista, he wrote, "To present the musical soul of the masses, of the great factories, of the railways, of the transatlantic liners, of the battleships, of the automobiles and airplanes. To add to the great central themes of the musical poem the domain of the machine and the victorious kingdom of Electricity." (3)

   Russolo categorized noise-sounds into 6 separate groups.
 
 
 

(Present day post production sound effects composers should tip their hat to Russolo for subdividing effects decades before post production existed.)

   The first concert of Futurist music was given by Marinetti and Russolo in 1914. The program of "four networks of noises" with the following titles:

1. Awakening of Capital. 2. Meeting of cars and aeroplanes 3. Dining on the terrace of the Casino 4. Skirmish in the oasis.

The performance ended in a violent battle between the musicians and the audience.

    The Intoners were played by holding a lever, which controlled pitch by tone, semi-tone and fractional tone, with the left hand turning a crank, which determined the tone of the noise, with the right hand. None of the Intoners survived WWII.

 Although none of the works by the Futurists are held up as great examples of 20th century music, the redefinition of sound in music by the Futurists was an influence on the thinking of Varese and Schaefer. Today we find that noises in music are accepted, especially in popular music. Russolo caused musicians to take a look at their surroundings for inspiration. He convinced them to open their minds...and their ears.

More Futurist Pics

Related web sites:

Luigi Russolo and the Noise Machines

Russolo

Art of Noise Manifesto

Italian Futurist

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Luigi Russolo and The Art of Noise

Futurist Programmers