Alvin Lucier — the American composer of experimental music and sound artist known best for his 1969 work I Am Sitting in a Room — has died. Lucier's passing was first confirmed by video artist and former spouse Mary Lucier, while daughter Amanda Lucier told The New York Times that the composer died of complications following a fall. He was 90.
In tribute to the late artist, Lingua Ignota wrote that Lucier "is a huge influence on the incidental and accidental in my music." In a respective tribute, Steve Albini called Lucier a "genius," who "invented new ways to hear, execute, record and think about music and sound."
Lucier's works explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. Born in Nashua, NH, in 1931, Lucier composed chamber and orchestral works in the 1950s, ahead of spending two years in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship.
It was there that he befriended American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski, and was exposed to new avenues of composition through performances by future collaborators including John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor. With them, Lucier would soon become one of the major players in the development of experimental electronic, electro-acoustic and avant-garde music of the era.
One of Lucier's most famous works is I Am Sitting in a Room. Composed in 1969, the piece begins with Lucier reciting the following text, in which he describes the process of recording, replaying and rerecording his voice:
I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have
As you can hear below, Lucier's words eventually become unintelligible as a result, making the piece one of the earliest examples of generation loss phenomenon in popular culture.
Lucier also explored resonance with 1977's Music on a Long Thin Wire, stringing piano wire across a room and using an amplified oscillator, magnets, contact microphones and a stereo sound system to amplify and capture the sounds created by the wire's vibration.
Lucier served as the director of the Brandeis University Chamber Chorus from 1962 to 1970, upon leaving to be a professor of music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In 1972, Lucier became a musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company, holding the position until 1979. In 2007, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Plymouth University.
Find further tributes to Lucier from Holly Herndon, clipping. and more below.
In tribute to the late artist, Lingua Ignota wrote that Lucier "is a huge influence on the incidental and accidental in my music." In a respective tribute, Steve Albini called Lucier a "genius," who "invented new ways to hear, execute, record and think about music and sound."
Lucier's works explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. Born in Nashua, NH, in 1931, Lucier composed chamber and orchestral works in the 1950s, ahead of spending two years in Rome on a Fulbright Scholarship.
It was there that he befriended American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski, and was exposed to new avenues of composition through performances by future collaborators including John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor. With them, Lucier would soon become one of the major players in the development of experimental electronic, electro-acoustic and avant-garde music of the era.
One of Lucier's most famous works is I Am Sitting in a Room. Composed in 1969, the piece begins with Lucier reciting the following text, in which he describes the process of recording, replaying and rerecording his voice:
I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have
As you can hear below, Lucier's words eventually become unintelligible as a result, making the piece one of the earliest examples of generation loss phenomenon in popular culture.
Lucier also explored resonance with 1977's Music on a Long Thin Wire, stringing piano wire across a room and using an amplified oscillator, magnets, contact microphones and a stereo sound system to amplify and capture the sounds created by the wire's vibration.
Lucier served as the director of the Brandeis University Chamber Chorus from 1962 to 1970, upon leaving to be a professor of music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In 1972, Lucier became a musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company, holding the position until 1979. In 2007, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Plymouth University.
Find further tributes to Lucier from Holly Herndon, clipping. and more below.