Henry at his home (January 2008) Pierre Georges Albert François Henry (; 9 December 1927 – 5 July 2017) was a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and pioneer of

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...

Biography

Henry was born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and began experimenting at the age of 15 with sounds produced by various objects. He became fascinated with the integration of noise into music, now called

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

. He studied with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

, and Félix Passerone at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

from 1938 to 1948. Between 1949 and 1958, Henry worked at the

Club d'Essai The ''Studio d'Essai'', later ''Club d'Essai'', was founded in 1942 by Pierre Schaeffer, played a role in the activities of the French resistance during World War II, and later became a center of musical activity. In 1942 the French composer and th ...

studio at RTF, which had been founded by

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His innov ...

in 1943. During this period, he wrote the 1950 piece '' Symphonie pour un homme seul'', in cooperation with Schaeffer. It is an important early example of

. Henry also composed the first musique concrète track to appear in a commercial film: the 1952 short film ''Astrologie ou le miroir de la vie'' by

Jean Grémillon Jean Grémillon (; 3 October 1901 – 25 November 1959)Note that, despite attempts at correction, thIMDb entry on the directorlists his date of birth erroneously as 4 March 1898. The correct date is given in his standard biography, by Geneviève S ...

. Henry also scored numerous additional films and

ballets Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

. Two years after leaving the RTF, he co-founded, with Jean Baronnet, the first private

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

studio in France: Studio Apsone-Cabasse. Among Henry's works is the 1967 ballet ''Messe pour le temps présent'', a collaboration with composer

Michel Colombier Michel Colombier (23 May 1939 – 14 November 2004) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor. Career Colombier wrote the scores of several motion pictures and TV productions. He also wrote chamber music and ballets. With composer Pierre H ...

and choreographer

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast th ...

that debuted in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. In 1970 Henry collaborated with British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Spooky Tooth Spooky Tooth were an English rock band originally formed in Carlisle in 1967. Principally active between 1967 and 1974, the band re-formed several times in later years. History Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding members h ...

on the album ''

Ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''. Church and civil (secular) ...

''. In 1997, a ''Métamorphose: Messe pour le temps présent'' compilation recording was released that brought together remixes of various compositions of Henry's by electronic artists

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

, Saint Germain,

The Mighty Bop Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began D ...

and

Dimitri From Paris Dimitri from Paris (born Dimitrios Yerasimos, el, Δημήτριος Γεράσιμος; 27 October 1963) is a French music producer and DJ of Greek descent. His musical influences are rooted in 1970s funk and disco sounds that spawned contempo ...

. Composer Christopher Tyng was heavily inspired by Henry's ''Psyché Rock'' when writing the theme to the popular animated cartoon show ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

''. The theme is so reminiscent of ''Psyché Rock'' that it is considered a variation of the original which is a piece by Henry and

released in 1967. The track consists of bells, flutes, brass and rock ensemble (guitar, bass, drums) and electronic music. It is strongly inspired by

The Troggs The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English garage rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You" and "Love Is All Around", all o ...

song " Wild Thing" (written by

Chip Taylor Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing "Angel of the Morning" and " Wild Thing". Early life Taylor was born on March 21, 1940, in Yonkers, New York. He is the brother of a ...

) and "

Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and r ...

", written by Richard Berry and first popularized by

The Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the ''Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ha ...

. Henry died on Wednesday 5 July 2017 at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Paris, at the age of 89.

Discography

* 1950 '' Symphonie pour un homme seul'' (in collaboration with

) * 1951 ''Le microphone bien temperé'' ::''Musique sans titre'' ::''Concerto des ambiguities'' mit Klavier * 1952 First film music with ''musique concrète'' for

s film ''Astrologie'' * 1953 ''Orphée 53'', experimental opera for

Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiva ...

, first stage play with ''musique concrète'' (together with Pierre Schaeffer) * 1955 ''Arcane'' (ballet) * 1956 ''Haut voltage'' (ballet) * 1958 ''Coexistence'' * 1959 ''Investigations'' * 1961 ''La Noire à Soixante'' * 1963 ''La Reine Verte'' (ballet) * 1967 ''Le Voyage'' (ballet) * 1967 ''Variations pour une porte et un soupir (Variations For a Door And a Sigh)'' * 1967 ''Messe pour le temps présent'' (in cooperation with

) * 1968 ''L’Apocalypse de Jean'' (Die Apokalypse des Johannes) with spoken text * 1968 ''Le Voyage (D'Après Le Livre Des Morts Tibétain)'' * 1969 ''

'' (with

) * 1971 ''

Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

, clown de dieu'' (ballet) * 1973 ''Machine Danse'' * 1973 ''Kyldex I'' (cybernetic ballet) * 1975 ''Futuriste'', in memory of the Italian Futurists

Luigi Russolo Luigi Carlo Filippo Russolo (30 April 1885 – 4 February 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter, composer, builder of experimental musical instruments, and the author of the manifesto ''The Art of Noises'' (1913). He is often regarded as one of ...

* 1978 ''Dieu'' * 1979 ''La Dixième Symphonie'', tribute to

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

* 1986 ''La Dixième Symphonie De Beethoven'' * 1990 ''Le livre des morts égyptien'' (

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...

) * 1997 ''Interieur/Exterrieur'' * 2015 ''Choix d'oeuvres de 1950–1985'' (Selections of works 1950–1985 on VOD Records Cat VOD133 Edition of 400 on 10xVinyl records) * 2021 ''Galaxie Pierre Henry''

References

* * * * * * * * * * *

Footnotes

External links

* * *
Discography
of vinyl records.
Pierre Henry at Virtual International Philharmonic
* http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/intervs/henry.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Pierre 1927 births 2017 deaths Musicians from Paris French electronic musicians French experimental musicians Electroacoustic music composers French sound artists French classical composers French male classical composers Musique concrète Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite 20th-century French composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French male musicians 21st-century French composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century French male musicians