Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. was born on May 14, 1931, and passed away on December 1, 2021. He was an American composer and artist who created unusual music. For many years, he taught music at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Lucier was part of a group called the Sonic Arts Union, which included other artists such as Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma. His work often studied how people hear sounds and how sound moves through the air.

Early life

Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. was born on May 14, 1931, in Nashua, New Hampshire, to Kathryn E. Lemery, a pianist, and Alvin Augustus Lucier Sr., a lawyer and politician who was mayor of Nashua from 1934 to 1937. He attended public and parochial schools in Nashua, as well as Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He later studied at Yale University and Brandeis University. In 1958 and 1959, Lucier studied under Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland at the Tanglewood Center. In 1960, he went to Rome on a Fulbright grant, where he made friends with American composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski, who lived abroad. He saw performances by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor, which encouraged him to try new and different styles. He returned to Brandeis in 1962 to become director of the University Chamber Chorus, which performed classical vocal works and modern compositions.

At a 1963 Chamber Chorus concert at New York’s Town Hall, Lucier met Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley, experimental composers who directed the ONCE Festival. A year later, Mumma and Ashley invited the Chamber Chorus to the ONCE Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1966, Lucier returned the favor by inviting Mumma, Ashley, and David Behrman to Brandeis for a concert of their works. The four began touring the United States and Europe as the Sonic Arts Group. At Ashley’s suggestion, the group later changed its name to the Sonic Arts Union. After touring together for ten years, the Sonic Arts Union became inactive in 1976.

In 1970, Lucier left Brandeis for Wesleyan University, where he worked until his retirement. In 1972, he became the musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company, a position he held until 1979.

Personal life

Lucier was married to his first wife, Mary, until they separated in 1972. After that, he married Wendy Stokes. They had one daughter and stayed married until he passed away. Lucier died at his home in Middletown, Connecticut, on December 1, 2021, at the age of 90. He passed away due to problems from a fall.

Works

Although Lucier had written music for small groups and large orchestras since 1952, both he and his critics consider his 1965 piece Music for Solo Performer to be his first important and fully developed work.

One of Lucier’s most famous works is I Am Sitting in a Room (1969). In this piece, Lucier records himself speaking a text, then plays the recording back into the room and re-records it. This process is repeated multiple times. Because every enclosed space has unique characteristics, such as how sound bounces around in a large hall versus a small room, certain sound frequencies gradually become louder until the words are no longer clear. Instead, only the natural tones and harmonies of the room remain. The text Lucier reads describes this process. It begins with, “I am sitting in a room, different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice…” and ends 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.

Other significant works by Lucier include North American Time Capsule (1966), which used an early version of a machine that changes speech sounds; Music on a Long Thin Wire (1977), in which a piano wire is stretched across a room and activated by a device that creates sound waves and magnets that use electricity; Crossings (1982), where tones are played across a rising sound wave to create beat frequencies; the series Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas (1973–74), where beat frequencies between sound waves and instruments create areas of loud and quiet sound; and Clocker (1978), which uses signals from the body and a machine that delays sound.

In 2025, a new musical exhibit based on brain-like structures grown from Lucier’s white blood cells opened at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. These structures, made from Lucier’s DNA, sent out electrical signals that triggered mallets connected to brass plates, creating music. Lucier willingly arranged for this project so he could continue making music after his death.

Discography

• 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," Sarah 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, 1967

Films

• 1976 – Music With Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television. Part 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.