The Life And Work Of Pierre Henry, Ceaseless Sonic Explorer
Henry broke from his classical training to become of the foremost innovators of experimental composition in the 20th century.
Pierre Henry, a true giant of 20th-century musical exploration, died this week at the age of 89, as reported by Le Monde. The composer began exploring the nascent possibilities of electronic sound in the 1940s.
Beginning in 1949, Henry was vital to the development of , a groundbreaking form of music devised in France by Pierre Schaeffer just one year prior, in 1948. Think of as an early form of sampling, using sounds collected from anywhere, from the sound of a bell to a passing train. "The technique of sampling is at the heart of ," Henry . "We invented an alphabet, and today it has become a language." The language Schaeffer and Henry developed is still spoken in
