Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also known as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; Greek: Γιάννης "Ιάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης; born May 29, 1922; died February 4, 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French composer, music theorist, architect, performance director, and engineer.

After 1947, he left Greece and became a French citizen 18 years later. Xenakis was among the first to use mathematical models in music, such as set theory, random processes, and strategic decision-making. He also influenced the development of electronic and computer music. He combined music with architecture by creating music for existing spaces and designing spaces that worked with specific music compositions and performances.

Some of his most important works include Metastaseis (1953–54) for orchestra, which gave each musician in the orchestra their own part; percussion pieces like Psappha (1975) and Pléïades (1979); compositions that spread musicians throughout the audience, such as Terretektorh (1966); electronic works created using Xenakis’s UPIC system; and large multimedia performances called polytopes, which combined his many interests and skills.

One of his most important writings is the book Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition (French edition 1963, English translation 1971). As an architect, Xenakis is best known for his early work with Le Corbusier, including the priory of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, and for designing the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair (Expo 58) on his own.

Life

Giannis Klearchou Xenakis was born in Brăila, Romania, which had a large Greek community at the time. He was the eldest son of Klearchos Xenakis, a businessman from Kymi, Euboea, who managed an English export-import company and was one of the wealthiest men in the city, and Fotini Pavlou from Lemnos, a pianist who also spoke German and French. His two younger brothers were Jason, who later became a philosophy professor in the United States and Greece, and Kosmas, an architect, urban planner, and artist.

Both of Xenakis’s parents loved music. His mother, Fotini Pavlou, gave him a flute and encouraged him to explore music further. The family visited the Bayreuth Festival several times because his father enjoyed opera. Pavlou died in 1927 when Xenakis was five years old. Her death was very difficult for him. She had previously been infected with measles and died after giving birth to a stillborn daughter.

After his mother’s death, Xenakis was taught by English, French, and German governesses. In 1932, he was sent to Greece to study at the Anargyrio-Korgialenio boarding school on the Aegean island of Spetses. He excelled in school and in sports. He also sang in the school’s boys’ choir, where he performed works by Palestrina and Mozart’s Requiem, which he memorized completely.

At Spetses, Xenakis learned music notation and solfège. He studied the music of Beethoven and Brahms and became interested in Greek traditional and church music. He also discovered the writer Homer and often visited museums.

In 1938, after finishing school, Xenakis moved to Athens to prepare for entrance exams at the National Technical University. He studied Ancient Greek and was encouraged by friends and family to pursue studies in physics and mathematics. Though he planned to study architecture and engineering, he also took lessons in harmony and counterpoint with Aristotelis Koundouroff. In 1940, he passed the entrance exams, but his studies were interrupted by the Greco-Italian War, which began when Italy invaded Greece on October 28, 1940. Though Greece won the war, Germany later joined the Italians in the Battle of Greece in April 1941.

This led to the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, which lasted until late 1944, when Allied forces began advancing across Europe. Xenakis joined the National Liberation Front early in the war, participating in protests and later in armed resistance. He later described this experience as something he did not want to talk about for many years.

After the Axis forces left, British forces entered Greece to help restore the monarchy, but they were opposed by the Democratic Army of Greece, leading to a civil war. In December 1944, during Churchill’s martial law, Xenakis, who was part of the communist students’ group of the left-wing Lord Byron faction of ELAS, fought against British tanks. He was wounded and facially disfigured when shrapnel from a tank blast hit his cheek and left eye, which was blinded. His survival from this injury was described as a miracle.

The Technical University operated only sometimes during these years. Despite this and his other activities, Xenakis graduated in 1947 with a degree in civil engineering.

Xenakis was then drafted into the national armed forces. Around 1947, the Greek government began arresting former resistance members who were left-wing. Fearing for his life, Xenakis went into hiding. With help from his father and others, he fled Greece through Italy using a fake passport. He arrived in Paris on November 11, 1947. In a later interview, Xenakis admitted he felt great guilt for leaving his country, and this guilt influenced his later devotion to music.

While in Greece, Xenakis was sentenced to death in absentia by the right-wing government. The sentence was reduced to ten years’ imprisonment in 1951 and lifted in 1974 after the fall of the Greek junta. He returned to Greece the same year.

Although he was an illegal immigrant in Paris, Xenakis found work at Le Corbusier’s architectural studio. He started as an engineering assistant but quickly took on more important tasks and eventually collaborated with Le Corbusier on major projects. These included a kindergarten on the roof of an apartment block in Nantes (Rezé), the Unité d’Habitation of Nantes-Rezé, parts of government buildings in Chandigarh, India, the “undulatory glass surfaces” of Sainte Marie de La Tourette, a Dominican priory near Lyon, and the Philips Pavilion at Expo 58, which Xenakis completed alone from a sketch by Le Corbusier. The experience he gained from these projects influenced his early music compositions, such as Metastaseis (1953–54), which were based on architectural ideas. At the same time, he dropped the “G” from his name, becoming known as “Iannis.”

While working for Le Corbusier, Xenakis studied harmony and counterpoint and composed music. He worked long hours, often late into the night, and sought guidance from several teachers, though most rejected him. Nadia Boulanger, the first person he approached, did not accept him as a student. He then studied with Arthur Honegger, who disliked some of Xenakis’s music, including pieces with parallel fifths and octaves, calling them “not music.” Xenakis, who was familiar with the works of Debussy, Béla Bartók, and Stravinsky, who used such techniques, was upset and left to study with Darius Milhaud, but these lessons also did not help. Annette Dieudonné, a friend of Boulanger’s, later recommended that Xenakis study with Olivier Messiaen. Xenakis asked Messiaen for advice on whether to continue studying harmony and counterpoint. Messiaen later recalled this meeting.

Francisco Estévez described Xenakis’s work as “mathematical formulas translated into beautiful, exciting, and convincing music.”

Xenakis regularly attended Messiaen’s classes from 1951 until 1953. Messiaen and his students studied music from many genres, focusing especially on rhythm. Xenakis’s compositions from 1949 to 1952 were inspired by Greek folk melodies and the works of Bartók and Ravel. After studying with Messiaen, Xenakis learned about serialism and gained a deeper understanding of contemporary music. Messiaen’s modal serialism influenced Xenakis’s first major work, Anastenaria (1953–54), a triptych for choir and orchestra based on an ancient Dionysian ritual. The third part of this work, Metastaseis, is considered Xenakis’s first mature piece and was later separated from the triptych to mark the beginning of his official musical career. He was associated with the Darmstadt School but later disagreed with the group, believing they focused too much on serialism and controlled too many aspects of composition.

Works

Mathematics, statistics, and physics have been used in music composition in several ways. For example, the statistical mechanics of gases were used in Pithoprakta, the statistical distribution of points on a plane was used in Diamorphoses, minimal constraints were used in Achorripsis, the normal distribution was used in ST/10 and Atrées, Markov chains were used in Analogique, game theory was used in Duel, Stratégie, and Linaia-agon, group theory was used in Nomos Alpha (for Siegfried Palm), set theory was used in Herma and Eonta, and Brownian motion was used in N'Shima. Persephassa, created for the Shiraz Arts Festival, was performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourg and first played in Persepolis in 1969. Later, the same festival commissioned Persepolis, a "polytope" designed specifically for the historic site.

Electroacoustic compositions, though a small part of Xenakis’s work, were important for music in the late 20th century. Key pieces in this style include Concret PH (1958), Analogique B (1958–59), Bohor (1962), La légende d'Eer (1977), Mycenae-Alpha (1978), Voyage absolu des Unari vers Andromède (1989), Gendy301 (1991), and S709 (1994).

By 1979, Xenakis created a computer system called UPIC, which could turn drawings into music. He called his drawings "arborescences," which looked like both natural shapes and buildings. These drawings, with their curves and lines, could be used by UPIC to create sound in real time. Mycenae-Alpha was the first piece made using UPIC as it was being developed.

Xenakis also designed a stochastic synthesizer algorithm (used in GENDY), called dynamic stochastic synthesis. This method uses random processes to create sound and music by adjusting the shape and size of a polygonal waveform. Random values are controlled with "elastic barriers" to keep them within limits, such as the range of audible pitches, to avoid chaos and balance stability with unpredictability.

Xenakis’s music is known for its strength and physical energy, even though he was often described as a "mathematical" composer. Alex Ross wrote that Xenakis created "some of the most intense and wild music ever made—sounds that surround the listener." Ben Watson praised the "powerful emotional impact" of Xenakis’s music, calling it "truly unique and otherworldly." Tom Service described Xenakis’s work as having "strong, physical energy" and being deeply connected to natural forces, such as the movement of stars and gas molecules. He said Xenakis’s music turned musical elements into a natural force, expressing power in ways that were more vivid than earlier composers. Service concluded that Xenakis’s music made music become nature itself.

Writings

Xenakis, Iannis. 2001. Formalized Music: How Thinking and Math Are Used in Music Composition (Harmonologia Series No. 6). Published by Pendragon Press in Hillsdale, New York. ISBN 1-57647-079-2.

Cited sources

• Di Scipio, Agostino (1998). "Compositional Models in Xenakis's Electroacoustic Music." Perspectives of New Music. 36 (2): 201–243. doi: 10.2307/833529. JSTOR 833529.
• Gilbert, Martin (1966). Winston Churchill. Oxford University Press.
• Harley, James (2004). Xenakis: His Life in Music. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-97145-4.
• Hoffmann, Peter (2001). "Xenakis, Iannis." In Deane Root (ed.), Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.30654. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
• Hugill, Andrew (2008). The Digital Musician. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-80660-2.
• Matossian, Nouritza (1986). Xenakis. London: Kahn and Averill. ISBN 1-871082-17-X.
• Serra, Marie-Hélène (Winter 1993). "Stochastic Composition and Stochastic Timbre: GENDY3 by Iannis Xenakis." Perspectives of New Music. 32 (1): 236–257. doi: 10.2307/833052. JSTOR 833052.
• Varga, Bálint András (1996). Conversations with Iannis Xenakis. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-17959-2.