Edgard Varese

Edgard Varese married the actress Suzanne Bing in 1907 and had a daughter with her. Their marriage didn’t last long and they divorced in 1913.

Later, in the US, he met Louise McCutcheon whom he eventually married.

He passed away on 6 November 1965 in New York.

Edgard Varese was born in Paris to Henri Varese and Blanche-Marie Cortot on 22 December 1883. Due to certain domestic difficulties, his parents sent him to live with his maternal relatives in a small town in the Burgundy region of France. There he became very close to his grandfather, Claude Cortot. As a child he never bonded with his parents and had a hostile relationship with them.

When he was ten, his parents reclaimed him and relocated to Italy. There he had his first musical lessons and soon composed his first opera. However, his father, an engineer himself, didn’t approve of Edgard’s interest in music. He sent the boy to the Polytechnic University of Turin to earn a degree in engineering.

Edgard Varese chose not to pursue engineering as a career and ventured into music. He moved to Berlin in 1907 where he met the renowned Richard Strauss and Ferruccio Busoni and was deeply influenced by them. He was also influenced by others like Roman Rolland and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who guided as well as supported him at the same time.

The first performance of his symphonic poem ‘Bourgogne’ was held on 5 January 1911. He wrote several other compositions during this time, which sadly, were destroyed in a fire.

After being invalided out of the French army shortly after the First World War broke out, Edgard Varese moved to the US. A few years after his arrival, he conducted ‘The Grande Messe des Morts.

Soon he started working on his first composition ‘Ameriques’, which was finished in 1921, and premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1926. This was followed by ‘Offrandes’, ‘Octandre’, ‘Arcana’ and others. He became well-known for his unconventional use of instruments as well as for his new concept of music.

He founded the International Composers’ Guild in 1921, and dedicated it to the performances of new compositions of both American and European composers. During his visit to Berlin in 1922, he founded a similar German organization, with Feruccio Busoni.

’Ameriques’ can undoubtedly be regarded as one of the most important works in Edgard Varese’s career. It was written between 1918 and 1921, and premiered in 1926. This work lasts twenty-three minutes, and although it starts quietly, it has full orchestral involvement throughout. After a need for a revision was felt, the work was revised and the revised version was premiered on 30 May 1929, at the Maison Gaveau in Paris.

Another one of Varese’s well-known works was ’Octandre’ which he wrote for a small orchestra in 1923. It was published by J. Curven and Sons in 1924. Much later, a newer edited version was released by Varese’s student, Chou Wen-chung.

’Poeme electronique’ was written by Edgard Varese for the Philips Pavilion for the 1958 Brussels World Fair. The piece which lasts for eight minutes was performed using electronic music.

Density 21.5’ by Edgard Varese was a piece of music that was written for solo flute. It was composed at the request of George Barrere for the premiere of his platinum flute. Regarded as one of his best original works, he used this piece to explore new areas of space and time, while using registral contrasts in order to affect polyphonic continuity.