Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes Author(s): Maria Anna Harley Source: Leonardo, Vol. 31, No. 1 (1998), pp. 55-65 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576549 Accessed: 02/11/2008 10:07

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http://www.jstor.org HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes

Maria Anna Harley ABSTRACT

Thisarticle explores the au- diovisualinstallations of Greek composerand architect lannis Xenakis,focusing on the works IN A MUSICAL UNIVERSE electroacoustic composition by hecalls "polytopes." The term Varese and a visual Le thecomplexity And when I lookedup at the infinite sky, the universecontem- display by polytopecaptures Corbusier. The lan- ofthe spatial designs and mul- mefrom its emptyand bottomlessorbit ... the universe's prophetic plated and technical novelties of tiplespaces of these unusual edifice garnished with a thousand suns, like a cavern en- guage works,which have Poemecontinued the tradition of light-and-sound sconcedin eternallight, wheresuns shine like miner'slanterns oftenused thousands of lights Universal (also hundredsof and milkyways like silver veins. Expositions and loudspeakers. known as World Expositions or Xenakis'spolytopes are examined Jean-Paul Richter [1] EXPOs), which were as intheir aesthetic and cultural con- designed of this celebrations of human domi- text;the discussion origi- nalform of artin- These words introduced the of Le (1979), an avant-garde spectacle Diatope nance over nature. The Exposi- cludesa surveyof itsforms, Xenakis that an archi- audiovisual work by Iannis incorporated tions' spirit of ascendancy over functionsand reception. music and a tectural shell, electroacoustic mobile-light display. natural powers has been appar- cosmic are not uncommon Similar evocations of phenomena ent in their presentations of the in the writings of this Greek composer and architect, who once most recent scientific inventions music as to described the process of composing analogous and architectural projects of their times, including such land- of across navigating a "cosmic vessel sailing in the space sound, marks as the Crystal Palace in (1851) and the Tour sonic constellations and galaxies" and explained human intel- d'Eiffel in (1889). In Brussels in 1958, the immense ligence in the language of astrophysics [2]. Xenakis the archi- Atomium (a model of the atom) symbolized the newly discov- tect believed that the evolution of had reached a cos- humanity ered power of nuclear energy. For EXPO '58, Xenakis-then mic new forms of such as his "cosmic stage requiring dwellings, working as an architect for -was given the job intended to the city,"an unrealized project "bring population of designing a pavilion to display the technological achieve- and of the stars" in contact with the vast spaces of the sky [3]. ments of the Philips Corporation from 1956 to 1958 [8]. The marked the of this new Xenakis the composer beginning young artist was also asked to compose a brief piece of cosmic era" in human invent- "planetary and development by musiqueconcrete to provide an introduction to the electronic art that he called the ing a new form of multimedia "polytope" poem by Varese and Le Corbusier. The result was the elec- [4], from the Greek polys (many, numerous) and topos (place, troacoustic miniature ConcretPH, which filled the curved The is based on the idea of space, territory, location). polytope spaces of the Pavilion with the "organic life and chemical a great space consisting of many smaller elements, a domain of flavour" of the sounds of burning charcoal [9]. The title of that be articulated sound and spatial complexity may by light this piece refers to key elements of the Pavilion's architec- in movement. According to Xenakis, the polytope "experi- ture: the material of reinforced concrete and the basic shapes with novel of sound and It's an ments ways using light. attempt of hyperbolic paraboloids. In Musique. Architecture,Xenakis to develop a new form of art with light and sound" [5]. described the Pavilion as "a dawn" of a new architecture that was "at- Xenakis explains that in creating this art form he was to be based on the bending rather than the shifting of tracted by the idea of repeating on a lower level what Nature carries out on a grand scale. The notion of Nature covers not 1. Xenakis's sketch of the external shell of the Pavil- the earth but also the universe"[6]. Fig. Philips only ion (Brussels, 1958). Notice the bending of the surfaces and two tops towering above the structure. THE AND LE GESTE ELECTRONIQUE Xenakis's first personal encounter with multimedia extrava- ganzas took place during work on the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 World Exposition in Brussels-the site of Edgar Var&se's and Le Corbusier's Poemeelectronique (Fig. 1) [7]. This unique spectacle consisted of two independently created layers: an

Maria Anna Harley (musicologist), Polish Music Reference Center, School of Music, University of Southern California, 840 West 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0851, U.S.A. E-mail: .

? 1998 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 55-65, 1998 55 surfaces [10]. Indeed, the use of sur- absence of cooperation between the two imaginary paths traced by mobile sound faces of variable curvature, such as pa- authors-Le Corbusier and Varese-and images that emanate from static loud- raboloids and conoids, became his artis- the fact of its double authorship to be speakers and travel around a perfor- tic signature: the surfaces sculpted the the work's essential weakness. He mance space. Schaeffer utilized two sounds in the orchestral work Metastasis thought that this form of art should have types of spatial sound projection with (1953-1955) and provided the architec- a single creator who would unite dispar- multiple loudspeaker systems-static re- tural framework for the Polytope de ate elements by his or her coherent artis- lief and kinematic relief, the latter of which Montreal (1967). tic vision. In 1958, Xenakis described involved mobile sound sources whose At the Brussels exposition, the peaked this concept in an article that became movement was controlled by hand ges- pavilion with smooth walls of reinforced the blueprint for the polytope [14]. This tures of the performers. This way of cre- concrete covered with tiles (Fig. 1) technological art form was to bring to- ating "spatial relief' in music was heard housed a spectacle of sound and images. gether the concept of abstract painting for the first time during a concert of Varese's musical composition (music for with the techniques of cinema, combin- Schaeffer and on 6 July tape projected from more than 400 ing colored mobile backgrounds, shift- 1951 in Paris, when Symphonie pour un loudspeakers) and Le Corbusier's visual ing spatial configurations and patterns, a homme seul and Orphee 51 were per- display (slides and light show) were per- play of colors and forms, and abstract formed [17]. Xenakis reformulated formed simultaneously, but had been music. According to Xenakis, the pro- these concepts as stereophonie statique created independently of each other. Le cess of musical "abstraction"consists of a (sound emanating from numerous Corbusier had originally intended to shift toward atonality; it also relies on the points dispersed in space) and read fragments of his poems praising appropriation of concrete sounds and stereophonie cinematique (sound whose technological progress and the conquest the creation of electronic sonorities and sources were both multiple and mobile). of "the mathematical universe" as a part their organization into vast sonic ges- Here, Xenakis imagined that by the pre- of the Poeme electronique [11]. Because of tures [15]. In the geste electronique total, cise definition of sound source loca- difficulties coordinating this textual spatial locations as well as pitches, dura- tions, geometric shapes and surfaces layer with the music, however, instead tions, timbres and dynamic levels are in- might be projected into the area of per- he included the poetry excerpts in the herent to the structure. The architec- formance. These geometric sound enti- program book. Rather than adding the tural shell of the performance space ties would arise from the succession and spoken word to the spectacle, he used should assume a new, irregular form al- simultaneity of sound images played visual means to narrate a tale of human lowing for multiple images to be dis- back from loudspeakers located in the frailties and triumphs at the beginning played at the same time in different geo- auditorium. If, for instance, the same of what he called "a new civilization, a metric transformations, criss-crossing sonority was performed in succession new world" [12] made possible by the and permeating each other. Xenakis and with a slight overlap from several progress of science. Such was the gen- wanted the visual display to sever all con- loudspeakers, it would create a triangu- esis of "les jeux electroniques"-a new nections with the mimetic realism im- lar sound pattern. If many short im- form of electronic art envisioned by Le plied by flat screens that resemble the pulses were heard, they could-depend- Corbusier as incorporating elements of two-dimensional canvas of the tradi- ing on their placement in time and "light, colour, rhythm, motion and tional painting. Instead, the whole vol- space-create a sonic surface. One can sound" [13]. This definition, included ume of the performance space was to be multiply these examples to demonstrate in the program book of the Poeme filled with sounds and images. how an auditory space could be struc- electronique,did not specify any details. Xenakis's emphasis on the composi- tured by means of abstract morphologi- In any case, Xenakis was dissatisfied tional use of the spatial properties of cal principles. Xenakis's use of the lan- with the narrative form and mimetic sound has a precedent in the writings of guage of geometry-points, lines and content of Le Corbusier's spectacle, with , the pioneer of musique surfaces-to discuss aural phenomena its realist imagery of Aztec sculptures, concretewho, in the early 1950s, intro- has parallels in contemporaneous litera- portraits of children and people at work, duced the idea of the movement of ture of the musical avant-garde [18] and and photographs of skulls, rockets and sound along trajectoiressonores (sonic tra- precedents in theoretical manifestos of heavy machinery. He also considered the jectories) [16]. This term referred to abstract painting such as Kandinsky's Point and Line to Plane (1913) [19].

POLYTOPEDE MONTREAL, Fig. 2. Xenakis's sketch of the loca- 1967 tion of his Polytope In 1966, Xenakis finally had a chance to de Montreal in the realize his dreams of this new form of interior of the electronic art. He received a commission French Pavilion at to a EXPO 67 in prepare sound-and-light perfor- Montreal. mance in the French Pavilion at EXPO 67 in Montreal [20]. The general theme of this exposition, Terredes Hommes (Man and his World), which was borrowed from a book by Antoine de Saint- Exupery, encompassed a number of sub- jects, all celebrating human achieve- ments in controlling and transforming

56 Harley,Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes the Earth [21]. The documents of the composition of moving points of light. to experience it from a number of differ- Canadian EXPO Commission (pub- The nets of cables supported 1,200 ent perspectives during their visits to the lished in the EXPO program book) lo- lights, 800 of them white and 100 each French Pavilion. According to Maryvonne cated science at the center of human ac- of red, blue, green and yellow. The light Kendergi, the audiences included many tivity, with an awareness of its victories patterns changed every quarter second young composers from Quebec who were (e.g. conquest of space) and dangers and evoked, due to the persistence of greatly impressed with this work [25]. (e.g. threats of global disasters and total the image on the retina, various configu- Micheline Coulombe-Saint Marcoux, for annihilation in atomic war). The orga- rations in motion: arabesques, spirals, instance, considered the "perfect symbio- nizers hoped that, in addition to reveal- layered patches, nebulae, cascades, gal- sis of architectural space and musical ing a tremendous faith in progress, the axies, explosions, streams and constella- structures" as the polytope's most note- exhibition would also express human tions of the stars. The colored lights worthy aspect [26]. solidarity on Earth- "this one tiny speck were distributed over the five surfaces The automation of the Polytope de fixed in the vastness of the universe," in and gradually emerged from the orga- Montreal posed many technical prob- the words of Quebecois writer Gabrielle nized chaos of white light patterns [23]. lems. The spectacle was controlled by Roy [22]. The theme of solidarity was Xenakis wrote in the program for this means of an ingenious device: indi- obvious in the emblem of the EXPO: a spectacle that his "total experience with vidual lights switched on after rays of a circle of human figures with arms ex- musical composition was used here to continually shining light filtered tended to the sky, symbolizing the unity serve light composition: probability, through holes in a perforated control and cooperation of all people on Earth. logical structures, group structures, etc." tape and activated signals from a board In accordance with its glorification of [24]. The multitude of lights outlined of photosensitive cells. For the 6-minute technology, the EXPO transformed the complex surfaces, created fixed fields or spectacle, Xenakis calculated 19,000 suc- landscape of Montreal: the construction clouds and moved along the trajectories cessive light events in order to "create a work used 22 million tons of rocks to of spirals, circles or complicated curves luminous flow analogous to that of mu- enlarge one island (St. Helene) and cre- in three dimensions. The rhythms of sic issuing from a sonic source" [27]. ate another (Notre Dame) that was, with these movements were constructed with This procedure was rather cumbersome an area of 400 hectares, twice as big as the help of simple logical operations and instilled in the composer a craving the city of Brussels. Set in a park amidst (sums, differences). Indeed, one might for complete automation, so that built canals, fountains and lakes, that if the whole EXPO 67 was meant newly say a new and rich workof visualart could the housed exhibits pavilions from indi- to present, in the words of Gabrielle arise, whose evolution would be ruled vidual countries and large international Roy, "a thousand pictures, a thousand by huge computers,a total audiovisual organizations. They also featured special sounds whereby we catch a glimpse, a manifestationruled in its compositional machines other displays, such as an international collec- reflection of the infinity which is our intelligence by serving machines,which are, thanksto the sci- tion of fine arts celebrating the theme of universe," then Xenakis's polytope entific arts,directed by man [28]. human creativity. brought this infinity under the roof of Given the exhibition's emphasis on one pavilion. The yearning for "machines serving progress and the conquest of the uni- The composed spectacle of automa- other machines" in the creation of a spa- verse, the choice of Xenakis to create an tized patterns of light in movement was tial music of light seems to have resulted audiovisual installation in the French accompanied by continuous music com- from the tedious experience of calculat- Pavilion was not surprising. The build- posed of slowly shifting glissandi. This ing "byhand" the multitude of light pat- ing, designed by Jean Faugeron (and composition remains in Xenakis's catalog terns for the Polytopede Montreal. This awarded the Grand Prix de Rome), con- under the title of Polytopede Montreal;it dream eventually found its realization in tained exhibits on the theme of "Tradi- was scored for four identical orchestras of the Polytope de Cluny of 1972-1974, tion and Invention" thatjuxtaposed clas- 11 musicians each, with the orchestras which is discussed later in this article. sic and modern works of art with recent placed at the four cardinal points of the discoveries made in the fields of science, concert area. (The recording of this com- FROM MONTREALTO medicine and them used in the numerous Montreal technology, among position PERSEPOLIS the color television. The pavilion in- performances was prepared in Paris by cluded several floors of display rooms, the Ars Nova ensemble under Marius From EXPO 67, Xenakis gained a repu- all opening onto the central plaza-a Constant.) During the EXPO perfor- tation as a creator of enormous audiovi- suitable location for Xenakis's audiovi- mances, the tape resounded from four sual spectacles. These projects were sual project. Instead of a slide show that groups of loudspeakers placed at the bot- partly displays of the newest technology would cast images of crystals into space tom of the central plaza, below the sus- and partly artistic extravaganzas; they to a musical accompaniment (as sug- pended nets of cables and lights. The uni- brought him, in turn, to (1969), to gested by the commission), the com- formity of the timbre of the four identical Japan (1970) and to Iran once again poser designed his first polytope. He groups of instruments and the symmetry (1971). All three projects were con- planned five nets of steel cables that out- in spatial location was meant to contrast nected to the cultural ambitions of the lined intersecting shapes of conoids and with the pointillistic light show. The con- Emperor of Iran, Shah Mohammed hyperboloids in the interior of the pavil- trast was further increased by the conti- Reza Pahlavi. ion (Fig. 2). The linearity of this design nuity of the music's vast glissandi, which The first of these projects joined mod- reflected the geometry of the building's stretched across the ranges of all the in- ern technology with the archaic gran- characteristic "Venetian-blind"patterns. struments. Because the show ran continu- deur of the ruins of Persepolis. The In Xenakis's project, however, the archi- ously and was visible from all the display Shah decided to restore the splendor of tecture was transparent, serving as a rooms on the various floors of the pavil- the Iranian dynasty to its former glory. framework for the display of an abstract ion, members of the public had a chance He portrayed himself as the successor to

Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes 57 the ancient Persian rulers and the leader of a "WhiteRevolution," bringing to Iran speedy modernization and social reforms [29]. The revival of non-Islamic Persian culture was an important ele- ment in the Shah's agenda, which in- cluded such bold steps as changing the calendar to mark the putative founding of the first Iranian kingdom. To stimu- late the interest of the international ar- tistic community in ancient Persian cul- ture, the Shah and the Empress Farah Pahlavi selected the site of Persepolis for the annual Shiraz Festival (Shiraz is the oasis closest to the site of the ancient ru- ins of Persepolis, located amidst the desert sands). ?\ ..'?-.:-.r.. ;?0\o ' . ,'-'* :`\\\ -: O The remains of the in this buildings 3. of the for with Xenakis's handwritten annotations secluded fortress contained of Fig. Fragment blueprint Persepolis symbols the of the the control area, the audience and the em- the Persian absolute re- specifying positions loudspeakers, dynasty's power: press. The blueprint was annotated during the composer's sojourn in Aspen, Colorado. liefs of tribute-bearers and inscriptions praising the king's greatness adorned the walls [30]. In 331 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Em- Lasers were also featured prominently At the historic site, the distinguished pire and destroyed the palace. The site in the Japanese pavilion, for which public (including nine kings, five queens was deserted for the next 2,000 years. Xenakis composed Hibikihanama (1970). and 16 presidents [34]) was located in The first festival was initiated by the The spatial projection of this electroa- the great courtyard (Fig. 3) between the Empress; it took place in 1969 and in- coustic work (made from instrumental tombs of Darius and Artaxerxes. The cluded the premiere of Xenakis's sonorities, including Japanese instru- dignitaries were surrounded by loud- [31]. The Empress envi- ments) used 800 loudspeakers in 250 speakers emitting the continuous, sioned the festival as "ameeting place of groupings surrounding the audience. On strange sonorities of Persepolis-an hour- East and West" bringing together tradi- display in the building, which was deco- long electroacoustic piece for 8-track tional performances with classical the- rated by Joan Mir6, were mobile film- tape [35]. In a diagram that delineates ater and avant-garde arts. The audi- and-laser works by Japanese artist Keiji the relationships among his composi- ences, consisting of Iranian peasants, Usami, who strictly coordinated the mo- tions up to 1974, Xenakis includes intellectuals and representatives of the tions of visual patterns with the three-di- Persepolisin a group of pieces for tape international press, were treated to ex- mensional movement of sound images. (along with Hibiki hanama, Polytope de perimental theater productions by play- The laser displays captured the attention Montrealand Polytopede Cluny).These are wrights such as Peter Brook andJerzy of many viewers, particularly of Xenakis, connected by Xenakis to Bohor (1962), Grotowski and modern music by who was ever eager to experiment with an electroacoustic composition charac- and Xenakis. new equipment. Consequently, he went terized by two main traits: "microstruc- Following the success of Persephassa,she on to use two laser beams in the Polytope tures" and "spatialization" [36]. Bohoris chose Xenakis to design an audiovisual of Persepolis(the work's original title) in textural, with minute transformations installation for the Iranian Pavilion at Iran (1971) and made lasers the instru- within its dense sonorous masses that are EXPO 70 in Osaka, Japan, and to create ments of choice in both the Polytopede often made up of brief, overlapping seg- and direct a gigantic sound-and-light Clunyand Le Diatope(1978). ments of sound material. In Persepolis, performance for the opening night of The 1971 festival belonged a series of the sounds were also "spatialized" by the 1971 Shiraz Festival, which was held events marking the 2,500th anniversary means of their projection from numer- once again in the ruins of the palace of of the Persian monarchy-an extrava- ous loudspeakers dispersed among the the ancient Persian kings at Persepolis gant celebration replete with fireworks, ancient ruins. The blueprint for the on 26 August 1971. military parades, re-enactments of spectacle (Fig. 3) indicates the locations At EXPO 70, the "futuristic"architec- scenes from the palace reliefs and luxu- of 91 circuits for lighting effects scat- ture was even more inventive than it had rious parties for an international array tered throughout the ruins of the palace, been in Montreal. There were three of royal guests. The opulence of these as well as eight loudspeakers (marked A- enormous geodesic domes and an array festivities caused widespread criticism, H) arranged in an irregular semicircular of pavilions housing audiovisual spec- especially among the Moslem clergy, pattern around the public. The listening tacles by avant-garde composers. and increased the resentment of the Ira- area was located outside the palace walls Stockhausen's series of "intuitive music" nian people against their rulers [32]. and, judging from the placement of the performances drew crowds to the Ger- The people rejected the "occidentosis" sound and lighting equipment, the audi- man Pavilion; many visitors were also at- of their monarchs-the admiration and ence was expected to look toward the tracted to a display of moving laser imitation of Europe that underlay the palace. Xenakis indicated the location of beams accompanying the electroacous- introduction of Western-style festivals of 59 loudspeakers (plus 10 backups), the tic music of Toru Takemitsu. the arts to their country [33]. control center (poste de commande)and

58 Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes against the repressive society of their " ' :'. - forebears [43]. Fleuret the sud- ^'-:L{'^m ^ ^'-'...:.. .. L/..;^^ :--' -~._ .,,:- l. explains Fig. 4. A sketch by den popularity of contemporary music Xenakis for Polytope with such student audiences as L resulting ?-..:?,.'.-~ . -~ : ...... ,..' ... . ". * *... ? de Clunyshows the from their fervor: tired of ~L^+ ' :.-. ... ._-, : ---...--.:---;. revolutionary ^ * * .. . location of r -. ... -..: . points : ? the established conventions and rules of ( t .T*E . , . . . . .- 3 tZ ? -I and rays of light in : ...... * ..-G the -:~,. :; - . ,. . .;. ., -- -. . ., . . . . the ruins of the an- life, young people chose spontaneity, cient Roman baths informality and novelty. They sought - * : ' - at the Cluny Mu- "spirit, fight, passion" [44] and chose ' - q,X1.'"KA^I-.BtSt v" . *.". . -.':. . - i.;..- ....: . - . . .. *' , . * * *-'.- -*_'' . .-. seum in Paris. music that transcended the limits of tra- ' x dition and nationalism by posing issues common to the entire planet. They re- jected the ritual of concert going with its formal apparel and conventions of be- havior [45]; they sat on the floor, sur- rounded by strange sonorities and sub- jecting themselves to perceptual and aesthetic experimentation. They had ample opportunities for that in Xenakis's at the celebration of the privileged central position of the great anniversary largest audiovisual project, the Polytopede the indicate a need for Empress (Reine) within the palace's col- emperor creating Cluny-again, a part of LesJournees de a to describe onnades and courtyards. The loudspeak- separate category Persepolis. musiquecontemporaine de Paris (SIMP). Maurice Fleuret it with the Greek ers, divided into sets of 8 and 16, en- groups The automated work for light and of 1978 de as a closed three adjacent audience areas; project Polytope Mycenes sound opened on 13 October 1972 for "mass celebration" the here, the spectators were surrounded by [38]. However, 16 months of performances that re- of the Iranian in sound. position spectacle peated four times each day, attracting The music accompanied a spectacle Xenakis's oeuvre-between the poly- crowds of Parisians and tourists. Accord- of of Montreal and luminous patterns evoking the Zoro- topes Mycenes-justi- ing to Fleuret, more than 90,000 people fies this label, which was also used the astrian symbolism of light as eternal life by visited the Polytopede Cluny during the artist the work's creation. The [37]. Diffuse light shone on the two during initial period of its exposition [46]; after title de for in- tombs while two laser beams and many Polytope Persepolisappears, the spectacle was redesigned (1973) and on the spotlights brightened the night sky. Two stance, blueprint for the revived (1974), the total audience location within the ancient immense fires burned on the hilltops; performer's reached over 200,000 participants. The ruins of The drew hundreds of children carried torches to Persepolis. composer Cluny Museum, whose T-shaped vaults from create moving light trajectories in space. the Persepolis experience when de- once housed Roman baths, is located in the for the ruins and The torch lights formed geometrical signing spectacles the Latin Quarter,just off Boulevard St. monuments of he also in- and irregular patterns on the mountain Mycenes; Germain, in the heart of the city's uni- cluded dramatic of the fires slopes as the children walked in proces- images versity district [47]. This is the oldest sion to reach the summit of the hill, burning at Persepolis in the program monument in Paris, and its ancient stone book of Le another 1978 work. then descended and dispersed. At the Diatope, walls had to be protected during the in- end of the performance, two groups of stallation; Xenakis had a scaffolding children near the tombs and converged POLYTOPEDE built for the sound and light equipment. waved their torches in the air to write a CLUNY, The informal 1972-1974 performance environment shiny inscription: "we carry the light of of this experimental work allowed visi- the earth." Xenakis coined this phrase The polytopes realized in Montreal in tors to sit or lie on the floor in the un- in Farsi in an allusion to the Zoroastrian 1967 and at the Cluny Museum in Paris usual space and admire the technologi- religion, an ancient Iranian belief sys- in 1972 were separated by the social un- cal innovations. The lasers-then tem. This was the spectacle's only con- rest of 1968. In 1968, Xenakis, the most associated with revolutionary tools and crete, programmatic moment; the rest radically "modern" composer living in dangerous weapons rather than ubiqui- was a sequence of abstract events that France at the time [39], became one of tous household appliances-kindled a followed a structural logic unrelated to the symbols of French students' struggle particular fascination. Xenakis used historical narrative. for change. One of the slogans of the stu- three laser rays (red of krypton, green It is still not clear whether Persepolis dent demonstrations of May 1968 de- and blue of argon) and 600 xenon flash- could be called a polytope in the true manded "Xenakis not Gounod" [40]. In bulbs. The directions of the lasers were sense of the word-that is, a complex October 1968 Xenakis's music was fea- controlled remotely and their rays re- and machine-assisted audiovisual spec- tured at Les Journees de musique flected in 400 mirrors to form complex tacle that might be performed repeat- contemporainede Paris (along with work by configurations in space; the mirrors were edly (thanks to sound-recording technol- Varese, and Pierre Henry) able to change their orientation to dif- ogy and the automation of visual [41]. All concerts were sold out and ferent planes, and all the light patterns display). The importance of live per- many listeners found their way into the were automated and controlled by com- formers for the creation of massive light concert halls by defying security guards puters. Here, the composer finally real- patterns in Xenakis's Iranian project and [42]. Most of these listeners were young ized his dream of harnessing "machines the uniqueness of its single performance students from the generation revolting serving other machines" to create novel

Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes 59 art. The computational prowess of the that combined to produce a series of unheard-of kind; the days of sampling IBM and Ampex machines used for the mobile light arcs. The points moved in and digital simulacra of acoustic instru- work was impressive for the time: the 26- synchronic and asynchronic rhythms (as ments still lay ahead. The "strangeness" minute spectacle required 43,200,000 bi- in the Polytope de Montreal), creating liq- of Xenakis's electroacoustic pieces often nary commands to control the state of uid streams of light, shifting clouds and surprised listeners; after the perfor- the lights, the lengths of the laser beams rotating columns, aggregates of lines, mances of Bohorat the 1968 Festival in and the positions of the mirrors. The circles and ellipses (Fig. 4). This may Paris [51], the critics described this work commands were encoded on the eighth seem like a visual lesson in Euclidean ge- as a "sonic cataclysm" [52] or as an ex- track of the magnetic tape, which con- ometry, but some patterns were intended ample of Xenakis's supreme ability to tained seven tracks of music. Thus, the to distantly resemble various natural transform known sounds into something movements of light could be coordi- phenomena such as the lotus or entirely unrecognizable [53]. In the nated with the flow of sound. There are anemone-at least that is what Xenakis Polytope de Cluny, he was again reaching several important differences between called them in his sketches (Fig. 5). beyond the ordinary. Drawing from his the projects of Montreal, Cluny and the Other pointillistic images evoked the ex- experience with spatialized compositions later Diatope (1978). Xenakis describes pansion and collapse of galaxies, the aus- such as Terretetorh(1965-1966) and No- them in the following words: "In tere beauty of the cosmos. Interestingly, mos Gamma(1967-1968), Xenakis used Montreal I used 600 floodlights, in Cluny the initial title of the whole project, La multiple loudspeakers interspersed as many flashlights, and in the Diatopeas Riviere,is a testimony to this inspiration throughout the audience for the spatial many as 1,600. The most important dif- from the beauty of nature-filtered, as it projection of the seven layers of sound ference is that in Montreal I achieved often was in Xenakis's work, through the [54]. The geometry of the performance the visual effect through film, while in language of mathematics. space did not allow for the creation of Cluny I used digital magnetic tape" [48]. At Cluny, the music remained simple, circular patterns, but limited them to In Montreal, Xenakis had created a its varying pulses and modulating tim- variations of Ts and squares. Nonethe- contrast between the aural and visual lay- bres providing a counterpoint to the less, it impressed Pascal Dusapin to such ers of his work by juxtaposing the linear density of the lights [49]. The palette of a degree that he recalls his experience of continuity of the sound with the discrete, sounds includes sonorities of non-West- attending the Polytope de Cluny as the "de- pointillistic effects of the lighting; at ern provenance, such as recordings of cisive shock" that inspired him to be- Cluny, however, both the visual and aural African drums, juxtaposed with timbral come a composer [55]. strata included continuous and discrete extremities of the modern orchestra and Xenakis continued to dream on a cos- events. Numerous combinations of recti- computer-generated synthetic sounds mic scale: he planned to celebrate the linear images were precisely controlled: calculated at Centre d'Etudes de American bicentennial with a gigantic groups of multi-colored rays shone along Math6matique et Automatique Musicales sound-and-light display connecting the parallel and intersecting paths, forming (CEMAMu),founded by Xenakis in 1965 continents, then he envisioned a North- triangles and stars in continuous trans- [50]. In 1972, digital sound synthesis was ern Lights spectacle illuminating the formation. These images were created still so much of a novelty that the sounds Earth's atmosphere above Europe and from multiple reflections of laser beams themselves were supposed to be of the North America [56]. in the latter project, it was feared the planned use of electromagnetic beams would harm the Fig. 5. Xenakis's sketches for the "anemone" light pattern in Polytopede Cluny.The pattern ozone layer [57]. These grandiose is created by laser beams reflecting off mirrors placed on the scaffolding in the perfor- schemes were abandoned; another un- mance As the mirrors the of space. position of these shifted, so did shapes the anemones. usual idea to "illuminate the dark side of I t -t the new moon" with beams of light con- centrated like a laser met the same fate [58]. Xenakis's project for the opening ?I I of the Georges Pompidou Center for the I \ Arts in Paris was ambi- \ I.- (1978) similarly tious: it was to be a monumental laser 0 I show the music of in- .I - I accompanied by 4 / dustrial sirens. The whole population of the city would be subjected to the artistic extravaganza, with no freedom of choice for those not interested in the vagaries of modern art. In the end, the artwork and the public found a much more modest site: a vinyl tent-pavilion temporarily erected on the Beaubourg Plaza. Xenakis called the multimedia installa- tion he created there Le Diatope[59].

LE DIATOPE,1978 The change of prefix from "poly-" to "dia-"(across, through) indicated a shift A MONE I1 ANeMONE I NE in emphasis from the coexistence of a

60 Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes multitude of different spaces/objects/ phenomena to the homogeneous, envel- oping spatiality of three media permeat- Fig. 6. Xenakis, ing each other: static architecture, mo- sketch of the pavil- bile sounds and equally mobile lights ion constructed for the of [60]. Xenakis, who designed both the performance Le Diatope, pub- audiovisual spectacle and the soft vinyl lished in the pro- ~~ it, unified the elements pavilion housing gram book for the - of light, music and spatial geometry in installation (1978). this work (Fig. 6). In the dark interior of the pavilion, a network of steel cables supported 1,680 strobe lights. Four laser beams were enormous split by prisms \) 7- ,tq7i- r and reflected in 400 mirrors, shining off the glass columns and floor. The con- figurations of lights had a greater com- tal in body, immortal in mind-human Polytopede Cluny, the laser beams were plexity and refinement of movement beings share in the perfection of the di- reflected in 400 special mirrors than in the previous projects, but the vine mind. Pascal contemplates "the equipped with optic filters and prisms. basic geometric elements of points and sun's blazing light set like an eternal Mathematical functions-operations on lines remained the same. lamp" in a universe that, by its sheer complex numbers and the calculus of Nonetheless, the spectacle featured a scope, reduces human beings to total in- probabilities-controlled their continu- new element: an array of literary texts significance. In Richter's apocalyptic ous and discontinuous motion. The use suggesting the existence of a narrative. scene, the universe is empty: the of the rudimentary visual material of In the program book, Xenakis included Godhead cannot be found in the Milky points and lines of light invites compari- quotations from five texts: (1) the "Leg- Way, amidst a billion suns. The awe-in- son with basic elements of the physical end of Er" from Plato's Republic, (2) a spiring grandeur of the universe incites a universe: grains of matter and lines of segment of a creation myth from her- feeling of terror in people observing photon rays. In an analogy with the black metic writings attributed to the legend- themselves suspended "between the two void of the empty Universe in which par- ary alchemist Hermes Trismegistus, (3) abysses of infinity and nothingness" (Pas- ticles of matter and light are scattered, a reflection on infinity from Blaise cal) [63]. The tragic awareness of hu- the interior of the pavilion provided a Pascal's Thoughts,(4) an apocalyptic vi- man solitude underlies the final excerpt black background for the luminous con- sion from a novel by Jean-Paul Richter for LeDiatope, a factual description of the figurations. The pavilion itself was struc- and (5) a popular description of the su- eruption of a supernova with a bright- tured from several intersecting concave pernova by astrophysicist Robert P. ness "a billion times the luminosity of and convex surfaces that Xenakis com- Kirschner [61]. Stating that "it is diffi- the sun" [64]. The expanding star would bined to maximize the empty space and cult and not necessary to explicate a engulf the whole solar system, destroying minimize the covering surface. spectacle of music at all levels," the com- humankind in the process. Thus, with the assistance of powerful poser chose texts that formed "multiple We can interpret the program of Le technology, Xenakis created a new form resonances" with each other and ex- Diatopeas a testimony to Xenakis's athe- of audiovisual art, an abstract spectacle tended thematic threads from ancient ism and his vision of human destiny as a of "visualmusic" that portrayed, on a re- Greek culture to modern astronomy and tragic solitude in the enormous, hostile duced scale, "the galaxies, the stars and philosophy [62]. and empty universe. According to this their transformation with the help of All the texts contain cosmic-and at reading, ours is a world of chaos and vio- concepts and procedures stemming times apocalyptic-imagery, with many lence that should be bemoaned and from musical composition." The most references to astounding patterns of feared. The texts lead the reader from important mathematical function in Le light. In the quotation from Plato, the ancient beliefs in after-death punishment Diatopewas, according to Xenakis, the lo- Greek soldier Er, killed in battle, sees and reward through the revelation of an gistic distributionhe applied to create the souls ascending a luminous pillar that androcentric, rationalistic universe to the musical form, rhythmic transformations, shines "like a bright rainbow."This is the rejection of faith and abandonment of all complex timbres and the variable axis of the universe, binding together hope in salvation. The final description streams of pitch-and-intensity patterns the wheels of the cosmos. After listening of the supernova would then imply that he called tressesrhythmiques (rhythmic to the music of the spheres and forget- the infinity and destiny of the universe strands) [66]. The same distributional ting about their past, the souls "like may be, in the end, understood and pre- function was used in the creation of the shooting stars were all swept suddenly up dicted only by science-the ultimate light patterns, evoking trajectories of and away to be born." In the excerpt source of human knowledge. This sce- galaxies, violent storms, volcanic erup- from Hermes Trismegistus, a medieval nario replaces religion with scientism and tions, the aurora borealis, rotating or alchemist dreams about a visit "from a faith in the revelatory function of art. dispersing spirals, and other mobile Being of vast and boundless magnitude" The glorification of technology is evi- configurations. basking in a "serene and joyous light." dent in the composer's description of Xenakis's creative power of imagina- This is the mind of the Deity, which cre- the array of technical means used to cre- tion benefited from advanced technol- ates Life and Light and the Word of God, ate the mobile configurations of points ogy: all the events of the spectacle were "the voice of the light." The alchemist and lines [65]. The light patterns cre- computer-controlled, requiring 140.5 perceives divine secrets and understands ated by the laser beams and flashes rap- million orders (binary commands) for that through their twofold nature-mor- idly shifted and evolved. As in the the 46 minutes of Le Diatope.As with the

Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes 61 Polytopede Cluny,the control signals were of caution, stating that Xenakis, by using performance required much greater ef- registered on a multitrack magnetic the equipment of advanced technology, fort from the professional singers in the tape (realized at CEMAMu) also con- justified a "technological and machin- chorus than it did from the untrained taining the seven audio tracks of the istic way of life" [69]. It is not difficult to Greek women and children of Argolis electroacoustic part of the spectacle en- see the roots of his argument in the eco- who also participated in the musical fes- titled, after Plato's text, La LegendedEer nomic contrast between the First and tivities. The latter group formed a sepa- (realized in 1977 at CEMAMu and the the Third World. rate choir, chanting archaic invocations Elektronische Musikstudio of the The Polytopede Mycenes, similar in many while descending in a slow procession Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne). ways to Persepolis but different in from the mountains [72]. In the legend, Plato described the fa- sociopolitical context, was marked by a This site-specific polytope featured mous music of the spheres as sung by si- peculiar coexistence of the archaic (an- abundant allusions to ancient Greek cul- rens who were located on different or- cient Greek culture) with the modern ture, but it excluded the thousands of bits of rotation. Each siren performed (new technologies). Xenakis designed years of Christian tradition in Greece. In one pitch continuously and together this work-or rather, festival-for the ru- a leap back in time, Xenakis explored they sung the whole eight-note scale. ins of the ancient Acropolis of Mycenae, the dark and even sinister moments of The cosmic revolutions described in this attempting to capture the pagan atmo- the archaic collective psyche as portrayed legend are reflected in Xenakis's music sphere of the historic site in a monumen- in the tragedies of Oedipus, Agamem- by the gradual transformation of super- tal celebration [70]. Flashes of 12 anti- non, Helen of Troy and the curse of the imposed layers of sound, the rotation of aircraft searchlights and colorful Atrides. But while these stories depict the sound masses [67] in audible circles and fireworks illuminated the whole region cruelty of fate and the omnipresence of spirals and the continuous modulation while processions of children with death, the atmosphere at the perfor- of unusual timbres. The texts chosen by torches, herds of goats bearing lights and mances was not woeful. The spectacle the composer for the program book viv- bells, fires on the hilltops and other ef- was, simultaneously, "a vast retrospective idly suggest the apocalyptic soundscapes fects, such as projections of images of the of Xenakis's music" and "a grand popu- of his music: "eternity resting on chaos funeral masks of the Achaean kings onto lar celebration of democracy and free- ... the dissonances [that] gnashed with the stone walls of the palace, contributed dom" [73] that gathered together over even more violence . . . [before the to the visual strata of this polytope. The 10,000 listeners for its five nightly perfor- sound of] the interminable hammer of sound included recitations from Homer mances (1-5 September 1978). The audi- bells" (Richter) or "a downward spiral- and from recently discovered Mycenean ence included tourists and international ling darkness, terrible and grim, like a funeral inscriptions. The music included music critics, but the majority of the serpent . . . making an indescribable performances of a series of Xenakis's spectators came from the neighboring sound of lamentation ... an inarticulate "Greek"compositions (A Helene, Oedipus valleys and villages. Conducted as a cel- cry" (Trismegistus). Xenakis's appropri- a Colonne,, Persephassa,Oresteia) ebration of community spirit and na- ately chaotic and dissonant music in- linked with seven electronic interludes. tional pride, the Polytopede Myceneswas cludes three families of sonorities: (1) These consisted of repetitions of a brief also attended by various state officials. instrumental sound (mostly from non- piece, MycenaeAlpha, which was the first The music, though difficult for the unini- European instruments), (2) pre-re- composition realized entirely on the tiated, was greeted with awe and admira- corded non-instrumental sound mate- UPIC, a computer system created at tion. Xenakis's harsh sonorities were per- rial and (3) synthetic sound (realized CEMAMuthat synthesizes sounds on the ceived as appropriate for austere rituals with probability functions). The expres- basis of designs drawn onto an electro- and ancient subject matter [74]. sive power and vast dimensions of this magnetic table (Fig. 7). The coordination of the various electroacoustic work surpassed all of When he returned to the homeland events, which were dispersed on several Xenakis's previous attempts to portray he had been forced to leave more than hilltops around Mycenae, was not an huge volumes and masses of sound in 30 years earlier, Xenakis took a pilgrim- easy task, and Xenakis conducted the motion (such as his 1962 electroacoustic age to the ruins of what has been called proceedings with a walkie-talkie in hand composition Bohor). At the site of Le the cradle of Western civilization. There [75]. He gave cues for the setting of Diatope, La Legended'Eer was projected the composer honored his cultural heri- fires, the commencement of marching from 11 loudspeaker systems surround- tage by presenting a series of musical processions, the beginning of each ing the audience; other versions of the works inspired by such classic play- piece of music, the movement of the music (a four-track tape for concert per- wrights as Sophocles, Euripides and shifting searchlights and the various formances [1977] and a stereo version Aeschylus. The scenes from the Oresteia, other elements of the spectacle [76]. recorded on CD [1995]) allow for per- a trilogy on the curse-ridden dynasty of Three anti-aircraft searchlights located formances at different venues. the Achaean kings that inspired the fi- at a distance of 10 kilometers from Nouritza Matossian expresses her ad- nal segment of the polytope, were par- Mycenae were positioned so that their miration of the technological marvels of ticularly poignant near the tomb of bright beams formed a pyramid above Le Diatopein her book Xenakis[68]. She Agamemnon. Their expressive power the ancient ruins. Other lights searched emphasizes the fierce beauty of this was augmented by the outdoor acous- the darkened sky,and there were distant spectacle, which evoked the power of tics. According to Christine Prost, one of patterns of light descending from the the physical world filtered through the the choral conductors at the Polytopede hilltops, creating the impression that lens of mathematics. Jose Maceda, how- MycMnes,this music needed to be sung new stellar constellations had moved ever, a Filipino ethnomusicologist and with "guttural, closed and solid voices, down to Earth [77]. But these appar- composer, did not share her enthusi- voices of wind and sun" [71]-simple, ently cosmic lights were actually carried asm. Writing for a volume of studies de- rough vocal timbres that would carry by a procession of schoolchildren and voted to Xenakis, Maceda offers a word well in the nocturnal darkness. Such a goats. The enormous scope of this work

62 Harley,Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes -

tralized power of an essentially war-ori- ented institution. } = __1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3lr Xenakis's biographer, Matossian, at- tributes the main inspiration for the polytopes to Xenakis's war-time experi- ences [82]. She writes, "during his last days as a partisan he watched from a rooftop of the city as the R.A.F bombed a German airport, fascinated and aghast at the superb light and sound show tragi- cally using Athens for its stage." This text is illustrated with an official war photo, issued by the British Ministry of Informa- tion and a Grecian The horizontal axis is the vertical axis is The hand-written score was de- depicting night sky Alpha. time; pitch. with of signed on the UPIC, a sound-design and synthesis unit created at CEMAMu. The aural re- trajectories moving searchlights and of fire and sult is one of the noise of shifting bandwidth and register. explosions artillery (lines points). The photograph, taken in May 1941, comes from the collection of the and its close connection to the land- Pink Floyd. But while this genre is Imperial War Museum [83]. scape of the historic site led one critic, hardly a novelty, the work of Xenakis dif- The polytopes embody the artistic Dominic Gill from the Financial Times fers from that of his predecessors and praxis of Xenakis's favorite new science, [78], to call the polytope a new form of contemporaries by placing an emphasis general morphology, which searches for art: "artg6ographique." on the use of the most advanced tech- invariants and transformations of basic Ten years later, Xenakis attempted to nology to create abstract imagery for a forms and patterns [84]. These are repeat the success of Polytopede Mycenes new form of modernist art. Nonetheless, found primarily in the inorganic natural and to reach out to the traditions of the the dismantling of the Philips Pavilion, world as studied by astronomers, geolo- archaic culture of Crete in another the Polytopede Montreal, the Polytopede gists and physicists, but they have also sound-and-light spectacle that pre- Cluny and Le Diatope highlights the been consciously used by creative artists- miered on 13 July 1987 at the ancient ephemeral nature of such large-scale scientists. For Xenakis, the work of the Roman amphitheater in Aries. This ex- avant-garde artistic projects. One could artist is technical, experimental, ratio- travagant event was entitled Taurimachie, say that their continuous display is sim- nal, inferential, intuitive, founded in in- the title refers to the spectacle's main ply too costly, but their disappearance is dividual talent and revelatory in nature protagonists: live bulls and horses. The due to other reasons as well. Because [85]. With its unique mode of knowing spectacle received bad press reviews [79] these projects explore the aesthetic po- through "immediate revelation," art cre- and may be described as Xenakis's single tential of new technologies, their new- ates a rich and vast synthesis that can dramatic failure. Its lack of success seems ness is one of their main attractions. An support and guide other sciences, ac- to have resulted from Xenakis's inability artistic object placed at the cutting edge cording to Xenakis. to take into account the reality of animal of time cannot simultaneously be a time- The vast scale of the polytopes calls life. He imagined patterns of less masterpiece: transient in essence, it for substantial sociopolitical support: animals running wildly around the arena exists to dazzle with technological po- they require funds and resources from amidst complex light patterns created by tential and then give way to more tech- various organizations and need the pub- rotating spotlights. The sonorous layer nically advanced art. lic to visit them and care about them so of this performance consisted of works Xenakis's gigantic projects, which that the governments or other institu- for percussion (Psappha and Pleiades), Michel Ragon has called "spatial uto- tions feel that their expenditures are jus- and a new piece for electroacoustic tape pias" [80], require the mobilization of tified. As Margaret Atwood writes, there and live computer-generated sounds vast financial, human and material re- are two factors in the production of a based on transformed samples of sounds sources. Such reserves are readily avail- "great art"-the artist and the audience: of actual bulls: which was re- able in few them, Tauriphanie, places-among huge Take the artist and the audience alized on the UPIC. Not the rich away surprisingly, corporations, governmental agen- can never achieve self-knowledge.... animals were frightened by the noise cies and totalitarian military institutions. But take away the audience, and the and the blinding lights. Most of the time, Xenakis was an early believer in the artisthas part of himself cut off. He is he is like a man to instead of running around with excite- "peace dividend," dreaming about the blocked, shouting no one [86]. ment, presenting living icons of primal artistic benefits of converting military the bulls and horses huddled to As he savagery, equipment peaceful purposes. The Polytope de Mycenes provided in dark corners near the observed in if the together Musique. Architecture, Xenakis with a nurturing audience. At arena's themselves from use of armed forces were with walls, sheltering replaced the revered site, amidst cyclopic walls unknown dangers. non-repressive policies it would free the and monumental tombs, Xenakis resources and "l'art survoler la pourra reached back to ancient Greek history planete et s'elancer dans le cosmos" and created a festival of his own home- CONCLUSION He initiated this con- [81]. successfully coming. At Persepolis, he designed a Vast audiovisual spectacles have a long version with the polytopes, some of very similar spectacle drawing from the that from Handel's which assistance history ranges royal required military (e.g. cultural heritage of another ancient cul- fireworks to Scriabin's Prometheusand and searchlights, troops, transportation) ture. Yet, the reception of this work was the lasers of the popular rock group depended on the resources and the cen-

Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes 63 York: 2. issue of Lien. Revue Musicale different because of the political con- Pendragon Press, 1985) p. Originally pub- ed., special d'Esthetique lished as Arts/Sciences. Alliages (Paris: Casterman, (1988) 8-15; see also Carlos Palombini, "Ma- text: Xenakis in cel- pp. there, participated 1979). chine Songs V: Pierre Schaeffer-From Research ebrating the 2,500th anniversary of the into Noises to Experimental Music," ComputerMusic 3. This is from Xenakis, "Laville of the Persian which expression quoted Journal 17, No. 3, 14-19 (1993). founding empire, cosmique," in Musique. Architecture [2] p. 159. was destined to fall 8 later. 18. See Gyorgy Ligeti, "Metamorphoses of Musical just years 4. For the of the term see Pieter a work of Western ex- origin "polytope," Form," and , "Translation-Rota- Persepolis, grand Hendrik Schotte, Mehrdimensionale Geometrie, Vol. 2: tion," in DieReihe, No. 7 (1960 [German Ed.], 1965 Die G. perimental art based on themes relating Polytope (Leipzig: J. G6schen, 1902-1905), [English Ed.]). See also George Rochberg, "The which discusses and of linear to Zoroastrianism and non-Islamic Per- hyperspace concepts New Image of Music," Perspectives of New Music 2, and nonlinear space. For studies of the polytopes, No. 1-10 and Karlheinz sian did not have a 1, (1963); Stockhausen, culture, proper pub- see Olivier Revault d'Allonnes, ed., Xenakis/Les "Musikim Raum," Die Reihe,No. 5 (1959 [German See also Maurice lic in the impoverished Iran. The con- Polytopes(Paris: Balland, 1975). Ed.], 1961 [English Ed.]). Also published in Fleuret, "II teatro di Xenakis," in Enzo Restagno, Stockhausen, Texte zur Elektronische und Instrumental trast in the reception of two analogous Xenakis Edizioni di ed., (Torino, Italy: Torino, Musik, Bd. 1 1952-1962 (Cologne: Verlag M. the limitations of and a polytopes highlights 1988) pp. 159ff, paper by Philipp Oswalt, DuMont Schanberg, 1963). von Xenakis," 107Arch+ modern art's claims to universality. In "Polytope Jannis (March 1991) 50-54. 19. Point and Line to Plane the Xenakis's for a cosmic pp. Wassily Kandinsky, 1960s, project (1913); included in Wassily Kandinsky, Kandinsky: 5. Balint Andras Conversations with Iannis city articulated his belief in the utopia of Varga, Complete Writings on Art, Kenneth C. Lindsay and Xenakis (London: Faber and Faber, 1996) 112. a borderless State of the p. Peter Vergo, eds. (Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1982). Earth, replacing (Originally published in Hungarian in 1980 and all the national states with a global politi- 1989.) 20. EXPO 67 lasted from 28 April until 27 October 1967. When it was over, the French Pavilion-one cal organization. With the polytopes, 6. 112. Varga [5] p. of the few buildings spared demolition-became a new art seemed to have become a center for culture. It continued truly 7. The of the Pavilion is well de- Franco-Quebecois history Philips to house various exhibitions as a Mu- international enterprise: new inventions scribed in literature about both Varese (most notably secondary seum of and to Xenakis's and and Xenakis. See Michel "Xenakis Civilization) display aesthetic trends were dispersed to Ragon, until its conversion into a casino in 1994. in Maurice sur polytope the ends of the world; citizens of all architecte," Fleuret, ed., Regards lannis Xenakis (Paris: Stock, 1981) pp. 30-36; 21. Terre des hommes/Man and His World, EXPO 67 countries had a chance to in Nouritza Xenakis participate Matossian, (Paris: Fayard, 1981), program (Ottawa: Canadian Corporation for the also available in an translation this art for all. Cultural differences English (London: 1967 World Exposition, 1967). Kahn & Ann "The seemed to have become less Averill, 1986); Stimson, Script important for Poeme electronique: Traces from a Pioneer" Pro- 22. Gabrielle Roy, "The Theme Unfolded by than ubiquitous technology, invention ceedings of the International Computer Music Conference Gabrielle Roy," in Terre des hommes/Man and His 308-310. Xenakis's World 21. and progress. Perhaps it has returned (Montreal: ICMA, 1991) pp. [21] p. texts on the topic include "Le Pavilion Philips a with the cult of the Internet, which intro- l'aube d'une architecture," GravesanerBlitter No. 9 23. According to Xenakis's notes for this project, in his studio and by duces a new image of the globe as cov- (1957), reprinted in Musique. Architecture [2] pp. preserved reproduced d'Allonnes in Xenakis/Les [4] 65-69. See ered nets and webs. This is much dif- 123-142, and in [2]. Polytopes pp. by also Xenakis, Musique. Architecture [2] pp. 171-173; ferent from the vision presented by 8. Although Le Corbusier was the author of the Matossian [7] pp. 214-216; and Varga [5] p. 114. project, its title, Xenakis the Xenakis's polytopes, which reached out including designed Pavilion. However, the senior artist initially did not 24. Xenakis quoted in d'Allones [4] p. 63. toward galaxies and interstellar voids. give him credit for this work and claimed to have 25. Maryvonne Kendergi, "Xenakis et les it carries on the of authored both the architecture and the display. Nonetheless, promise Quebecois," in Fleuret, ed. [7] p. 301-314. Xenakis wrote about designing the structure of the a global multimedia art form. pavilion in Le Corbusier, Le Poeme electronique Le 26. Micheline Coulombe-Saint Marcoux, inter- book Corbusier,Jean Petit, ed., program (Paris: viewed in Kendergi [25] p. 304. Editions de Minuit, 1958) and in GravesanerBldtter Acknowledgments [7]. The battle for the authorship of the architec- 27. Fleuret [4] pp. 159-187. I am to lannis Xenakis and Radu Stan ture of the Pavilion is described in Matossian [7]. grateful 28. Xenakis, Formalized Music [2] p. 179. (Editions Salabert, Paris) for available to making 9. Fleuret [4] pp. 174. me the archival material held at Xenakis's studio: 29. Under the autocratic rule of Shah Mohammed sketches and notes for Xenakis's polytopes (includ- 10. Xenakis, Musique. Architecture [2] pp. 123-126. Reza Pahlavi, Iran set off on a path toward modern- ing maps, diagrams on graph paper, transparencies, ization and Westernization. From the time of his 11. Stimson 308-310. etc.) and for the Philips Pavilion, and program [7] pp. exile in 1963, Ayatollah Khomeini denounced the books of the Diatope, Shiraz festivals, I Shah's financial and his Persepolis. 12. from Le Corbusier's mosaic of extravagance suppression thank Radu Stan for providing me with copies of Quoted poetic- of both Islamic traditions and dissent. The statements, included in the political Xenakis's scores and promotional recordings of his philosophical program celebrations, which the Shah book [8]. Persepolis during music, including the Polytope de Montreal, Persepolis, swore faithfulness to the values of pre-Islamic Iran, de and other works. Hanmbraeus Polytope Cluny Bengt 13. Le Corbusier [12]. were the Ayatollah's prime target. See Mohammed of McGill was also University helpful by providing Reza Pahlavi, The White Revolution of Iran (Teheran: to access sources such as the Program Book of the 14. Xenakis, "Reflektioner 6ver Geste Elec- Imperial Pahlavi Library, 1967) and Said Amir Poeme of as electronique 1958, well as early issues of tronique," Nutida Musik (Stockholm: March 1958) Arjomand, The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Gravesaner Blitter. (in Swedish translation). Also published as "Notes Revolution in Iran (New York and Oxford: Oxford sur un 'geste electronique,"' in Revue musicaleNo. Univ. Press, 1988). 244 (Paris, 1959) pp. 25-30 and reprinted in 30. Chester G. A the Ancient References and Notes Musique. Architecture [2] pp. 142-150. Notice that Starr, History of World, 4th Ed. York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Xenakis's term closely resembles Le Corbusier's (New Press, 1. Excerpt from Jean-Paul Richter's Siebenkas, "jeux electroniques." 1991) pp. 277-281. quoted in Xenakis's program for Le Diatope (Paris: Centre 31. The Shiraz festivities have been described in Georges Pompidou, 1979); translated by 15. Xenakis, Musique. Architecture [2] p. 146. James Harley for the program of "Concert Xenakis" many books on Iran's recent history. Positive ac- (Montreal: McGill Univ., 15 April 1993). 16. Pierre Schaeffer, A la recherche d'une musique counts can be found in Pahlavi [29] and in Minou concrete(Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1952). See also Reeves, Behind the Peacock Throne (London: Sidgwick 2. lannis Xenakis, Formalized Music: Thought and Carlos Palombini, "Machine Songs V: Pierre and Jackson, 1986). Criticism appears in Marvin Mathematics in and Composition (Bloomington, IN, Schaeffer-From Research into Noises to Experi- Zonis, Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah (Chicago, London: Indiana Univ. for ref- Press, 1971) p. 144; mental Music," Computer MusicJournal 17, No. 3, IL, and London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1991) and in erences to human see intelligence Xenakis, 14-19 (Fall 1993); and Jacques Poullin, "Musique Amir Taheri, The Unknown Life of the Shah (London "Variete," Musique. Architecture (Tournai, Belgium: Concrete," in Fritz Winckel, ed., Klangstrukturder and Sydney:Hutchinson, 1991). According to the lat- Rev. in Wil- Casterman, 1971; Ed., 1976), reprinted Musik. Neue Erkentnisse Musik-elektronischerForschung, ter, the Shah identified himself as a "new Cyrus des- liam B. Christ and Richard P. Delone, eds., The Art (Berlin: Verlag fur Radio-Foto-Kinotechnik GMBH) tined to revive Iran's ancient grandeur," and this of Music: Tradition and Change (Bloomington, IN: pp. 109-132. grandeur was the focus at Persepolis (p. 193). Indiana Univ. Press, 1973) and included (revised version) in the preliminary statement to Xenakis, 17. Annette Vande Gorne, "Espace/Temps: 32. Marvin Zonis, Majestic Failure: The Fall of the Shah Art-Sciences: Alloys, Sharon Kanach, trans. (New Historique," in L'Espacedu Son II, Francis Dhomont, (Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1991); Minou

64 Harley,Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes Reeves, Behind the PeacockThrone (London: Sidgwick of works with a biographical note, list of awards, 68. Nouritza Matossian, "L'artisande la nature," in and Jackson, 1986). bibliography, discography, filmography. Fleuret, ed. [7] pp. 44-51.

33. Jalal Al-i Ahmad, Occidentosis:A Plague from the 51. Fleuret [39]. 69. Jose Maceda, "Xenakis, l'architecture, la tech- West, R. Campbell, trans. (Berkeley, CA: Mizan nique" in Fleuret, ed. [7] p. 339. 52. La Tribunede Lausanne, in La Revue Press, 1984; first publication in 1964). An reprinted Musicale [39] 167 70. "occidentotic" person is someone who has studied p. Brigitte Schiffer, "Polytope de Mycenae," Tempo, No. 127 44. See in the West and been uprooted from his or her cul- (December 1978) p. also Jean 53. Henry-Louis de la Grange in Le Nouvel "Le de ture; one of the symptoms of occidentosis is "the Lacouture, Polytope Mycenes:Xenakis chez les Observateur(11-17 November 1968), reprinted in in ed. melancholia of glorying in the nation's remote Atrides," Fleuret, [7] pp. 291-293. See also La RevueMusicale [39]. Fleuret "The idea in past" (p. 134). [4]: arose November 1974 while visiting Mycenae after Xenakis's 54. Maria Anna Harley, "Space and in triumphant 34. Zonis [32]. Spatialization return to Greece. Yannis the General Contemporary Music: History and Analysis, Ideas Papaioannou, Secretary of the Hellenic Association of Contempo- 35. For the realization of Xenakis had at and Implementation," Ph.D. dissertation Persepolis, rary Music, persuaded the National Office of Tour- his all the technical resources of Iranian (Montreal: McGill University, 1994). disposal ism to fund the project. The ministry of defense Television. to Maurice the same According Fleuret, 55. Pascal "Entretien: Pascal et gave the anti-aircraft searchlights, troops, and institution was later one of the of the to- Dusapin, Dusapin sponsors Halbreich," in Fleuret, ed. [7] 355. camping gear, the National Theatre provided the automated de See "Une Harry p. tally Polytope Cluny. Fleuret, electroacoustic equipment, the musicians came a issue on Xenakis Musique voir," L'Arc, special 56. Xenakis quoted in Matossian [8] p. 222; excerpt from France and Greece, including a large number 32-36. (Paris: 1972) pp. of interview in Varga [5] p. 114. of amateurs" (p. 184). 36. Undated diagram preserved in Xenakis's ar- 57. Xenakis in Matossian [7] p. 222. 71. Christine Prost, "Sur l'Orestie," in Fleuret, ed. chives source materials for the among composition [7] pp. 279-281. The choir came from the Univer- 58. 114. Echange (1989). Varga [5] p. sity of Provence and, in some sections of the music, was musicians from the Orchestre 37. Xenakis's notes de from his 59. The initial for this was monu- accompanied by forPolytope Persepolis proposal project de conducted Michel archives. See also Fleuret Matossian mental, and unfeasible. Xenakis to Philharmonique Lorraine, by [4] p. 177; [7] costly planned Tabachnik. pp. 217-218; Revault d'Allonnes [4]. erect a gigantic web supporting a multitude of lights on the plaza. The web was to be suspended 72. Lacouture 38. [70] p. 292. Fleuret [4] p. 182. between two parallel transparent walls 30 meters the would be controlled 73. Robert "L'Orestie a in 39. This is the account Fleuret in Maurice high; light projection by Fajond, Mycenes," given by computer. An architectural sketch for this Fleuret, ed. [7] 283ff. Fleuret, "Bilan et lecon des de project pp. journees musique (dated 12 in Ar- La Revue Nos. September 1974) appears Musique. contemporaine," Musicale, 265/266 chitecture [2]. A scaled-down in 74. As reported by the spectacle's witnesses, partici- 7-13. This double issue is de- pavilion opened (1969) pp. special 1978 in Paris; the next it moved to Bonn for a pants and reviewers: Brigitte Schiffer, "Xenakis's voted to Berio and Pierre year Varese, Xenakis, Henry, installation. Xenakis the 'Polytope de mycenae'", Tempo.A QuarterlyReview of four who were featured at the of temporary presented tape composers Days composition produced for this installation at the ModernMusic, No. 127 (December 1978); Dominic Contemporary Music, Paris, 25-31 October 1968. 1978 International Computer Music Conference at Gill, "Polytope de Mycenes," Financial Times (14 Northwestern 1978) in French translation 40. Olivier Revault d'Allonnes, "Xenakis et la University in Chicago, Illinois, where September reprinted he was the in Fleuret, ed. [7] pp. 294-298; Robert Fajond, modernite," L'Arc (1972) p. 26. Charles Gounod keynote speaker. "L'Orestie a Mycenes," in Fleuret, ed. [7] pp. 283- (1818-1893) was a nineteenth-century conservative 60. A change of title occurred during the project's 290; Christine Prost, "Surl'Orestie," in Fleuret, ed. French composer, author of numerous in- operas, development; this work was initially called [7]; Lacouture [70] 291-293. Faust. About Gounod, TheNew Polytope pp. cluding Dictionaryof de (see 6). Music and Musicians "Because of his Beaubourg Fig. states, great 75. Lacouture [70] p. 291. and on popularity stylistic influence the next gen- 61. Xenakis, Gestede lumiereet de son. LeDiatope,pro- eration of he 76. Gill composers, is perhaps the central fig- gram book (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, [74] p. 298. ure in French Music in the third quarter of the 1961). An English translation of Xenakis's "La 77. Gill [74] 296. 19th century." See Stanley Sadie, ed., TheNew Dictio- Legende d'Er" appears in Xenakis, "Xenakis on p. nary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 7 (London: Xenakis," New Music 32-36. Perspectives of pp. 78. Gill [74] p. 296. Macmillan). Xenakis discussed LeDiatope in Xenakis, "Les Chem- ins de la musicale," Keleiitha. Ecrits, 79. See reviews D. de in Le Monde 41. Varese-Xenakis-Berio-Pierre Oeuvres- composition by Bruycker (17 Henry. Emmanuel Gresset, trans. (Paris: L'Arche, Claude Samuel in Le Matin issue of La Revue Musi- 1994) pp. June 1987), (17 June Etudes-Perspectives, special 15-38. This text was first published in French in 1987) and Charles Leble in Liberation cale [39]. (20 July Curtis Roads, ed., Le compositeuret l'ordinateur(Paris: 1987). IRCAM, which in as Com- 42. Fleuret [39] p. 7. 1981), appeared English posersand the Computer(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 80. Michel Ragon, "Xenakis architecte," in Fleuret, ed. 30-36. 43. For a positive account about the students' ac- 1985). The text was published in German in [7] pp. tions, see Barbara Ehrenreich and John MusikTexte13 (1986) pp. 42-49. 81. Xenakis, Arts/Sciences.Alliages [2] p. 186. Ehrenreich, Long March, Short Spring: The Student 62. Quoted from Xenakis [61]. Uprising at Home and Abroad (New York and Lon- 82. Matossian [7]. don: Review Criticisms Monthly Press, 1969). ap- 63. Xenakis [61]. pear, for instance, in Stephen Spender, "Notes on 83. The photograph was reprinted in the program the Sorbonne Revolution," in The Yearof the Young 64. Xenakis [61]. of the Xenakis Festival, "A Celebration in Honour Rebels(New York, Random, 1968-1969) pp. 37-38; of the 65th Birthday of " (Glasgow: Lewis S. Feuer, The Conflictof Generations:The Char- 65. Xenakis [61]. 26-29 May 1987). acterand Significanceof StudentMovements (New York 66. distribution is a and London: Basic Books, 1969). Logistic type of probability 84. Xenakis discusses the notion of "general mor- function that can be described by the following for- phology" in "Les chemins de la composition musi- 44. Fleuret [39] p. 10. mula: y = (aeax- (1 + e-x-5)-1. Its musical applica- cale" [61] pp. 15-33. tion was suggested by Xenakis in a section entitled 45. Fleuret [39] p. 9. "New Proposal in Microcomposition Based on 85. Xenakis's words are paraphrased from his "Pre- Statement" to Arts/Sciences. [2] 46. Fleuret [4] p. 178. Probability Distributions" in Xenakis, Formalized liminary Alliages pp. Music [2] chapter 9, p. 246. 190-191; the quote is from the same source. The 47. This description of the Polytopede Clunyis based dissertation has been published in English in on accounts given in d'Allones [4]; Fleuret and 67. Sound mass might be defined as a complex ag- Kanach [2]. Xenakis [37]; Matossian [7] pp. 218-222; and gregate of sonorities played simultaneously over a 86. Fleuret [4] p. 175. duration of time. Sound masses differ in their loca- Margaret Atwood, Survival: A ThematicGuide to tion in pitch/register space, the density of events Canadian Literature(Toronto: Anansi, 1972) p. 183. 48. Varga [5] pp. 115-116. from which they are constructed, and the timbres of source material. This term, now used in 49. The account of the music is based on freely listening the of music was introduced to a language theory, by promotional copy (cassette tape) provided by Varese. In Formalized Music, Xenakis fre- Editions Paris Edgar Salabert, (Xenakis's publisher). quently uses the term "cloud of sounds." See Xenakis [2] 12-13. 50. Iannis Xenakis, Catalogue General des Oeuvres, pp. Manuscript received 18June 1996. Radu Stan, ed. (Paris: Editions Salabert, 1992). List

Harley, Music of Sound and Light: Xenakis's Polytopes 65