Iannis
Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis (born 1922 in Brăila, Romania; died 2001 in Paris) was one of the first prominent music-division alumni of the newly established DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. Xenakis had lived in Paris since 1947 and came to Berlin in October 1963, accompanied by his student, the composer and pianist Takahashi Yuji. The artists’ program, which received substantial support from the Ford Foundation in its early days, also made it possible for students of the invited composers to stay in Berlin. Moritz von Bomhard, then representative of the Ford Foundation, summarized the principles of the program in a letter to the composer (March 3, 1963) in the following words: “We are interested in inviting artists of international stature to stay in Berlin where they can work undisturbed and without obligations as well as participate in the intellectual and cultural life of the city in accordance with their own interests and ideas. If these artists are also interested in continuing to teach their students, the Ford Foundation is happy to invite them to Berlin on a fellowship for the duration of their studies.”

By the mid-1960s, Iannis Xenakis was already a composer of international renown and had made musical history as a pioneer of “sound composition” with the groundbreaking orchestral piece Metastasis, which caused a sensation in Donaueschingen in 1954. The complex mass movements and changing tonal aggregate states were based on scientific-mathematical methods. Xenakis had a degree in engineering and worked as an assistant to Le Corbusier from 1948 to 1960; in 1958 he designed the Philips Pavilion for the Brussels World’s Fair. Xenakis’s compositions were largely structurally influenced by mathmatical principles and procedures, especially stochastics and game theory: “Thinking scientifically gives me an instrument that I can use to realize my non-scientific ideas.” Xenakis, with Takahashi’s assistance, gave a talk on the “Mathematical Formulation of Musical Composition” at the Amerika Haus in Berlin on June 3, 1964. At the same time, he was exploring the possibilities of electronic music and conducting early research on computer-controlled compositional processes. During his stay, Xenakis sought to collaborate closely with the Electronic Studio at TU Berlin.

Xenakis wrote a central piece in his catalog of works in Berlin: Eonta for piano, two trumpets, and three trombones (1963–64). Most significantly, it reveals a characteristic fusing of myth and science/technology, of immediate, existential sonic impact and mathematical construction—Xenakis’s longest composition at the time. The piece is intended as an homage to the Greek philosopher Parmenides and makes use of probability theory and logical set-theory methods. Some sound processes, especially in the piano, were produced with one of the most powerful computers at the time, the IBM 7090. A piano part, almost unplayable in its volatility and fullness of tone, encounters iridescent expanses of the wind ensemble; dramatic contrasts include the at times theatrical actions of the musicians. Interpretive performances of Xenakis’s music in Berlin were less successful: the Berlin Philharmonic’s scheduled performance of the orchestral piece Pithoprakta (1957) on June 21, 1964 was cancelled a few days earlier, much to the annoyance of the composer, due to its supposed “unplayability” and “danger to the instruments.”

Text: Dirk Wieschollek

Translation: Erik Smith