Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (May 14, 1931 – December 1, 2021) was an American composer of
experimental music and
sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at
Wesleyan University in
Middletown, Connecticut, Lucier was a member of the influential
Sonic Arts Union, which included
Robert Ashley,
David Behrman, and
Gordon Mumma. Much of his work is influenced by science and explores the physical properties of sound itself:
resonance of spaces, phase interference between closely tuned pitches, and the transmission of sound through physical media.
Lucier was born in
Nashua, New Hampshire, the son of Kathryn E. Lemery, a pianist, and Alvin Augustus Lucier, a lawyer who was Mayor of Nashua.[1] He was educated in Nashua public and parochial schools and the
Portsmouth Abbey School,
Yale University and
Brandeis University.[1] In 1958 and 1959, Lucier studied with
Lukas Foss and
Aaron Copland at the
Tanglewood Center. In 1960, Lucier left for
Rome on a
Fulbright grant, where he befriended American expatriate composer
Frederic Rzewski and witnessed performances by
John Cage,
Merce Cunningham, and
David Tudor that provided compelling alternatives to his classical training. He returned from Rome in 1962 to take up a position at Brandeis as director of the University Chamber Chorus, which presented classical vocal works alongside modern compositions and new commissions.
At a 1963 Chamber Chorus concert at New York's
Town Hall, Lucier met
Gordon Mumma and
Robert Ashley, experimental composers who were also directors of the
ONCE Festival, an annual multi-media event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A year later, Mumma and Ashley invited the Chamber Chorus to the ONCE Festival; and, in 1966, Lucier reciprocated by inviting Mumma, Ashley, and mutual friend
David Behrman to Brandeis for a concert of works by the four composers. Based on the success of that concert, Lucier, Mumma, Ashley, and Behrman embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe under the name the Sonic Arts Group (at Ashley's suggestion, the name was later changed to the
Sonic Arts Union). More a musical collective than a proper quartet, the Sonic Arts Union presented works by each of its members, sharing equipment and assisting when necessary. Performing and touring together for a decade, the Sonic Arts Union became inactive in 1976.
In 1970, Lucier left Brandeis for
Wesleyan University. In 1972, Lucier became a musical director of the
Viola Farber Dance Company, a position he held until 1979.
Personal life
Lucier was married to his first wife, Mary, until their divorce in 1972. He then married Wendy Stokes; they had one daughter and remained together until his death.[1]
Lucier died at his home in
Middletown, Connecticut, on December 1, 2021, at age 90, from complications of a fall.[1]
Though Lucier had composed chamber and orchestral works since 1952, the composer and his critics count his 1965 composition Music for Solo Performer as the proper beginning of his compositional career.
I Am Sitting in a Room
One of Lucier's most important and best-known works is I Am Sitting in a Room (1969), in which Lucier records himself narrating a text, and then plays the recording back into the room, re-recording it. The new recording is then played back and re-recorded, and this process is repeated. Since every enclosed area has a characteristic
resonance (e.g., between a large hall and a small room), the effect is that certain frequencies are gradually emphasized as they resonate in the room, until eventually the words become unintelligible, replaced by the pure resonant harmonies and tones of the room itself. The recited text describes this process in action. It begins, “I am sitting in a room, different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice…”, and concludes with “I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have,” referring to his own
stuttering.[2]
Orchestra Works,
New World Records CD 80755-2, 2013 (contains "Diamonds for 1, 2, or 3 Orchestras," "Slices," "Exploration of the House")
Almost New York, Pogus Productions CD P21057-2, 2011 (contains "Twonings," "Almost New York," "Broken Line," "Coda Variations")
"Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra", Nick Hennies, on PsalmsRoeba, CD #8, 2010
Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas, Nick Hennies,
Quiet Design CD Alas011, 2010
Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas, 1-12,
Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 1015, 2004
Navigations for Strings; Small Waves, Mode Records, CD 124, 2003
Still Lives,
Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 5012, 2001 (contains "Music for Piano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators," "On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon," "Still Lives")
Theme,
Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 5011, 1999 (contains "Music for Piano with Magnetic Strings," "Theme ," " Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers")
Panorama,
Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 1012, 1997 (contains "Wind Shadows," "Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums," "Music for Piano with Amplified Sonorous Vessels," "Panorama ")
Fragments for Strings, Arditti String Quartet, Disques Montaigne, 1996
"Self Portrait", on Upper Air Observation, Barbara Held, flute,
Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 3031, 1992
"Nothing is Real" on Hyper Beatles 2, Eastworld, 1991
Crossings,
Lovely Music, Ltd. CD 1018, 1990 (contains "In Memoriam Jon Higgins," "Septet for Three Winds, Four Strings, and Pure Wave Oscillator," "Crossings")
"Music for Alpha Waves, Assorted Percussion, and Automated Coded Relays", on Imaginary Landscapes, Elektra/Nonesuch 79235-2, 1989
1976 - Music With Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television. Tape 3: Alvin Lucier. Produced and directed by
Robert Ashley. New York City: Lovely Music.
2012 - NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS. Produced and directed by Viola Rusche and
Hauke Harder.
Cox, Christoph. “The Alien Voice: Alvin Lucier’s North American Time Capsule.” In Mainframe Experimentalism: Early Computing and the Foundations of the Digital Arts. Edited by Hannah Higgins and Douglas Kahn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Lucier, Alvin. “Origins of a Form: Acoustic Exploration, Science and Incessancy.” Leonardo Music Journal 8 (December 1998) — “Ghosts and Monsters: Technology and Personality in Contemporary Music,” pp. 5–11.