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L'ART DES BRUITS
The slim volume of essays, presented here for the first time in English translation, is one of the significant documents of musical aesthetics of this century. If the book itself has remained the province of a mere handful of readers, its ideas, passed on through a variety of later musical and literary movements, became the inspiration for some of the most innovative artistic creations of modern times. Luigi Russolo anticipated-indeed, he may have precipitated-a whole range of musical and aesthetic notions that formed the basis of much of the avant-garde thought of the past several decades. His ideas were absorbed, modified, and eventually transmitted to later generations by a number of movements and individuals-among them the futurists, the Dadaists, and a number of composers and writers of the nineteen-twenties. The noise instruments he invented fascinated and infuriated his contemporaries, and he was among the earliest musicians to put the often-discussed microtone to regular practical use in Western music. Russolo's views looked forward to the time when composers would exercise an absolute choice and control of the sounds that their music employed. He was the precursor of electronic music before electronics had come of age.
48 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 1913
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About the author
Luigi Russolo
13 books14 followersLuigi Russolo — painter, composer, builder of musical instruments, and first-hour member of the Italian Futurist movement — was a crucial figure in the evolution of twentieth-century aesthetics. As creator of the first systematic poetics of noise and inventor of what has been considered the first mechanical sound synthesizer, Russolo looms large in the development of twentieth-century music.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
March 20, 2023
The fact that this was written in 1913 is insane. Essential reading for anyone into experimental music, anyone who wants to get into it, or for anyone baffled as to the appeal of it. It makes the case for why there's so much more to music than the forms we're used to incredibly elegantly and clarified a lot of things I've struggled to put into words myself. There's a few parts of this that could be described as dated when he goes into more specific examples of what types of music could be created, but they're such fun and interesting historical artefacts that they don't take away from the quality at all.
September 26, 2020
For the Sun Vision Press collection.
Not exactly a lot of bang for one's buck, but it's useful to have the major music manifestos all in one place and the Busoni is a nice addition. The publishers obviously took several public-domain translations and republished them in a single volume. The editing isn't very good, and the translation of "Destruction of the Quadrature" is a travesty. If you're just browsing, ditch the collection and just Google the manifestos (though be warned that "Chromatic Music" is by Bruno Corra, not Carlo Carrà as the index indicates). Otherwise Rainey, Poggi, and Wittman's Futurism anthology is MUCH more comprehensive and carefully edited if you can find a free/affordable copy of it.
Content-wise, I wouldn't go so far as to call the manifestos good, but they're certainly interesting. Pretty much what you would expect from a handful of misogynist guys in their early thirties trying to be the new European avant-garde.
Not exactly a lot of bang for one's buck, but it's useful to have the major music manifestos all in one place and the Busoni is a nice addition. The publishers obviously took several public-domain translations and republished them in a single volume. The editing isn't very good, and the translation of "Destruction of the Quadrature" is a travesty. If you're just browsing, ditch the collection and just Google the manifestos (though be warned that "Chromatic Music" is by Bruno Corra, not Carlo Carrà as the index indicates). Otherwise Rainey, Poggi, and Wittman's Futurism anthology is MUCH more comprehensive and carefully edited if you can find a free/affordable copy of it.
Content-wise, I wouldn't go so far as to call the manifestos good, but they're certainly interesting. Pretty much what you would expect from a handful of misogynist guys in their early thirties trying to be the new European avant-garde.
February 1, 2026
Manifesteissa vaan on sitä jotain.
Tämä kokoelma futuristi-taiteilija Luigi Russolon kirjoituksia on vinkeää luettavaa. Jäbillä meni kyllä lujaa (jollain myös fasistisen lujaa). Russollo esitellee kirjoituksissaan hälyorkesteriaan, jonka tarkoitus oli muuttaa urbaanin elämän häly uudenlaiseksi, tulevaisuuden musiikiksi.
Tässä ei siis ollut kyse siitä, että vain paukutellaan roskisten kansia yhteen lavalla vaan Russollo rakensi systeemiä, jossa näillä uusilla semi-elektronisilla soittolaitelle voitiin soittaan ihan oikeaa musiikkia: kehitteli nuotitusta ja valitteli soittajien virtuositeetin puutetta. Välillä käydään vähän Alpeilla sotimassa ja kuuntelemassa tykistön kammottavaa musiikkia ja välillä ylistetään veden äänien moninaisuutta.
Russolo ei juuri pidättele julistaessaan, että tämä uusi musiikki on infiniittisesti parempaa kuin vanha kuolettavan tylsä, toisteinen klasari. Maailma ei ollut aiemmin valmis hälymusiikkiin, mutta nyt urbaani äänimaisema on tehnyt korvamme sille kelpoisiksi. Niin paljon mahdollisuuksia.
No mutta Russolo kuitenkin jätti ajatuksissaan paikalleen useampia perinteisen musiikin konventioita, että mistään täydellisestä vallankumouksesta ei ole kyse. Sen verran radikaalia Russolon konsertointi kuitenkin oli, että hälyorkesterin ensimmäinen esitys päättyi mellakkaan.
Vallankumous eli ei Hälyjen taide tarjoaa kuitenkin kiinnostavan ikkunan taiteelliseen murroskohtaan ja näin musiikki-ummikkonakin on helppo nähdä mikä vaikutus näillä ajatuksilla on myöhemmin ollut.
Tämä kokoelma futuristi-taiteilija Luigi Russolon kirjoituksia on vinkeää luettavaa. Jäbillä meni kyllä lujaa (jollain myös fasistisen lujaa). Russollo esitellee kirjoituksissaan hälyorkesteriaan, jonka tarkoitus oli muuttaa urbaanin elämän häly uudenlaiseksi, tulevaisuuden musiikiksi.
Tässä ei siis ollut kyse siitä, että vain paukutellaan roskisten kansia yhteen lavalla vaan Russollo rakensi systeemiä, jossa näillä uusilla semi-elektronisilla soittolaitelle voitiin soittaan ihan oikeaa musiikkia: kehitteli nuotitusta ja valitteli soittajien virtuositeetin puutetta. Välillä käydään vähän Alpeilla sotimassa ja kuuntelemassa tykistön kammottavaa musiikkia ja välillä ylistetään veden äänien moninaisuutta.
Russolo ei juuri pidättele julistaessaan, että tämä uusi musiikki on infiniittisesti parempaa kuin vanha kuolettavan tylsä, toisteinen klasari. Maailma ei ollut aiemmin valmis hälymusiikkiin, mutta nyt urbaani äänimaisema on tehnyt korvamme sille kelpoisiksi. Niin paljon mahdollisuuksia.
No mutta Russolo kuitenkin jätti ajatuksissaan paikalleen useampia perinteisen musiikin konventioita, että mistään täydellisestä vallankumouksesta ei ole kyse. Sen verran radikaalia Russolon konsertointi kuitenkin oli, että hälyorkesterin ensimmäinen esitys päättyi mellakkaan.
Vallankumous eli ei Hälyjen taide tarjoaa kuitenkin kiinnostavan ikkunan taiteelliseen murroskohtaan ja näin musiikki-ummikkonakin on helppo nähdä mikä vaikutus näillä ajatuksilla on myöhemmin ollut.
October 22, 2020
"Entre la avalancha de declaraciones programáticas que se sucedieron en las vanguardias es quizá con el movimiento futurista con el que el manifiesto conquista un lugar central, no solo en la comunicación entre los artistas y su público, sino como género que escribe la historia del arte en primera persona. Un manifiesto que aún resuena en los oídos del arte sonoro es El arte de los ruidos, con el que “el padre del ruido” Luigi Russolo anticiparía muchos de los caminos que tomaría la música por venir.
De acuerdo con el programa general del movimiento futurista, Luigi Russolo asienta las bases para dinamitar los cánones y santuarios del arte tradicional -concretamente de la idea de música tradicional- para seguir la estela de la estética del dinamismo propia de la era de las máquinas. En el terreno de lo sonoro ello implicaba romper con la autonomía de la música, con “el círculo limitado de sonidos puros”, y explorar la dimensión infinita del “ruido-sonido”. Este texto supone el testimonio de las ideas que fundamentan la revolución del arte sonoro a los largo del siglo XX y, sobre todo, del trabajo que Russolo llevó a cabo a través de las experimentaciones sonoras y musicales de las cuales no sobreviven grabaciones.
La publicación de este libro llega coincidiendo con la exposición Disonata. Arte en sonido hasta 1980 que tiene lugar en el Museo Reina Sofía de Madrid. En esta muestra las palabras de Russolo se materializan en los “intonarumori”, dispositivos con los que el artista buscaba componer ese nuevo arte del ruido, un arte para escuchar el estruendo de la modernidad." Julia García
De acuerdo con el programa general del movimiento futurista, Luigi Russolo asienta las bases para dinamitar los cánones y santuarios del arte tradicional -concretamente de la idea de música tradicional- para seguir la estela de la estética del dinamismo propia de la era de las máquinas. En el terreno de lo sonoro ello implicaba romper con la autonomía de la música, con “el círculo limitado de sonidos puros”, y explorar la dimensión infinita del “ruido-sonido”. Este texto supone el testimonio de las ideas que fundamentan la revolución del arte sonoro a los largo del siglo XX y, sobre todo, del trabajo que Russolo llevó a cabo a través de las experimentaciones sonoras y musicales de las cuales no sobreviven grabaciones.
La publicación de este libro llega coincidiendo con la exposición Disonata. Arte en sonido hasta 1980 que tiene lugar en el Museo Reina Sofía de Madrid. En esta muestra las palabras de Russolo se materializan en los “intonarumori”, dispositivos con los que el artista buscaba componer ese nuevo arte del ruido, un arte para escuchar el estruendo de la modernidad." Julia García
September 28, 2021
5/5 -> Inspiring.
I had started to read this when the noises and their place in music just started to grab my attention. After reading it, my whole perception of music, of sound, of environment, and to some degree, of life changed. This is a must-read for any music fan, an inspiring book by a man who quite impressively conveys what noises came to mean to him, and attempts respectably to present a reasoning as to noises having an important future in music.
It's no question that "noises" did come to have a future way down the road in the history of music, whether it be its even more extensive use in classical avant-garde or the all-out noise making of the certain underground experimental circles, however, the question remains whether it occured the way Russolo had foreseen or otherwise. Was it thanks to our new daily soundscape, the eventual dead-end of the seemingly ever-complexifying western harmony, or some other reason? Feel free to enlighten me in the comment section.
Before finishing, I must add that Russolo geeking out over the intense noisescape of the modern warfare will forever remain one of my favorite lines of any written text
I had started to read this when the noises and their place in music just started to grab my attention. After reading it, my whole perception of music, of sound, of environment, and to some degree, of life changed. This is a must-read for any music fan, an inspiring book by a man who quite impressively conveys what noises came to mean to him, and attempts respectably to present a reasoning as to noises having an important future in music.
It's no question that "noises" did come to have a future way down the road in the history of music, whether it be its even more extensive use in classical avant-garde or the all-out noise making of the certain underground experimental circles, however, the question remains whether it occured the way Russolo had foreseen or otherwise. Was it thanks to our new daily soundscape, the eventual dead-end of the seemingly ever-complexifying western harmony, or some other reason? Feel free to enlighten me in the comment section.
Before finishing, I must add that Russolo geeking out over the intense noisescape of the modern warfare will forever remain one of my favorite lines of any written text
February 5, 2025
تقریبن صد سال پیش این متن درباره نویز نوشته شده
شدیدن برای دوستداران موسیقی خواندنش را توصیه میکنم
مانیفستها الان تاریخ مصرف گذشته به نظر نیرسند اما به نظرم باید چشمها رو شست و جوری دیگر شنید
شدیدن برای دوستداران موسیقی خواندنش را توصیه میکنم
مانیفستها الان تاریخ مصرف گذشته به نظر نیرسند اما به نظرم باید چشمها رو شست و جوری دیگر شنید
September 11, 2025
trop cool bravo luigi t'as raison #teamluigi #hereweherewego
March 19, 2008
Russolo's manifesto represents an important turning point in the history of music. Even before John Cage's embracing of noise (after all, Cage was a new-born babe when this manifesto was written), there was Russolo. How many noise-music enthusiasts of today are familiar w/ Italian Futurism? Some, but probably not the majority? Russolo:
"We must replace the limited variety of timbres of orchestral instruments by the infinite variety of timbres of noises obtained through special mechanisms.
"The musician's sensibility, once he is rid of facile, traditional rhythms, will find in the domain of noises the means of development and renewal, an easy task, since each noise offers us the union of the most diverse rhythms as well as its dominant one."
Alas, what little I've been able to hear of the concerts that such theory generated wasn't necessarily that exciting in contrast to what's developed since, but, HEY!, it's the thought that countdowns.
"We must replace the limited variety of timbres of orchestral instruments by the infinite variety of timbres of noises obtained through special mechanisms.
"The musician's sensibility, once he is rid of facile, traditional rhythms, will find in the domain of noises the means of development and renewal, an easy task, since each noise offers us the union of the most diverse rhythms as well as its dominant one."
Alas, what little I've been able to hear of the concerts that such theory generated wasn't necessarily that exciting in contrast to what's developed since, but, HEY!, it's the thought that countdowns.
September 13, 2012
Ah, the shock of the now as it happened! A really nice collection of manifestos and essays by the Italian Futurists who see sound, noise, and yes music as an important art form that matches up with the visual arts. The early 1900's and yet the manifestos read like from the Punk era. The need to destroy the past to make way for the Present or future is a very enticing idea. Yet, the Italian branch are very much aware of its past, so the tension between the new and its history is pretty exciting. Luigi Russolo and others are mapping out a new territory that we're still exploring. Essential reading for us explorers.
March 8, 2023
Soy fan de los manifiestos artísticos y los revuelos que causan, así que de entrada le traía ganas a este libro. Y me gusta mucho que hable sobre ondas sinusoidales antes de que existieran los sintetizadores, que vinieron a cambiar todo, y siguieron desarrollando lo que fue su invento, los intonarumori, unos intrumentos que hacían distintos tipos de ruido.
Con lo de la enarmonía (sonidos que se salen de la escala de notas temperada o tradicional), me hizo pensar en un documental sobre Ryuchi Sakamoto, (Coda), en donde habla sobre un piano que va a conocer, porque estaba en un lugar por donde pasó un tsunami, y él habla sobre cómo es que siente que ese es el piano hablando, porque no es un piano temperado, ya que los pianos se afinan con la notación tradicional, que no es natural a ellos. Si los dejas ser, es cuando muestran su tono natural. Russolo habla sobre esto, de hecho critica al piano como el instrumento más aburrido, porque no hay forma de escuchar otros tonos que no sean los que la afinación tradicional quiere que sean. Es interesante la discusión de esas cosas, aunque como pianista pienso distinto. Igual es una maravilla, y me encanta todo lo que plantea.
Con lo de la enarmonía (sonidos que se salen de la escala de notas temperada o tradicional), me hizo pensar en un documental sobre Ryuchi Sakamoto, (Coda), en donde habla sobre un piano que va a conocer, porque estaba en un lugar por donde pasó un tsunami, y él habla sobre cómo es que siente que ese es el piano hablando, porque no es un piano temperado, ya que los pianos se afinan con la notación tradicional, que no es natural a ellos. Si los dejas ser, es cuando muestran su tono natural. Russolo habla sobre esto, de hecho critica al piano como el instrumento más aburrido, porque no hay forma de escuchar otros tonos que no sean los que la afinación tradicional quiere que sean. Es interesante la discusión de esas cosas, aunque como pianista pienso distinto. Igual es una maravilla, y me encanta todo lo que plantea.
May 2, 2024
Una obra pionera que explora una de las facetas más originales del futurismo italiano. Con una audacia rupturista propia de las vanguardias históricas, Russolo propone el ruido como un elemento musical fundamental, anticipando géneros posteriores como la música concreta, el noise y la electrónica. Inspirado por la ciudad moderna y sus sonidos, Russolo eleva el oído al mismo nivel que el ojo de Baudelaire, encontrando poesía en las multitudes, las fábricas y las nuevas tecnologías.
Esta edición, traducida directamente del italiano y por primera vez al español en su totalidad, incluye el manifiesto futurista del arte de los ruidos escrito en 1913, así como una descripción de los instrumentos-máquina de Russolo, conocidos como intonarumori. Prologado por el renombrado compositor italiano Luciano Chessa, "El arte de los ruidos" sigue siendo relevante hoy en día, mostrando la fuerza y la belleza del arte convertido en práctica. Es una lectura imprescindible para cualquier persona interesada en la evolución de la música experimental y la exploración de nuevas formas de expresión artística.
Esta edición, traducida directamente del italiano y por primera vez al español en su totalidad, incluye el manifiesto futurista del arte de los ruidos escrito en 1913, así como una descripción de los instrumentos-máquina de Russolo, conocidos como intonarumori. Prologado por el renombrado compositor italiano Luciano Chessa, "El arte de los ruidos" sigue siendo relevante hoy en día, mostrando la fuerza y la belleza del arte convertido en práctica. Es una lectura imprescindible para cualquier persona interesada en la evolución de la música experimental y la exploración de nuevas formas de expresión artística.
January 7, 2024
Ang manipestong ito ay pumapaksa sa materyalisasyon ng anti-musikang pilosopiyang namayani sa kaisipan ng mga avant-gardeng musikero-pilosoper noong unang hati ng 1900s. Gayundin, paglalatag ito sa walang hanggang posibilidad ng musika, pagsipat sa horisonte ng eksperimental na mga genre na ipanganganak pa lamang at ngayon ay namumukod-tangi tulad ng industrial noise, field music, at ambient. Bigla kong naalala ang saglit na music phase ko nito: pinakinggan ko ang album nina Brian Eno, Celer, Windy & Carl, Tim Hecker; paborito ko ang Ravedeath, 1972 ni Tim Hecker na tagumpay sa pagsasanib ng musika at anti-musikang tesis ni Luigi Russolo. Ano pa nga bang absurdong imahe ng anti-musika kundi ang paghulog mula sa itaas ng gusali at pagwasak sa dambuhalang instrumentong kinaadikan nina Chopin at Beethoven, ng mga jazz artist na sina Davis, Mingus, Coltrane, at Shepp? Pero itong daldal ko ay munti pa lamang, puwing sa nais pukulin ng futuristang si Russolo. Para sa manipestong inilabas noong 1913, abante ang mga ideya ng may-akda.
October 5, 2025
i am really horrible about writing about books, as i cant fill in the words where there are none like for a lot of music or even a lot of movies. so i'll just say that this is very nice. it serves as a manifesto for straight up noise/industrial music of course, but more broadly serves as an advocation of new timbres beyond just narrow traditional instrumentation, which has been wonderfully realized in our present digital age through the sampling of our world and through the synthesis of new sounds in electronic music. It's not dense reading at all either, as Russolo's humorous contempt of the self-imposed limitations of classical music's timbres, and his joy at the potential of music in the future, is infectious.
if you don't like experimental music, it may serve you to read through this to understand the appeal. it may not convert you, but it will at least intrigue you. if you do like experimental music, still do read this! its a fun paper! and it may deepen your appreciation a bit for non-instrumental music.
if you don't like experimental music, it may serve you to read through this to understand the appeal. it may not convert you, but it will at least intrigue you. if you do like experimental music, still do read this! its a fun paper! and it may deepen your appreciation a bit for non-instrumental music.
December 7, 2022
Creo haberlo leído un fragmento antes cuando era chica, y ahora lo disfruté mucho más. Me gusta el repaso por la historia de la música que hace al comienzo y me hubiese gustado que se extendiera más en eso ya que luego de la Edad Media la descripción es muy rápida. Me gustó también el reconocimiento de los efectos de la industrialización no solo en la ciudad sino también en el campo y pienso que su propuesta es muy interesante y vanguardista. Se nota mucho también la amistad que mantenía con Marinetti en el texto.
July 11, 2023
"Let’s walk together through a great modern capital, with the ear more attentive than the eye, and we will vary the pleasures of our sensibilities by distinguishing among the gurglings of water, air and gas inside metallic pipes, the rumblings and rattlings of engines breathing with obvious animal spirits, the rising and falling of pistons, the stridency of mechanical saws, the loud jumping off trolleys on their rails, the snapping of whips, the whipping off flags." (Russolo Luigi, 1913)
Way, way ahead of his time. A century later, we're now perhaps unaware of the pastiche of the heavily processed noise of washing machines in our favourite song. It is exactly a text like this to remind people that there's ~absolutely~ no limit or rules in art and expression - for good or bad
Way, way ahead of his time. A century later, we're now perhaps unaware of the pastiche of the heavily processed noise of washing machines in our favourite song. It is exactly a text like this to remind people that there's ~absolutely~ no limit or rules in art and expression - for good or bad
September 16, 2021
An interesting manifesto calling for an infinite expansion of musical vocabulary. Russolo was hoping to enlarge and enrich more on the domain of musical sounds by envisioning machine-based music. This manifesto also included a description of the "First Concert of Futurist Noise Instruments" in Modena, Italy on June 2, 1913. A great read for music nerds.
October 28, 2022
Diejenigen, die auf dem Land wohnen, oder in den Bergen, oder an der See, haben eine viel höhere Stimme als die Städter, weil sie beim Sprechen häufig das Geräusch des Windes oder der Wellen übertönen müssen. Ebenfalls trifft dies aus ähnlichen Gründen auf Arbeiter gewisser Industrien zu, weil sie gezwungen sind, den ganzen Tag über mitten im Geräusch der laufenden Maschinen zu stehen.
September 6, 2025
noise. gnoise. i love noise, especially its interaction with industrial metal and avant-garde metal in general. i love how extimate it is, how much a visceral extrapolation of the death drive. was listening to Swans' latest album while reading this. my ears are disintegrating. there's music everywhere to those with ears to bleed. that's what Russolo says anyway.
March 19, 2020
Russolo disrupts musical paradigms by producing and explaining his innovative noise instruments that follow enharmonic notation. He argues that noise is music. The Art of Noises is an enjoyable text to read that shows how artists push the limits of the normative status-quo.
June 2, 2020
Inspiring. :)
September 27, 2021
Excellent book
November 8, 2021
≤—≥
Me parece irreal que el noise como género sea tan viejo. Mayor todavía que el jazz. Pero Russolo demuestra que es algo completamente lógico y necesario.
Me parece irreal que el noise como género sea tan viejo. Mayor todavía que el jazz. Pero Russolo demuestra que es algo completamente lógico y necesario.
December 19, 2023
Interesante pero flojito, cualquier persona que hoy en dia piense en el ruido llegaria a esas conclusiones.
August 29, 2024
cool. crazy this was written in 1913
April 14, 2025
very interesting and ahead of it's time
June 7, 2025
Fantastic— put into words my philosophy behind creating music that innovates rather than imitates. Incredible how relevant these works still are considering most of these were written in the 1920s
August 11, 2025
“Noise, gushing confusely and irregularly out of life, is never totally revealed to us and it keeps in store innumerable surprises for our benefit.”
Read
October 11, 2020El libro "El arte de los ruidos", de Luigi Russolo, destaca por su ingenuidad. Un siglo después, queda tristemente desfasado su proyecto "futurista" de añadir ruidos enarmónicos a la música; el futuro, a pesar de las arengas de los autodenominados futuristas, ha demostrado ser más rápido que los manifiestos.
La concepción mecanicista (por su interés en la "máquina" como reflejo del futuro) y mecánica (por lo analógico de su tecnología musical) que con tanto fervor propugna el futurismo de Russolo ha quedado desbancada por el advenimiento de lo digital. Se refiere, por ejemplo, a los "infinitos timbres" que podrán reproducir los "infinitos entonarruidos" que se construyan; pero el "entonarruidos", instrumento de gran volumen y construcción artesanal, solo puede reproducir un timbre, cuando actualmente los lenguajes MIDI e instrumentos VST, evolución de los sintetizadores de hace algunas décadas, tornan el ingenio del "entonarruidos" una mera y desafortunada excentricidad.
El sonido del "futuro" no es el de la ciudad maquinizada (por lo demás, una imagen manida que los futuristas adoraban y confundían con la quintaesencia de los nuevos tiempos), sino el de la posibilidad tímbrica "realmente infinita" del sintetizador y lo digital.
Son interesantes por lo anecdótico las observaciones sobre los ruidos de la calle y los de la guerra; pero en libros como este vemos el fracaso que fue el proyecto futurista, condenado desde su inicio y por su naturaleza y limitación (¿no lo previeron sus defensores?) a ser superado por el mismo futuro que quisieron fosilizar.
(Por otra parte, la música compuesta por el señor Russolo siguiendo estos principios, y usando sus propios "entonarruidos", bien puede ser un proyecto vital interesante, pero estéticamente supone un fracaso. Escúchese esta interpretación para salir de dudas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3KM... ).
La concepción mecanicista (por su interés en la "máquina" como reflejo del futuro) y mecánica (por lo analógico de su tecnología musical) que con tanto fervor propugna el futurismo de Russolo ha quedado desbancada por el advenimiento de lo digital. Se refiere, por ejemplo, a los "infinitos timbres" que podrán reproducir los "infinitos entonarruidos" que se construyan; pero el "entonarruidos", instrumento de gran volumen y construcción artesanal, solo puede reproducir un timbre, cuando actualmente los lenguajes MIDI e instrumentos VST, evolución de los sintetizadores de hace algunas décadas, tornan el ingenio del "entonarruidos" una mera y desafortunada excentricidad.
El sonido del "futuro" no es el de la ciudad maquinizada (por lo demás, una imagen manida que los futuristas adoraban y confundían con la quintaesencia de los nuevos tiempos), sino el de la posibilidad tímbrica "realmente infinita" del sintetizador y lo digital.
Son interesantes por lo anecdótico las observaciones sobre los ruidos de la calle y los de la guerra; pero en libros como este vemos el fracaso que fue el proyecto futurista, condenado desde su inicio y por su naturaleza y limitación (¿no lo previeron sus defensores?) a ser superado por el mismo futuro que quisieron fosilizar.
(Por otra parte, la música compuesta por el señor Russolo siguiendo estos principios, y usando sus propios "entonarruidos", bien puede ser un proyecto vital interesante, pero estéticamente supone un fracaso. Escúchese esta interpretación para salir de dudas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3KM... ).
February 26, 2023
The early 20th-century arts movement known as Futurism—fascism’s aesthetic offspring exhorting for, per its founder Filippo Marinetti, “violence, cruelty, and injustice”—was practiced mainly by writers and painters. Only a few musicians and composers took up Futurism’s mantle, sparked by Luigi Russolo’s “The Art of Noises: Futurist Manifesto.” Russolo himself was not a musician but instead a painter and inspired tinkerer who invented and composed for noise-making devices. The Art of Noises includes the title essay and other essays on noise as music and the instruments he invented—the intonarumori—to achieve the effects he was after.
What Russolo meant by “noise” included not just the cacophony of machinery: “we need only think of the rumble of thunder, the whistling of the wind, the roar of a waterfall, the babbling of a brook, the rustling of leaves, the trot of a retreating horse, the trembling jolts of a cart over cobblestones,” and so forth. The difference between noise and music is illustrated as the difference in sounds produced by a piece of sheet that is violently struck versus being bowed: “the vibration that the sheet received, given the violence of its excitation, was irregular” but the bowing “produc[ed] a regular and period vibration.” From this difference, Russolo deduces that “A noise is generally much richer in overtones than a sound” (Italics in the original throughout the review).
Furthermore, Russolo was not content to take unpitched sounds as they are but to “tame” them, set their pitches in a way that would allow for their orchestration. But in standardizing these pitches, Russolo was not interested in developing a bank of machines that merely imitate already-existing sounds. From there, Russolo goes on to tabulate “6 families of noises” and concludes his manifesto with eight proposals and their rationales for creating Futurist music.
After the manifesto are essays describing audience reactions to performances of his intonarumori, real-life examples of noise symphonies, and developing a notation system for his instruments. Russolo sums up the behavior of some members of the audience at the premiere performance of his noise-making machines who, to his exasperation, paid for tickets and made the trip to the theater solely “in order to refuse to listen to anything!!” The disrupters turned out to be musicians and music professors who, in turn, were accosted by Futurists in the audience, including Marinetti, who saw an opportunity for a brawl. Eleven of the disrupters were allegedly sent to the hospital, whereas the Futurists sent themselves to celebrate at a bar.
Given the celebration among Futurists of all that is violent, it is no surprise that Russolo comes to effuse about “The noises of war.” Russolo outlines the sounds, pitches, and timbres of the bullets, rifles, machine guns, grenades exploding, and rockets soaring, landing, and exploding that he heard while serving in the military during WWI. For the violent-minded Futurists, war produces the sounds of tomorrow’s symphonies. The noises symphonies produce should also include, per Russolo, “The noises of language”; i.e., the production by mouth of onomatopoeia, where “the consonant . . . represent[ing] noise . . . multipl[ies] the elements of expression and emotion,” examples and explanations of which come from Marinetti.
Chapters 7 and 8 focus on standardizing the notation of the noises and argue why standard systems of tuning should be abandoned. (His solutions either tend to be inelegant or already in existence but unacknowledged by Russolo.) And Chapter 9 describes the various types of intonarumori he has already invented, how they are operated, and the types of noises they produce, including Howlers, Roarers, and Cracklers, Rumblers, Rubbers, and Bursters, Bubblers, Buzzers, and Whistlers, and Gurglers.
Neither Igor Stravinsky or Edgar Varèse were impressed by Russolo’s instruments, perhaps in part because, as audience members complained, they were too quiet (!!) to hear, apart from some humming and buzzing.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
What Russolo meant by “noise” included not just the cacophony of machinery: “we need only think of the rumble of thunder, the whistling of the wind, the roar of a waterfall, the babbling of a brook, the rustling of leaves, the trot of a retreating horse, the trembling jolts of a cart over cobblestones,” and so forth. The difference between noise and music is illustrated as the difference in sounds produced by a piece of sheet that is violently struck versus being bowed: “the vibration that the sheet received, given the violence of its excitation, was irregular” but the bowing “produc[ed] a regular and period vibration.” From this difference, Russolo deduces that “A noise is generally much richer in overtones than a sound” (Italics in the original throughout the review).
Furthermore, Russolo was not content to take unpitched sounds as they are but to “tame” them, set their pitches in a way that would allow for their orchestration. But in standardizing these pitches, Russolo was not interested in developing a bank of machines that merely imitate already-existing sounds. From there, Russolo goes on to tabulate “6 families of noises” and concludes his manifesto with eight proposals and their rationales for creating Futurist music.
After the manifesto are essays describing audience reactions to performances of his intonarumori, real-life examples of noise symphonies, and developing a notation system for his instruments. Russolo sums up the behavior of some members of the audience at the premiere performance of his noise-making machines who, to his exasperation, paid for tickets and made the trip to the theater solely “in order to refuse to listen to anything!!” The disrupters turned out to be musicians and music professors who, in turn, were accosted by Futurists in the audience, including Marinetti, who saw an opportunity for a brawl. Eleven of the disrupters were allegedly sent to the hospital, whereas the Futurists sent themselves to celebrate at a bar.
Given the celebration among Futurists of all that is violent, it is no surprise that Russolo comes to effuse about “The noises of war.” Russolo outlines the sounds, pitches, and timbres of the bullets, rifles, machine guns, grenades exploding, and rockets soaring, landing, and exploding that he heard while serving in the military during WWI. For the violent-minded Futurists, war produces the sounds of tomorrow’s symphonies. The noises symphonies produce should also include, per Russolo, “The noises of language”; i.e., the production by mouth of onomatopoeia, where “the consonant . . . represent[ing] noise . . . multipl[ies] the elements of expression and emotion,” examples and explanations of which come from Marinetti.
Chapters 7 and 8 focus on standardizing the notation of the noises and argue why standard systems of tuning should be abandoned. (His solutions either tend to be inelegant or already in existence but unacknowledged by Russolo.) And Chapter 9 describes the various types of intonarumori he has already invented, how they are operated, and the types of noises they produce, including Howlers, Roarers, and Cracklers, Rumblers, Rubbers, and Bursters, Bubblers, Buzzers, and Whistlers, and Gurglers.
Neither Igor Stravinsky or Edgar Varèse were impressed by Russolo’s instruments, perhaps in part because, as audience members complained, they were too quiet (!!) to hear, apart from some humming and buzzing.
For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...
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