Pierre Schaeffer

Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer 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 innovative work in both the sciencesparticularly communications and acousticsand the various arts of music literature and radio presentation after the end of World War II as well as his antinuclear activism and cultural criticism garnered him widespread recognition in his lifetime Amongst the vast range of works and projects he undertook Schaeffer is most widely and currently recognized for his accomplishments in electronic and experimental music at the core of which stands his role as the chief developer of a unique and early form of avantgarde music known as musique concrète The genre emerged in Europe from the utilization of new music technology developed in the postwar era following the advance of electroacoustic and acousmatic music Schaeffers writings which include written and radionarrated essays biographies short novels a number of musical treatises and several plays are often oriented towards his development of the genre as well as the theoretics and philosophy of music in general Today Schaeffer is considered one of the most influential experimental electroacoustic and subsequently electronic musicians having been the first composer to utilize a number of contemporary recording and sampling techniques that are now used worldwide by nearly all record production companies His collaborative endeavors are considered milestones in the histories of electronic and experimental music Schaeffer was born in Nancy in 1910 His parents were both musicians his father a violinist his mother a singer and at first it seemed that Pierre would also take on music as a career However his parents discouraged his musical pursuits from childhood and had him educated in engineering He studied at several universities in this inclination the first of which was Lycée SaintSigisbert located in his hometown of Nancy Afterwards he moved westwards in 1929 to the École Polytechnique in Paris and finally completed his education in the capital at the École supérieure délectricité in 1934 Schaeffer received a diploma in radio broadcasting from the École Polytechnique He may have also received a similar qualification from the École nationale supérieure des télécommunications although it is not verifiable as to whether or not he ever actually attended this university Source Article Pierre Schaeffer from Wikipedia in english licensed under CCBYSA 30