# Composers from the 1920s, like Edgard Varese?



## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

I'm quite interested to see if Varese was the only one developing the extreme dissonance and percussive heavieness in the 20s. I know of many composers later on (starting in the late 40s) that essentially continued what he started, but are there any others from the 20s?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Obviously one can cite Stravinsky and certain passages from Berg and Webern as predecessors in the 1910s, but I am not really aware of many other composers in the 1920s who were focusing on percussion to the same degree as Varese. Naturally, later on you have Messiaen, Boulez, Carter, and others who made percussion one of the cornerstones of their musical languages.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Of all the searching I've done so far, it appears that Antheil (the Ballet Mechanique guy) may have been the only one around that time. I still really want to know!


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Of all the searching I've done so far, it appears that Antheil (the Ballet Mechanique guy) may have been the only one around that time, though some pieces from Prokofiev has an energy it is still very melodic.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

This wikipedia article might be of interest.

Composers influenced by Futurism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism_(music)#Composers_influenced_by_Futurism

_"Futurism was one of several 20th century movements in art music that paid homage to, included or imitated machines. [...] Russolo's intonarumori influenced Stravinsky, Honegger, Antheil, and Edgar Varèse."_

The CD _Musica Futurista: The Art of Noises_ mentioned in the article contains recordings of furutist music from 1909-1935, including 4 pieces for intonarumori by Luigi Russolo.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

What about Henry Cowell?


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

tortkis said:


> This wikipedia article might be of interest.
> 
> Composers influenced by Futurism
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism_(music)#Composers_influenced_by_Futurism
> ...


I've heard all of those. Russolo is great but not much like Varese.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

arpeggio said:


> What about Henry Cowell?


I really like Cowell's piano works, very inspiration to myself. 2 things though, he appears to have only started composing for orchestras and ensembles past the 30s and it's not easy to track down a complete list of his works to confirm. The orchestral music I've heard from him, while excellent and enjoyable, aren't in the vein of Varese's music, which is far more aggressive.


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## jcofer (Jan 23, 2016)

In the Soviet Union there was Alexander Vasilyevich Mosolov. His 1926 composition "Factory: machine-music" commonly called "Iron Foundry", was considered a prime example of Soviet 'futurist music'.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

jcofer said:


> In the Soviet Union there was Alexander Vasilyevich Mosolov. His 1926 composition "Factory: machine-music" commonly called "Iron Foundry", was considered a prime example of Soviet 'futurist music'.


Mosolov was an interesting character. He got sent to the Gulag, not for his music but for brawling and insulting waiters (frowned on in the dictatorship of the proletariat). He got out soon enough but was banned from Moscow for many years.


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