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Alvin Lucier

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Alvin Lucier
Lucier in 2017
Born
Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr.

(1931-05-14)May 14, 1931
Nashua, New Hampshire,U.S.
DiedDecember 1, 2021(2021-12-01)(aged 90)
Middletown, Connecticut,U.S.
Education
Known forSound art
Notable workI Am Sitting in a Room

Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr.(May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American composer ofexperimental musicandsound installationsthat explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor atWesleyan UniversityinMiddletown, Connecticut,Lucier was a member of the influentialSonic Arts Union,which includedRobert Ashley,David Behrman,andGordon Mumma.Much of his work is influenced by science and explores the physical properties of sound itself:resonanceof spaces, phase interference between closely tuned pitches, and the transmission of sound through physical media.

Early life[edit]

Lucier was born inNashua, New Hampshire,the son of Kathryn E. Lemery, a pianist, and Alvin Augustus Lucier, a lawyer who was Mayor of Nashua.[1]He was educated in Nashua public and parochial schools and thePortsmouth Abbey School,Yale UniversityandBrandeis University.[1]In 1958 and 1959, Lucier studied withLukas FossandAaron Coplandat theTanglewoodCenter. In 1960, Lucier left forRomeon aFulbright grant,where he befriended American expatriate composerFrederic Rzewskiand witnessed performances byJohn Cage,Merce Cunningham,andDavid Tudorthat provided compelling alternatives to his classical training. He returned from Rome in 1962 to take up a position at Brandeis as director of the University Chamber Chorus, which presented classical vocal works alongside modern compositions and new commissions.

At a 1963 Chamber Chorus concert at New York'sTown Hall,Lucier metGordon MummaandRobert Ashley,experimental composers who were also directors of theONCE Festival,an annual multi-media event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A year later, Mumma and Ashley invited the Chamber Chorus to the ONCE Festival; and, in 1966, Lucier reciprocated by inviting Mumma, Ashley, and mutual friendDavid Behrmanto Brandeis for a concert of works by the four composers. Based on the success of that concert, Lucier, Mumma, Ashley, and Behrman embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe under the name the Sonic Arts Group (at Ashley's suggestion, the name was later changed to theSonic Arts Union). More a musical collective than a proper quartet, the Sonic Arts Union presented works by each of its members, sharing equipment and assisting when necessary. Performing and touring together for a decade, the Sonic Arts Union became inactive in 1976.

In 1970, Lucier left Brandeis forWesleyan University.In 1972, Lucier became a musical director of theViola FarberDance Company, a position he held until 1979.

Personal life[edit]

Lucier was married to his first wife, Mary, until their divorce in 1972. He then married Wendy Stokes; they had one daughter and remained together until his death.[1]

Lucier died at his home inMiddletown, Connecticut,on December 1, 2021, at age 90, from complications of a fall.[1]

Works[edit]

Though Lucier had composed chamber and orchestral works since 1952, the composer and his critics count his 1965 compositionMusic for Solo Performeras the proper beginning of his compositional career.

I Am Sitting in a Room[edit]

One of Lucier's most important and best-known works isI Am Sitting in a Room(1969), in which Lucier records himself narrating a text, and then plays the recording back into the room, re-recording it. The new recording is then played back and re-recorded, and this process is repeated. Since every enclosed area has a characteristicresonance(e.g., between a large hall and a small room), the effect is that certain frequencies are gradually emphasized as they resonate in the room, until eventually the words become unintelligible, replaced by the pure resonant harmonies and tones of the room itself. The recited text describes this process in action. It begins, “I am sitting in a room, different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice…”, and concludes with “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,” referring to his ownstuttering.[2]

Other key pieces[edit]

Other key pieces includeNorth American Time Capsule(1966), which employed a prototypevocoderto isolate and manipulate elements of speech;[3][4]Music On A Long Thin Wire(1977), in which a piano wire is strung across a room and activated by an amplified oscillator and magnets on either end, producing changing overtones and sounds needed;[5][6]Crossings(1982), in which tones play across a steadily rising sine wave producing interferencebeats;[7]Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas(1973–74), in which theinterferencetones between sine waves create "troughs" and "valleys" of sound and silence;[7]andClocker(1978), which uses biofeedback andreverberation.[8]

Students[edit]

For Lucier's notable students, seeList of music students by teacher: K to M § Alvin Lucier.

Awards[edit]

Lucier was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts fromPlymouth Universityin 2007.[9]

Discography[edit]

  • Orchestra Works,New World RecordsCD 80755-2, 2013 (contains "Diamonds for 1, 2, or 3 Orchestras," "Slices," "Exploration of the House" )
  • Almost New York,Pogus Productions CD P21057-2, 2011 (contains "Twonings," "Almost New York," "Broken Line," "Coda Variations" )
  • "Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra", Nick Hennies, onPsalmsRoeba,CD #8, 2010
  • Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas,Nick Hennies,Quiet DesignCD Alas011, 2010
  • Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas,1-12,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 1015, 2004
  • Navigations for Strings; Small Waves,Mode Records, CD 124, 2003
  • Still Lives,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 5012, 2001 (contains "Music for Piano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators," "On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon," "Still Lives" )
  • "Music On A Long Thin Wire"[excerpt] onOHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music,2000. 3CD.
  • Theme,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 5011, 1999 (contains "Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings," "Theme," "Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers" )
  • Panorama,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 1012, 1997 (contains "Wind Shadows," "Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums," "Music for Piano with Amplified Sonorous Vessels," "Panorama" )
  • Fragments for Strings,Arditti String Quartet, Disques Montaigne, 1996
  • Clocker,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 1019, 1994
  • "Self Portrait", onUpper Air Observation,Barbara Held, flute,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 3031, 1992
  • "Nothing is Real" onHyper Beatles 2,Eastworld, 1991
  • Crossings,Lovely Music,Ltd. CD 1018, 1990 (contains "In Memoriam Jon Higgins," "Septet for Three Winds, Four Strings, and Pure Wave Oscillator," "Crossings" )
  • "Music for Alpha Waves, Assorted Percussion, and Automated Coded Relays", onImaginary Landscapes,Elektra/Nonesuch 79235-2, 1989
  • Sferics,Lovely Music,Ltd. LP 1017, 1988
  • Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas,5-8,Lovely Music,Ltd. LP 1016, 1985
  • Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas,1-4,Lovely Music,Ltd. LP 1015, 1983
  • Music for Solo Performer,Lovely Music,Ltd. LP 1014, 1982
  • I am Sitting in a Room,Lovely Music,Ltd. LP/CD 1013, 1981/90
  • Music On A Long Thin Wire,Lovely Music,Ltd. LP/CD 1011, 1980/92
  • Bird and Person Dyning/The Duke of York,Cramps, 1975
  • "Vespers", onElectronic Sound,Mainstream MS-5010, 1971
  • "I am sitting in a room",on SOURCE Record #3, 1970
  • "North American Time Capsule",onMusic of Our Timeseries, CBS Odyssey Records, 1967

Films[edit]

  • 1976 -Music With Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television.Tape 3: Alvin Lucier. Produced and directed byRobert Ashley.New York City: Lovely Music.
  • 2012 -NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS.Produced and directed by Viola Rusche andHauke Harder.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^abcdKozinn, Allan (December 1, 2021)."Alvin Lucier, Probing Composer of Soundscapes, Is Dead at 90".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 1,2021.
  2. ^Residuum (January 27, 2005)."audio I Am Sitting in A Room".RetrievedSeptember 29,2016– viaInternet archive.
  3. ^Dean, R. T. (2003).Hyperimprovisation: computer-interactive sound improvisation.A-R Editions. p. 20.ISBN978-0-89579-508-3.
  4. ^Dufourcq, Norbert(1981).Larousse Encyclopedia of Music.Excalibur Books. p.530.ISBN978-0-89673-101-1.
  5. ^(1992).Album Notes forMusic on a Long Thin Wireat Lovely.com
  6. ^Alvin Lucier (2005).Reflexionen. Interviews, Notationen, Texte / Reflections. Interviews. Scores. Writings.2nd edition, MusikTexte, Cologne, p. 186 (Dual-language English / German)
  7. ^abPerkis, Tim (1991)."Crossing by Alvin Lucier, Digital Music by Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta (review)".Leonardo Music Journal.1(1): 112–112.ISSN1531-4812.
  8. ^Lucier, Alvin (1991)."Clocker: For Amplified Clock, Performer with Galvanic Skin Response Sensor and Digital Delay System".Leonardo.24(5): 621–622.ISSN1530-9282.
  9. ^"Alvin Lucier Participant Archives".

Bibliography[edit]

  • Cox, Christoph. “The Alien Voice: Alvin Lucier’sNorth American Time Capsule.”InMainframe Experimentalism: Early Computing and the Foundations of the Digital Arts.Edited by Hannah Higgins and Douglas Kahn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
  • Lucier, Alvin. “Reflections: Interviews, Scores, Writings 1965–1994,” Köln: Edition MusikTexte, 1995. Third enlarged edition (English only), Köln: Edition MusikTexte, 2021.
  • Lucier, Alvin. “Origins of a Form: Acoustic Exploration, Science and Incessancy.”Leonardo Music Journal8 (December 1998) — “Ghosts and Monsters: Technology and Personality in Contemporary Music,” pp. 5–11.
  • Moore, Thomas. “Alvin Lucier in Conversation with Thomas Moore.”1983.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Listening[edit]

Movies[edit]

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