(1931–2021)
Born in 1931 in Nashua, New Hampshire; died in 2021 in Middletown, Connecticut. American avant-garde composer and sound artist, a pioneer of experimental music focused on the physical nature of sound and the act of listening itself.
He studied at Yale and Brandeis universities, and also with Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center (today the Tanglewood Music Center). In 1960, while in Rome on a Fulbright fellowship, he became friends with Frederic Rzewski. In Europe he also met John Cage, Merce Cunningham and David Tudor for the first time, and his encounter with their art changed his understanding of music. After returning from Rome, he joined the Brandeis faculty in 1963 and took charge of the academic chamber choir. The Brandeis University Chamber Chorus performed not only classical music but also contemporary works, and commissioned new compositions. Soon afterwards Lucier met Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley, experimental artists associated with the ONCE Festival of New Music in Ann Arbor. This acquaintance led to a cooperation, joint concert tours across the United States and Europe, and, later, the formation of the Sonic Arts Union, a musical collective devoted primarily to performing new works by its members (the fourth being David Behrman). The group was active for ten years, until 1976, touring on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1970 Lucier left Brandeis University, where he had also directed the electronic music studio, and moved to Wesleyan University in Middletown, where he was appointed professor and taught until his retirement in 2011. From 1972 to 1979 he served as music director of the Viola Farber Dance Company. In 1990 he received a DAAD fellowship in Berlin. In writing his works and creating sound installations, he cooperated not only with theatre and visual artists but also with researchers from the sciences. He published writings on music, and lectured and performed in the United States, Europe and Asia. In his later years he composed mainly for the Ever Present Orchestra, founded in 2016 to perform his works. The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States honoured him with a lifetime achievement award, and the University of Plymouth awarded him an honorary doctorate.
One of Lucier’s best-known works is I Am Sitting in a Room (1969), in which the composer recorded his own voice, then played back the recording and re-recorded it, looping the process many times over. In The Queen of the South (1972) he used a plate onto which performers scatter loose material, which vibrates and sets the particles in motion under the influence of their singing, speech or playing. In Action Music for piano (1962) the entire material of the work was entrusted to the performer’s movements and gestures. Music for Solo Performer (1965), meanwhile, is considered the first musical work in which human brainwaves were used to generate sound.
Selected works: Action Music for piano (1962), Poem for string quartet (1963), Composition for Pianist and Mother, music theatre (1964), Music for Solo Performer for percussion ensemble using electromechanical devices that track the performer’s brainwaves (1965), Music 16 for tape (1966), North American Time Capsule for voice and vocoder (1967), Vespers for echolocation devices (1968), The Only Talking Machine of Its Kind in the World for loudspeaker and delay system (1969), I Am Sitting in a Room for voice, two tape recorders and two amplification systems (1970), Gentle Fire for synthesizers (1971), The Queen of the South for performers, reactive surfaces, scattered materials and TV systems (1972), Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas for singers, instrumentalists, dancers and percussion (1973–74), Outlines of Persons and Things for microphones, loudspeakers and electronic sounds (1975), Tyndall Orchestrations for female voice, Bunsen burners, glass tubes and recorded birdsong (1976), Ghosts for oscillator, loudspeakers and sound-responsive lighting system (1978), Directions of Sounds from the Bridge, sound installation and performance (1978), Job’s Coffin for amplified chest of drawers (1980), Crossings for orchestra and slow-sweep oscillator, Intervals for choir and light (1983), Spinner for six oscillators (1984), Septet for three wind instruments, four string instruments and oscillators (1985), Sound on Paper, sound installation or performance for framed paper, loudspeakers and oscillator (1985), A Tribute to James Tenney for double bass and oscillators (1986), Fideliotrio for viola, cello and piano (1987), Kettles for five timpani and two oscillators (1987), Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra for amplified triangle (1988), Carbon Copies for saxophone, piano, percussion and environmental recordings (1989), Clackers and Swoopers for three fire sirens and dancers with pieces of wood (1989), Self-Portrait for flute and anemometer (1989), Music for Snare Drum, Pure Wave Oscillator, and One or More Reflective Surfaces (1990), Nothing Is Real (Strawberry Fields Forever) for piano, amplified kettle, tape recorder and miniature sound system (1990), Amplifier and Reflector One for open umbrella, roasting pan and amplified clock (1991), Berlin Is a Resonant City, sound installation (1991), Music for Piano with Amplified Sonorous Vessels for piano and objects (1991), Letters for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1992), Music for Cello with One or More Amplified Vases for cello and one or more amplified vessels (1992), Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums for piano and one or more snare drums (1992), Music for Piano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators for piano and oscillators (1992), Navigations for Strings for string quartet (1992), Six Geometries for choir and slow-sweep oscillators (1992), In Memoriam Stuart Marshall for bass clarinet and oscillator (1993), Indian Summer for electronic cello (1993), Music for Accordion with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators for accordion and slow-sweep oscillators (1993), Music for Baritone with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators for baritone and slowsweep oscillators (1993), Music for Piano with Half-Closed Lid, sound installation or performance with dancers (1993), Music for Soprano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators for soprano and slow-sweep oscillators (1993), Panorama for trombone and piano (1993), Serenade for oboe and string orchestra (1993), Stacks, sitespecific realisation for trombone and a sculpture by Richard Serra (1993), Disappearances for string quartet (1994), Distant Drums for amplified percussion (1994), Hands for organ, for one or more performers (1994), Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers for gamelan instruments, microphones, amplification system and loudspeakers (1994), Sierpinski Lines for alto saxophone and 12 string instruments (1994), Spider Paths for amplified lute or other plucked string instrument (1994), Spira Mirabilis for a long-resonating bass instrument and electric light (1994), The Sacred Fox for voice with gourds, bowls, boxes and other resonating vessels (1994), Theme for voices and objects (1994), Two Stones for performer and two pieces of basalt (1994), UNAMUNO for four equal voices (1994), 40 Rooms for quintet and LARES system (1996), Q for quintet and oscillators (1996), Two Twenty-Two for violin, clarinet, trombone, cello and double bass (1996), I Remember for choir and objects (1997), Opera with Objects for performer(s) and objects (1997), Rare Books for performer(s) with books (1997), Sizzles for organ and drums with fine loose material (1997), Small Waves for string quartet, trombone, piano, two dancers and six partly filled water containers (1997), Sweepers for orchestra (1997),Wave Painting Songs for soprano and slow-sweep oscillators (1998), Cassiopeia, Five Stars in the Shape of a “W” for orchestra (1999), Diamonds for one, two or three orchestras (1999), Heavier Than Air for any number of performers with balloons filled with carbon dioxide (1999), What Day Is Today?, eight short pieces for tape based on natural radio waves and other data from the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn (1999), Fruits and Vegetables for baritone, piano and oscillators (2000), Piper for bagpipes (2000), Tapper for violin (2002), Charles Curtis for violin and slow-sweep oscillators (2002), Six Resonant Points along a Curved Wall, sound installation for a sculpture by Sol LeWitt (2004), The Exploration of the House for orchestra with real-time recording and playback (2005), Broken Line for flute, vibraphone and piano (2006), Music with Missing Parts, reorchestration of Mozart’s Requiem (2007), Glacier for cello (2009), ICEcles for alto flute, clarinet, tuba and piano (2010), Four Kettledrums for four timpani (2010), Copied Lines for trombone and 13 string instruments (2011), On a Carpet of Leaves (2000–12), Firewood for clarinet, vibraphone, piano, electric guitar, cello and double bass (2013), Criss-Cross for two electric guitars (2013), Palimpsest for voice, two tape recorders and two amplification systems (2014), Hanover for violin, alto and tenor saxophones, three banjos, piano and vibraphone (2015), Swing Bridge for organ, two violins, cello, double bass, female voice, trumpet and performers manipulating organ pipes (2016), Ricochet Lady for chimes (2016), One Arm Bandits for four cellos (2016), Performing Emily for female voice and six oscillators (2017), Semicircle for four electric guitars, three alto saxophones, four violins and piano (2018), Double Helixfor four electric guitars using e-bows (2018), Halo for one or more violinists (2019).