Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma. Much of his work is influenced by science and explores the physical properties of sound itself: resonance of spaces, phase interference between closely tuned pitches, and the transmission of sound through physical media.
Lucier was born in Nashua, 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 the Portsmouth Abbey School, Yale University and Brandeis University.[1] In 1958 and 1959, Lucier studied with Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland at the Tanglewood Center. In 1960, Lucier left for Rome on a Fulbright grant, where he befriended American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski and witnessed performances by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor that 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's Town Hall, Lucier met Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley, experimental composers who were also directors of the ONCE 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 friend David Behrman to 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 the Sonic 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 for Wesleyan University. In 1972, Lucier became a musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company, a position he held until 1979.
Personal lifeEdit
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 in Middletown, Connecticut, on December 1, 2021, at age 90, from complications of a fall.[1]
Though Lucier had composed chamber and orchestral works since 1952, the composer and his critics count his 1965 composition Music for Solo Performer as the proper beginning of his compositional career.
I Am Sitting in a RoomEdit
One of Lucier's most important and best-known works is I 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 characteristic resonance (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 own stuttering.[2]
Other key piecesEdit
Other key pieces include North American Time Capsule (1966), which employed a prototype vocoder to isolate and manipulate elements of speech[citation needed]; 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[citation needed]; Crossings (1982), in which tones play across a steadily rising sine wave producing interference beats[citation needed]; Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas (1973–74), in which the interference tones between sine waves create "troughs" and "valleys" of sound and silence[citation needed]; and Clocker (1978), which uses biofeedback and reverberation.[citation needed]
Orchestra Works, New World Records CD 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, on Psalms , CD #8, 2010
Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas, Nick Hennies, Quiet Design CD 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")
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
"Self Portrait", on Upper Air Observation, Barbara Held, flute, Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 3031, 1992
"Nothing is Real" on Hyper 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", on Imaginary Landscapes, Elektra/Nonesuch 79235-2, 1989
1976 - Music With Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television. Tape 3: Alvin Lucier. Produced and directed by Robert Ashley. New York City: Lovely Music.
2012 - NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS. Produced and directed by Viola Rusche and Hauke Harder.
NotesEdit
^ abcdKozinn, Allan (December 1, 2021). "Alvin Lucier, Probing Composer of Soundscapes, Is Dead at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
^Residuum (January 27, 2005). "audio I Am Sitting in A Room". Retrieved September 29, 2016 – via Internet archive.
Cox, Christoph. “The Alien Voice: Alvin Lucier’s North American Time Capsule.” In Mainframe 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. “Origins of a Form: Acoustic Exploration, Science and Incessancy.” Leonardo Music Journal 8 (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 readingEdit
eContact! 14.2 — Biotechnological Performance Practice / Pratiques de performance biotechnologique (July 2012). Montréal: Canadian Electroacoustic Community.
Alvin Lucier (February 9, 2005). "Sitting in a Room with Alvin Lucier". NewMusicBox (Interview). Interviewed by Frank J. Oteri (published April 1, 2005).
Island (1998) performed by The Other Minds Ensemble at the Other Minds Music Festival in 1999 at Cowell Theater in San Francisco.
Nothing Is Real (Strawberry Fields Forever) (1990) performed by Margaret Leng Tan at the Other Minds Music Festival in 1999 at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco.
I Am Sitting in a Room. Recreation in 2005, Internet Archive.
I Am Sitting in a Room (1969). Performance by Trevor Cox from 2014 using the acoustics of the Inchindown oil tanks that hold the world record for the ‘longest echo‛.
NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS, by Viola Rusche and Hauke Harder
October 17, 2023
alvin, lucier, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, . This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations April 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Alvin Lucier news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr May 14 1931 December 1 2021 was an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception A long time music professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown Connecticut Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union which included Robert Ashley David Behrman and Gordon Mumma Much of his work is influenced by science and explores the physical properties of sound itself resonance of spaces phase interference between closely tuned pitches and the transmission of sound through physical media Alvin LucierLucier in 2017BornAlvin Augustus Lucier Jr 1931 05 14 May 14 1931Nashua New Hampshire U S DiedDecember 1 2021 2021 12 01 aged 90 Middletown Connecticut U S EducationYale University Brandeis UniversityKnown forSound artNotable workI Am Sitting in a Room Contents 1 Early life 2 Personal life 3 Works 3 1 I Am Sitting in a Room 3 2 Other key pieces 4 Students 5 Awards 6 Discography 7 Films 8 Notes 9 Bibliography 10 Further reading 11 External links 11 1 Listening 11 2 MoviesEarly life EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Alvin Lucier news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Lucier was born in Nashua 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 the Portsmouth Abbey School Yale University and Brandeis University 1 In 1958 and 1959 Lucier studied with Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland at the Tanglewood Center In 1960 Lucier left for Rome on a Fulbright grant where he befriended American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski and witnessed performances by John Cage Merce Cunningham and David Tudor that 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 s Town Hall Lucier met Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley experimental composers who were also directors of the ONCE 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 friend David Behrman to 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 the Sonic 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 for Wesleyan University In 1972 Lucier became a musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company a position he held until 1979 Personal life EditLucier 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 in Middletown Connecticut on December 1 2021 at age 90 from complications of a fall 1 Works EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed December 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Though Lucier had composed chamber and orchestral works since 1952 the composer and his critics count his 1965 composition Music for Solo Performer as the proper beginning of his compositional career I Am Sitting in a Room Edit One of Lucier s most important and best known works is I 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 characteristic resonance 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 own stuttering 2 Other key pieces Edit Other key pieces include North American Time Capsule 1966 which employed a prototype vocoder to isolate and manipulate elements of speech citation needed 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 citation needed Crossings 1982 in which tones play across a steadily rising sine wave producing interference beats citation needed Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas 1973 74 in which the interference tones between sine waves create troughs and valleys of sound and silence citation needed and Clocker 1978 which uses biofeedback and reverberation citation needed Students EditFor Lucier s notable students see List of music students by teacher K to M Alvin Lucier Awards EditLucier was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Plymouth University in 2007 3 Discography EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed December 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Orchestra Works New World Records CD 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 on Psalms Roeba CD 8 2010 Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas Nick Hennies Quiet Design CD 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 on OHM 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 on Upper Air Observation Barbara Held flute Lovely Music Ltd CD 3031 1992 Nothing is Real on Hyper 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 on Imaginary 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 on Electronic Sound Mainstream MS 5010 1971 I am sitting in a room on SOURCE Record 3 1970 North American Time Capsule on Music of Our Time series CBS Odyssey Records 1967Films Edit1976 Music With Roots in the Aether Opera for Television Tape 3 Alvin Lucier Produced and directed by Robert Ashley New York City Lovely Music 2012 NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS Produced and directed by Viola Rusche and Hauke Harder Notes Edit a b c d Kozinn Allan December 1 2021 Alvin Lucier Probing Composer of Soundscapes Is Dead at 90 The New York Times Retrieved December 1 2021 Residuum January 27 2005 audio I Am Sitting in A Room Retrieved September 29 2016 via Internet archive Alvin Lucier Participant Archives Bibliography EditCox Christoph The Alien Voice Alvin Lucier s North American Time Capsule In Mainframe 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 Koln Edition MusikTexte 1995 Third enlarged edition English only Koln Edition MusikTexte 2021 Lucier Alvin Origins of a Form Acoustic Exploration Science and Incessancy Leonardo Music Journal 8 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 EditeContact 14 2 Biotechnological Performance Practice Pratiques de performance biotechnologique July 2012 Montreal Canadian Electroacoustic Community Zimmerman Walter Desert Plants Conversations with 23 American Musicians Berlin Beginner Press in cooperation with Mode Records 2020 originally published in 1976 by A R C Vancouver The 2020 edition includes a cd featuring the original interview recordings with Larry Austin Robert Ashley Jim Burton John Cage Philip Corner Morton Feldman Philip Glass Joan La Barbara Garrett List Alvin Lucier John McGuire Charles Morrow J B Floyd on Conlon Nancarrow Pauline Oliveros Charlemagne Palestine Ben Johnston on Harry Partch Steve Reich David Rosenboom Frederic Rzewski Richard Teitelbaum James Tenney Christian Wolff and La Monte Young External links EditAlvin Lucier s website Wesleyan University Alvin Lucier scores published by Material Press Lovely Music Artist Alvin Lucier CDeMUSIC Alvin Lucier Volume Bed of Sound Alvin Lucier Alvin Lucier in conversation with Thomas Moore Alvin Lucier February 9 2005 Sitting in a Room with Alvin Lucier NewMusicBox Interview Interviewed by Frank J Oteri published April 1 2005 I am sitting in a room 1969 by Alvin Lucier real time realization by Christopher Burns 2000 Alvin Lucier discography at MusicBrainz Alvin Lucier discography at Discogs Alvin Lucier at IMDb Alvin Lucier papers 1939 2015 Music Division The New York Public Library Conversation with Alvin Lucier for Radio Web MACBA 2016Listening Edit Lucier on UBUWeb includes original 1969 recording of I Am Sitting In A Room Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums 1990 performed by Hildegard Kleeb Island 1998 performed by The Other Minds Ensemble at the Other Minds Music Festival in 1999 at Cowell Theater in San Francisco Nothing Is Real Strawberry Fields Forever 1990 performed by Margaret Leng Tan at the Other Minds Music Festival in 1999 at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco I Am Sitting in a Room Recreation in 2005 Internet Archive I Am Sitting in a Room 1969 Performance by Trevor Cox from 2014 using the acoustics of the Inchindown oil tanks that hold the world record for the longest echo Movies Edit Music with Roots in the Aether 1975 from UbuWeb NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS by Viola Rusche and Hauke Harder Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alvin Lucier amp oldid 1102199791, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
