Luigi Russolo
Luigi Carlo Filippo Russolo (30 April 1885 – 4 February 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter, composer, builder of experimental musical instruments, and the author of the manifesto The Art of Noises (1913).[1] Russolo completed his secondary education at Seminary of Portograuro in 1901, after which he moved to Milan and began gaining interest in the arts.[2] He is often regarded as one of the first noise music experimental composers with his performances of noise music concerts in 1913–14 and then again after World War I, notably in Paris in 1921.[3] He designed and constructed a number of noise-generating devices called Intonarumori.
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo
30 April 1885
Portogruaro, Italy
4 February 1947 (aged 61)
Laveno Mombello, Italy
- Composer
- painter
- custom instrument builder
1901–1947
Connections to Fascism[edit]
Russolo, like many other Futurist artists, is often associated with Italian fascism. In addition to his association with the Futurist artist and poet F. T. Marinetti, who co-authored the Fascist Manifesto (1919), Russolo presented his work at exhibitions sponsored by Mussolini's government.[11] His biographer Luciano Chessa argues that some have attempted to erase Russolo's involvement with fascism from scholarship, but that his permanent return to Italy in 1933 and subsequent writings signaled acceptance of and allegiance to Mussolini's regime.[12][13]
Collaboration with Antonio Russolo[edit]
Antonio Russolo, another Italian Futurist composer and Luigi's brother, produced a recording of two works featuring the original Intonarumori. The phonograph recording, made in 1921, included works entitled Corale and Serenata, which combined conventional orchestral music set against the sound of the noise machines. It is the only surviving contemporaneous sound recording of Luigi Russolo's noise music.[14] Russolo and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti gave the first concert of Futurist music, complete with intonarumori, in April 1914, causing a riot.[15] The program comprised four Noise Networks.[16]
Souvenir d'une nuit (Memories of a Night), 1911 oil on canvas, 99 × 99 cm, private collection
Self-portrait with Skulls, 1909 painting
Profumo (meaning "scent", "fragrance", 1910)
La Rivolta (The Revolt), 1911 oil on canvas
La Musica (a pianist playing for his audience), 1911–12 oil on canvas
Solidity of Fog, 1912 oil on canvas
Soap-dish, 1929 oil painting
Landscape with trees, c. 1940s painting
