Edgard Varese

Edgard Varèse – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the visionary world of Edgard Varèse (1883–1965), the composer who conceived “organized sound.” Dive into his biography, musical philosophy, landmark works, influence on modern music, and memorable quotations.

Introduction

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French-born composer who became a naturalized American and is widely considered one of the pioneers of modern and electronic music.

Varèse rejected much of the traditions of classical harmony and structure in favor of new conceptions of sound, timbre, rhythm, and spatial organization. He coined the term “organized sound” to describe his aesthetic—seeking to treat noise, electronic resources, percussion, and new instruments as integral components of musical expression.

Though his total catalog is relatively modest in duration, his ideas and works have had outsized influence on later generations of composers, electronic and experimental musicians alike.

Early Life and Family

Varèse was born in Paris to a French mother and an Italian father, who was an engineer.

Soon after his birth he was sent to live with his maternal great-uncle in Burgundy (Le Villars), where he grew close to his grandfather Claude Cortot.

In 1893 his family moved to Turin, Italy, where he began his formal musical training.

He composed his first (lost) opera Martin Pas in 1895 during his early years in Italy.

His father expected him to pursue engineering, but Varèse increasingly gravitated toward music and sound study.

Youth, Education & Influences

Varèse studied at the Schola Cantorum in Paris under Vincent d’Indy (1903–1905), and then at the Paris Conservatoire under Charles-Marie Widor, while also associating with Albert Roussel.

He traveled and worked in Berlin beginning around 1907, where he was influenced by Ferruccio Busoni, Richard Strauss, and the emergent modernist sensibilities.

By 1915, Varèse relocated to New York, where he would remain for most of his creative life.

In the U.S., he immersed himself in avant-garde circles, experimenting with unconventional instruments (theremin, percussion, electronic devices) and forming organizations dedicated to new music.

Career and Achievements

Musical Philosophy & Innovation

Varèse’s core belief was that music should be conceived in terms of sound masses and spatial relationships rather than merely melody, harmony, or traditional development.

He treated sound almost as a physical substance, and thought of musical space as “open rather than bounded.”

Because he often rethought compositional materials before committing them, Varèse claimed, “I do not write experimental music. My experimenting is done before I make the music. Afterwards, it is the listener who must experiment.”

He also asserted that “our musical alphabet is poor and illogical,” indicating his desire to expand the palette of sounds used in composition.

Key Works & Periods

Some of Varèse’s most significant works include:

• Amériques (1918–1921; revised 1927) — marks his break into orchestral scale in the U.S.

• Offrandes, Hyperprism, Octandre, Intégrales — chamber or wind & percussion works exploring new textures in the early 1920s.

• Ionisation (1929–1931) — one of his most famous works, written for thirteen percussionists alone.

• Ecuatorial (1934) — combining voices, winds, percussion, and electronic instruments (theremins or ondes Martenot)

• Density 21.5 (1936) — a solo flute piece named after the specific gravity of platinum; minimalist but striking.

• Déserts (1950–1954) — for winds, percussion, and tape; a landmark work blending acoustic and electronic media.

• Poème électronique (1957–1958) — composed for the Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair; an immersive spatial sound installation heard via many speakers.

• Nocturnal (1961, unfinished) — for soprano, male chorus, and orchestra, exploring themes of night and depth.

Varèse also proposed large stage works and “cosmic” compositions like Espace and Astronomer (also called The One-All-Alone) that remained unrealized or partially destroyed.

Organizations and Promotion of New Music

• In 1921, he co-founded the International Composers’ Guild, with the aim of promoting new works and giving performances to avant-garde compositions.

• In 1926, he helped found the Pan-American Association of Composers to support music in the Americas.

• Varèse also interacted with engineers and electronic instrument inventors (e.g. Leon Theremin) to expand his expressive means.

Historical Context & Challenges

Varèse’s career spanned times of great change: from late Romantic and Impressionist idioms, through early modernism, to the postwar expansion of electronic and experimental music. His work often ran ahead of ready performance technology and public acceptability.

Many of Varèse’s scores were difficult to realize, and some early European works were lost in a warehouse fire.

He often faced financial hardship, insufficient institutional support, and technical constraints (especially in the early to mid 20th century).

Nevertheless, by mid-century, his reputation among avant-garde and experimental composers had grown, and he lived to see his ideas begin to be appreciated.

Legacy and Influence

Varèse’s influence is profound, especially in the realms of electronic music, sound art, and experimental composition:

• He is often called the “Father of Electronic Music” for his pioneering use of tape, electronic devices, and new instrumental techniques.

• Many later composers cite him as a key inspiration: Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and Frank Zappa among them.

• His concept of sound masses, spatialization, and timbre as structural elements has become foundational in electroacoustic, contemporary, and multimedia composition.

• His projects and incomplete works (edited or completed posthumously by students like Chou Wen-Chung) continue to be revived and reinterpreted.

• The record label Varèse Sarabande is named in tribute to him.

• His ideas have crossed boundaries, influencing not just classical music but also experimental rock, electronic, sound design, and music technology communities.

Personality, Approach & Vision

Varèse was intellectually ambitious, lifelong fascinated by science and engineering, and driven to expand the possibilities of sound.

He was unafraid to consider noise, unconventional instruments, spatial projection, and technological innovation as central musical tools.

He believed that the composer should challenge listeners, provoke new auditory perceptions and expand the boundaries of what music could be.

Although he composed relatively few pieces (compared to other major composers), he treated each work with great care, often revising and reworking, and always seeking to push expressive limits.

In late years, he was aided by students and assistants to realize or refine his sketches.

Famous Quotes of Edgard Varèse

Here are some quotations that illuminate Varèse’s philosophy and mindset:

“Music is organized sound.”

“Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.”

“Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.”

“I do not write experimental music. My experimenting is done before I make the music. Afterwards, it is the listener who must experiment.”

“Our musical alphabet is poor and illogical.”

“I don’t want to write any more for the old Man-power instruments and am handicapped by the lack of adequate electrical instruments for which I now conceive my music.”

“I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which … will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm.”

These sentences reveal his restless quest toward new sonic canvases, his impatience with traditional limitations, and his faith in future technologies to realize musical vision.

Lessons from Edgard Varèse

1. Expand your musical vocabulary
   Varèse teaches that to push art forward, one must not be constrained by inherited alphabets but must invent new grammars of sound.

2. Embrace technology as ally
   He saw electronic and mechanical devices not as gimmicks, but as core tools to extend expressive range.

3. Think spatially
   Music for Varèse is not temporal only, but spatial: how sound masses move, occupy, and clear space matters.

4. Prioritize experimentation in the sketching stage
   Much of his risk and discovery occurred before notation; the listener’s experience is where the work completes itself.

5. Challenge the listener
   He believed art should stretch perception, demand engagement, and provoke new auditory sensibilities.

6. Quality over quantity
   Varèse’s small but powerful oeuvre suggests that depth, boldness, and vision can outweigh prolific output.

Conclusion

Edgard Varèse stands as a major pivot point between tradition and modernity in music. He reimagined composition by elevating timbre, rhythm, spatialization, and electronics to structural roles. Though his descendants in sound are countless today, his vision retains a freshness and provocativeness: he compels us to listen differently, to hear sound as architecture, and to consider the boundaries between noise, music, and space.