Xenakis, Yannis or Iannis

Xenakis, Yannis or Iannis (yän'is zānä'kis) [key], 1922–2001, Greek-French composer, b. Brăila, Romania. Xenakis studied civil engineering in Athens (1940–47) and worked as an architect in Paris (1947–59) with Le Corbusier. He was also a composition pupil of Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Olivier Messiaen. Xenakis used both Greek folk elements and twelve-tone technique in his music. He also developed a “probabilistic” technique of composition, based on the mathematical probability of the recurrence of notes and rhythms. His works include Métastasis (1953–54) for orchestra, Pithoprakta (1957) for strings, and Achorripsis (1958) for 21 instruments. In 1958, Xenakis collaborated with Edgar Varèse on the Poème Electronique. His later compositions often include electronic sound, as in Bohor (1962) and Polytope de Cluny (1972), or virtuoso percussion, as in Psappha (1975), Rebonds (1988), and his last piece, O—Mega (1997). He was a founder of the Centre d'Etudes Mathématiques et Automatiques in Paris and of the Center for Mathematical and Automated Music at Indiana Univ. Xenakis wrote several treatises explaining his various theories.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

• • Cite
  • Print