Varèse, Edgar

Varèse, Edgar (1883–1965) composer; born in Paris, France. While studying engineering in Paris, he also pursued musical studies with prominent teachers. There and during a stay in Berlin (1908–15), he made a name as a composer and conductor and numbered Debussy among his sponsors. A visit to New York in 1915 turned into a lifetime's stay; meanwhile all his early pieces were lost or destroyed. In the U.S.A. he became a leader of the avant-garde, helping found the International Composers' Guild and the Pan-American Society. He composed a handful of works of spectacular originality and aggressive modernism, including Amériques (1921–22), Offrandes (1921), and one of the first all-percussion works, Ionisation (1931). Audience rejection and personal depression led to a long creative hiatus, but in the 1950s he emerged to become a prime influence on the new generation. Later works included the Poèmeélectronique, written for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair.