Misplaced Pages

#446553

97-580: Accompanied by symposia and debates, the festival program included music, dance, drama and film, performed in a variety of locations in Shiraz and surrounding areas. The venues included the ruins of Persepolis (ceremonial capital of ancient Persia), Naqsh-e Rostam , Hafezieh , Bagh-e Delgosha , Narenjestan , Bazaar-e Vakil , Jahan-Nama Garden, Saray-e Moshir and a concert hall on the Shiraz University campus. Some of those who appeared at

194-604: A "city" in the usual sense. The exploration of Persepolis from the early 17th century led to the modern rediscovery of cuneiform writing and, from detailed studies of the trilingual Achaemenid royal inscriptions found on the ruins, the initial decipherment of cuneiform in the early 19th century. Persepolis is derived from the Greek Περσέπολις , Persepolis , a compound of Pérsēs ( Πέρσης ) and pólis ( πόλις , together meaning "the Persian city" or "the city of

291-489: A French citizen. He became especially known for his musical research in the field of computer-assisted composition, for which he founded the Equipe de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales (EMAMu) in 1966 (known as CEMAMu: Centre d’Etudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales, since 1972). He taught at Indiana University from 1967 until 1972 (and established a studio similar to EMAMu there), and worked as visiting professor at

388-405: A balance between stability and instability (unity and variety). Despite Xenakis's reputation as a "mathematical" composer, his works are known for their power and physicality. Alex Ross wrote that Xenakis "produced some of the rawest, wildest music in history—sounds that explode around the ears. Rarefied methods were employed to release primordial energies." Ben Watson expressed admiration for

485-433: A case of revenge. The fire may also have had the political purpose of destroying an iconic symbol of the Persian monarchy that might have become a focus for Persian resistance. Several much later Greek and Roman accounts (including Arrian , Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius Rufus ) describe that the burning was the idea of Thaïs , mistress of Alexander's general Ptolemy I Soter , and possibly of Alexander himself. She

582-452: A desperate resistance. It was still a place of considerable importance in the first century of Islam , although its greatness was speedily eclipsed by the new metropolis of Shiraz . In the 10th century, Estakhr dwindled to insignificance. During the following centuries, Estakhr gradually declined, until it ceased to exist as a city. Odoric of Pordenone may have passed through Persepolis on his way to China in 1320, although he mentioned only

679-425: A form of random walk to create both aleatoric timbres and musical forms. Further material may be generated by then refeeding the original waveform back into the function or wave forms may be superimposed. Elastic barriers or mirrors are used to keep the randomly generated values within a given finite interval, so as to not exceed limits such as the audible pitch range, avoid complete chaos (white noise), and to create

776-408: A great, ruined city called "Comerum". In 1474, Giosafat Barbaro visited the ruins of Persepolis, which he incorrectly thought were of Jewish origin. Hakluyt's Voyages included a general account of the ruins of Persepolis attributed to an English merchant who visited Iran in 1568. António de Gouveia from Portugal wrote about cuneiform inscriptions following his visit in 1602. His report on

873-523: A mountain, with its east side leaning on Rahmat Mountain . Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. André Godard , the French archaeologist who excavated Persepolis in the early 1930s, believed that it was Cyrus the Great who chose the site of Persepolis, but that it was Darius I who built the terrace and the palaces. Inscriptions on these buildings support

970-487: A musique concrète piece, Concret PH , for the Philips Pavilion. In 1960, Xenakis was well known enough to receive a commission from UNESCO for a soundtrack for a documentary film by Enrico Fulchignoni. After leaving Le Corbusier's studio in 1959, Xenakis supported himself by composition and teaching, and quickly became recognized as one of the most important European composers of his time. In 1965, he became

1067-401: A very short time, could scarcely have obtained so splendid a monument, and still less could the usurper Sogdianus . The two completed graves behind the compound at Persepolis would then belong to Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III . The unfinished tomb, a kilometer away from the city, is debated to who it belongs. There are a total of 11 existing inscriptions at Persepolis, related to Darius

SECTION 10

#1732794590447

1164-446: A wide range of genres and styles, with particular attention to rhythm. Xenakis's compositions from 1949 until 1952 were mostly inspired by Greek folk melodies, as well as Bartók, Ravel , and others; after studying with Messiaen, he discovered serialism and gained a deep understanding of contemporary music (Messiaen's other pupils at the time included Karlheinz Stockhausen and Jean Barraqué , among others). Messiaen's modal serialism

1261-474: Is "expressive: not in a conventionally emotional way, perhaps, but it has an ecstatic, cathartic power. Xenakis's music – and its preternaturally brilliant performers – allows its listeners to witness seismic events close at hand, to be at the middle of a musical happening of cosmic intensity." Service concluded: "it took Xenakis for music to become nature. On holiday in Corsica, Xenakis would pilot his canoe into

1358-477: Is oriented southward. The Hadish Palace of Xerxes is one of palaces at Persepolis. It's located on the east of the Palace of H (Artaxerxes I). The palace occupies the highest level of terrace and stands on the living rock. The inscriptions of the palace attest that the building was built by order of Xerxes. It covers an area of 2550 square meters (40*55 meters). A double staircase on the west leads to courtyard of

1455-537: Is said to have suggested it during a very drunken celebration, according to some accounts to revenge the destruction of Greek sanctuaries (she was from Athens), and either she or Alexander himself set the fire going. The Book of Arda Wiraz , a Zoroastrian work composed in the 3rd or 4th century, describes Persepolis' archives as containing "all the Avesta and Zend , written upon prepared cow-skins, and with gold ink", which were destroyed. Indeed, in his Chronology of

1552-490: The Democratic Army of Greece , and the country plunged into a civil war . In December 1944, during the period of Churchill 's martial law , Xenakis (who was by then a member of the communist students' company of the left-wing Lord Byron faction of ELAS ) became involved in street fighting against British tanks. He was wounded and facially disfigured when shrapnel from a tank blast hit his cheek and left eye, which

1649-920: The Juilliard String Quartet , the American Brass Quintet , Max Roach Quintet performing together with Abbey Lincoln and the Staple Singers , amongst others. The twelfth festival was cancelled at the onset of the Islamic Revolution in 1978 out of concern for the safety of the performers. [REDACTED] Media related to Shiraz Arts Festival at Wikimedia Commons Persepolis Persepolis ( / p ər ˈ s ɛ p ə l ɪ s / ; Old Persian : 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 , romanized:  Pārsa ; New Persian : تخت جمشید , romanized :  Takht-e Jamshīd , lit.   'Throne of Jamshid ')

1746-1289: The National Theatre of Uganda , Duro Ladipo & the National Theatre of Nigeria , and Pabuji Ki Phad from India were presented, amongst many others . In music, Iran's traditional musicians were presented, amongst them Hassan Kassai , Jalil Shahnaz , Ahmad Ebadi , Faramarz Payvar , Ali-Asghar Bahari , Hossein Tehrani , Hossein Qavami and Abdolvahab Shahidi . The young masters included Hossein Alizadeh , Dariush Talai , Mohammad-Reza Lotfi , Majid Kiani , Mohammad-Reza Shajarian , Parisa and Noureddin Razavi-Sarvestani . Indian classical musicians who appeared were Vilayat Khan , Bismillah Khan , Sharan Rani , Pran Nath , S. Balachander , Ravi Shankar , Ram Narayan , Chaurasia and Dagar . Traditional non-Western music, some including dance, were presented from Afghanistan , Algeria , Bhutan , China , Egypt , Indonesia , Iraq, Japan, S, Korea, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Tunisia, Turkey, Vietnam. In

1843-589: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago . They conducted excavations for eight seasons, beginning in 1930, and included other nearby sites. Herzfeld believed that the reasons behind the construction of Persepolis were the need for a majestic atmosphere, a symbol for the empire, and to celebrate special events, especially the Nowruz . For historical reasons, Persepolis was built where

1940-661: The Sorbonne from 1973 until 1989. Xenakis frequently lectured (for instance, from 1975 to 1978 he was Professor of Music at Gresham College , London, giving free public lectures), and teaching composition. His works were performed at numerous festivals worldwide, including the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran. His notable students include Pascal Dusapin , Henning Lohner , Miguel Ángel Coria , Susan Frykberg , Norma Tyer , Robert Carl , and Julio Estrada . In 1983, he

2037-688: The Unité d'Habitation of Nantes-Rezé , parts of government buildings in Chandigarh , India, the "undulatory glass surfaces" of Sainte Marie de La Tourette , a Dominican priory in a valley near Lyon , and the Philips Pavilion at Expo 58 —the latter project was completed by Xenakis alone from a basic sketch by Le Corbusier. The experience Xenakis gained played a major role in his music: important early compositions such as Metastaseis (1953–54) were based directly on architectural concepts. At

SECTION 20

#1732794590447

2134-478: The "terrifying emotional impact of [Xenakis'] sonic objectivity", describing his music as possessing "truly majestic otherness. It is an alien shard, glimmering in the heart of the West." Tom Service praised Xenakis' music for its "shattering visceral power" and "sheer, scintillating physicality", noting its "deep, primal rootedness in richer and older phenomena even than musical history: the physics and patterning of

2231-469: The 4th century BC, following his invasion of Iran in 330 BC, Alexander the Great allowed his troops to loot Persepolis. This palace was one of the few structures that escaped destruction in the burning of the complex by Alexander's army, and because of that, Tachara is the most intact building of Persepolis today. It is also the oldest structure at Persepolis. Tachara stands back to back to the Apadana , and

2328-414: The 72 original columns were still standing, due to either vandalism or natural processes. The Dutch traveler Cornelis de Bruijn visited Persepolis in 1704. The fruitful region was covered with villages until its frightful devastation in the 18th century; and even now it is, comparatively speaking, well cultivated. The Castle of Estakhr played a conspicuous part as a strong fortress, several times, during

2425-555: The Achaemenid dynasty was founded, although it was not the center of the empire at that time. Excavations of plaque fragments hint at a scene with a contest between Herakles and Apollo , dubbed A Greek painting at Persepolis . Persepolitan architecture is noted for its use of the Persian column , which was probably based on earlier wooden columns. The buildings at Persepolis include three general groupings: military quarters,

2522-721: The Ancient Nations , the native Iranian writer Biruni indicates unavailability of certain native Iranian historiographical sources in the post-Achaemenid era, especially during the Parthian Empire . He adds: "[Alexander] burned the whole of Persepolis as revenge to the Persians, because it seems the Persian King Xerxes had burnt the Greek City of Athens around 150 years ago. People say that, even at

2619-603: The Axis forces to withdraw. Xenakis joined the National Liberation Front early during the war, participating in mass protests and demonstrations, and later becoming part of armed resistance — this last step was a painful experience Xenakis refused to discuss until much later in life. After the Axis forces left, Churchill ordered that British forces step in to help restore the Greek monarchy; they were opposed by

2716-511: The Encyclopædia Britannica, the Greek historian Ctesias mentioned that Darius I's grave was in a cliff face that could be reached with an apparatus of ropes. Around 519 BC, construction of a broad stairway was begun. Grey limestone was the main building material used at Persepolis. The uneven plan of the terrace, including the foundation, acted like a castle, whose angled walls enabled its defenders to target any section of

2813-517: The Great , Xerxes , Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III . The relevant passages from ancient scholars on the subject are set out below: Persepolis was the capital of the Persian kingdom. Alexander described it to the Macedonians as the most hateful of the cities of Asia, and gave it over to his soldiers to plunder, all but the palaces. (2) It was the richest city under the sun, and the private houses had been furnished with every sort of wealth over

2910-725: The Muslim period. It was the middlemost and the highest of the three steep crags which rise from the valley of the Kur , at some distance to the west or northwest of the necropolis of Naqsh-e Rustam . The French voyagers Eugène Flandin and Pascal Coste are among the first to provide not only a literary review of the structure of Persepolis, but also to create some of the best and earliest visual depictions of its structure. In their publications in Paris, in 1881 and 1882, titled Voyages en Perse de MM. Eugene Flanin peintre et Pascal Coste architecte ,

3007-879: The ORTF Orchestra as well as the Hague Residence Orchestra, Iannis Xenakis created "Persephassa" and "Persepolis", Bruno Maderna created "Ausstrahlung" based on Persian texts, Karlheinz Stockhausen was prominently featured one year, Krzysztof Penderecki led the Polish National Radio Symphony, Cathy Berberian , the London Sinfonietta , the Melos Ensemble , Morton Feldman & the Creative Associates appeared as well as John Cage ,

Shiraz Arts Festival - Misplaced Pages Continue

3104-449: The Persians wanted to take advantage of their skills in the city but handicapped them so they could not easily escape. Alexander and his staff were disturbed by the story and provided the artisans with clothing and provisions before continuing on to Persepolis. Diodorus does not cite this as a reason for the destruction of Persepolis, but it is possible Alexander started to see the city in a negative light after this encounter. Upon reaching

3201-401: The Persians were betrayed by a captured tribal chief who showed the Macedonians an alternate path that allowed them to outflank Ariobarzanes in a reversal of Thermopylae . After several months, Alexander allowed his troops to loot Persepolis. Around that time, a fire burned "the palaces" or "the palace". It is believed that the fire which destroyed Persepolis started from Hadish Palace, which

3298-602: The Persians"). To the ancient Persians, the city was known as Pārsa ( Old Persian : 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which is also the word for the region of Persia . An inscription left in 311 AD by Sasanian Prince Shapur Sakanshah , the son of Hormizd II , refers to the site as Sad-stūn , meaning "Hundred Pillars". Because medieval Persians attributed the site to Jamshid , a king from Iranian mythology , it has been referred to as Takht-e-Jamshid ( Persian : تخت جمشید , Taxt e Jamšīd ; [ˌtæxtedʒæmˈʃiːd] ), literally meaning "Throne of Jamshid". Another name given to

3395-572: The Shiraz Arts Festival, was performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourg , receiving its world premiere in Persepolis in 1969. Subsequently, he was once again commissioned by the Shiraz Arts Festival and composed Persepolis for the occasion, a "polytope" composed specific to the historic site. Although electroacoustic compositions represent only a small fraction of Xenakis's output, they are highly relevant to musical thinking in

3492-600: The Susa Palace served as Darius' model for Persepolis. Darius I ordered the construction of the Apadana and the Council Hall ( Tripylon or the "Triple Gate"), as well as the main imperial Treasury and its surroundings. These were completed during the reign of his son, Xerxes I . Further construction of the buildings on the terrace continued until the downfall of the Achaemenid Empire . According to

3589-574: The Tachara chateau and another staircase on the northeast connects to courtyard of the Council Hall. The Council Hall, the Tryplion Hall, the Palaces of D, G, H, storerooms, stables and quarters, the unfinished gateway and a few miscellaneous structures at Persepolis are located near the south-east corner of the terrace, at the foot of the mountain. It is commonly accepted that Cyrus the Great

3686-543: The United States and Greece, and Kosmas  [ el ] , an architect, urban planner and artist. His parents were both interested in music, and it was Pavlou who encouraged the young child to learn more about it: the young Giannis was given a flute by his mother, and the family visited the Bayreuth Festival several times, due to his father's interest in opera. Her early death in 1927, when Xenakis

3783-544: The authors provided some 350 ground breaking illustrations of Persepolis. French influence and interest in Persia's archaeological findings continued after the accession of Reza Shah , when André Godard became the first director of the archeological service of Iran. In the 1800s, a variety of amateur digging occurred at the site, in some cases on a large scale. The first scientific excavations at Persepolis were carried out by Ernst Herzfeld and Erich Schmidt representing

3880-536: The belief that they were constructed by Darius. With Darius I, the sceptre passed to a new branch of the royal house. The country's true capitals were Susa , Babylon and Ecbatana . This may be why the Greeks were not acquainted with the city until Alexander the Great took and plundered it. Darius I's construction of Persepolis was carried out parallel to that of the Palace of Susa . According to Gene R. Garthwaite,

3977-531: The book Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition (French edition 1963, English translation 1971) is regarded as one of his most important publications. As an architect, Xenakis is primarily known for his early work under Le Corbusier : the priory of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette , on which the two collaborated, and the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair ( Expo 58 ), which Xenakis designed by himself. Giannis Klearchou Xenakis

Shiraz Arts Festival - Misplaced Pages Continue

4074-471: The buildings were never finished. Behind the compound at Persepolis, there are three sepulchers hewn out of the rock in the hillside. The Gate of All Nations , referring to subjects of the empire, consisted of a grand hall that was a square of approximately 25 m (82 ft) in length, with four columns and its entrance on the Western Wall. Darius I built the greatest palace at Persepolis on

4171-472: The city, Alexander stormed the Persian Gates , a pass through Zagros Mountains . There Ariobarzanes of Persis successfully ambushed Alexander the Great's army, inflicting heavy casualties. After being held off for 30 days, Alexander the Great outflanked and destroyed the defenders. Ariobarzanes himself was killed either during the battle or during the retreat to Persepolis. Some sources indicate that

4268-549: The course of time. The lower city at the foot of the imperial city might have survived for a longer time; but the ruins of the Achaemenids remained as a witness to its ancient glory. The nearby Estakhr gained prominence as a separate city very shortly after the decline of Persepolis. It appears that much of Persepolis' rubble was used for the building of Istakhr. At the time of the Muslim invasion of Persia , Estakhr offered

4365-452: The drinking was far advanced, as they began to be drunken, a madness took possession of the minds of the intoxicated guests. (2) At this point, one of the women present, Thais by name and Attic by origin, said that for Alexander it would be the finest of all his feats in Asia if he joined them in a triumphal procession, set fire to the palaces, and permitted women's hands in a minute to extinguish

4462-464: The empire, housed a palace complex and citadel designed to serve as the focal point for governance and ceremonial activities. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture. The complex was taken by the army of Alexander the Great in 330 BC, and soon after, its wooden parts were completely destroyed by fire, likely deliberately. The function of Persepolis remains unclear. It was not one of

4559-416: The eventual collapse of the upper part of the northern fortification wall, preserving the tablets until their recovery by the Oriental Institute 's archaeologists. In 316 BC, Persepolis was still the capital of Persia as a province of the great Macedonian Empire (see Diodorus Siculus xix, 21 seq., 46; probably after Hieronymus of Cardia , who was living about 326). The city must have gradually declined in

4656-860: The exams, but his studies were cut short by the Greco-Italian War , which began with the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940. Although Greece eventually won the war, it was not long before the German army joined the Italians in the Battle of Greece , in April 1941. This led to the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II , which lasted until late 1944, when the Allies began their drive across Europe, forcing

4753-479: The external front. After invading Achaemenid Persia in 330 BC, Alexander the Great sent the main force of his army to Persepolis by the Royal Road . Diodorus Siculus writes that on his way to the city, Alexander and his army were met by 800 Greek artisans who had been captured by the Persians. Most were elderly and suffered some form of mutilation, such as a missing hand or foot. They explained to Alexander

4850-501: The fall of the Greek junta in 1974. He later returned the same year. Although he was an illegal immigrant in Paris, Xenakis was able to get a job at Le Corbusier 's architectural studio. He worked as an engineering assistant at first, but quickly rose to performing more important tasks, and eventually to collaborating with Le Corbusier on major projects. These included a kindergarten on the roof of an apartment block in Nantes ( Rezé ),

4947-442: The famed accomplishments of the Persians. (3) This was said to men who were still young and giddy with wine, and so, as would be expected, someone shouted out to form up and to light torches, and urged all to take vengeance for the destruction of the Greek temples . (4) Others took up the cry and said that this was a deed worthy of Alexander alone. When the king had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed

SECTION 50

#1732794590447

5044-548: The festival are: In theatre, Jerzy Grotowski , Peter Brook , Tadeusz Kantor , Arby Ovanessian , Bijan Mofid , Davoud Rashidi , Peter Schumann , Parviz Sayyad , Andrei Șerban , Robert Wilson , Shūji Terayama , Andre Gregory , Ali Nassirian , Víctor Garcia , Joseph Chaikin , and Esma'il Khalaj . In this field, traditional plays such as ta'zieh (passion plays) from Iran directed by actor, director and theatre researcher Mohammad B. Ghaffari , Kathakali from India, and Noh from Japan, as well as Robert Serumaga with

5141-575: The field of Western music Yehudi Menuhin , Christian Ferras , Martha Argerich , Arthur Rubinstein and Yvonne Loriod appeared in concert or recital . The National Iranian Radio & Television Chamber Orchestra was a regular. Other participants in this field from Iran were Morteza Hannaneh , and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra . From the West, Gilbert Amy led the Orchestre du Domaine Musical, Bruno Maderna conducted

5238-829: The foundation of the Apadana Palace. Next to the Apadana, second largest building of the Terrace and the final edifices, is the Throne Hall or the Imperial Army's Hall of Honor (also called the Hundred-Columns Palace ). This 70 m × 70 m (750 sq ft × 750 sq ft) hall was started by Xerxes I and completed by his son Artaxerxes I by the end of the fifth century BC. Its eight stone doorways are decorated on

5335-540: The great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia , to Kush , and from Sind ( Old Persian : 𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺 , romanized:  Hidauv , locative of Hiduš , i.e. " Indus valley ") to Lydia ( Old Persian : Spardâ ) – [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house! The reliefs on

5432-420: The group of composers, who he believed focused too heavily on serialism and controlling all aspects of composition. In an article titled “The Crisis of Serial Music” he specifically accused Boulez and Stockhausen of steering music into a dead end. On 3 December 1953, Xenakis married the journalist and writer Françoise Gargouïl , whom he met in 1950. Their daughter Mâkhi, who later became a painter and sculptor,

5529-470: The help of his father and others, he fled Greece through Italy by using a fake passport . On 11 November 1947 he arrived in Paris. In a late interview, Xenakis admitted to feeling tremendous guilt at leaving his country, and that guilt was one of the sources of his later devotion to music: For years I was tormented by guilt at having left the country for which I'd fought. I left my friends—some were in prison, others were dead, some managed to escape. I felt I

5626-402: The largest cities in ancient Iran, let alone the rest of the empire, but appears to have been a grand ceremonial complex that was only occupied seasonally; the complex was raised high on a walled platform, with five "palaces" or halls of varying size, and grand entrances. It is still not entirely clear where the king's private quarters actually were. Until recently, most archaeologists held that it

5723-661: The late 20th century. Important works in this medium include Concret PH (1958), Analogique B (1958–59), Bohor (1962), La légende d'Eer (1977), Mycenae-Alpha (1978), Voyage absolu des Unari vers Andromède (1989), Gendy301 (1991), and S709 (1994). By 1979, he had devised a computer system called UPIC , which could translate graphical images into musical results. "Xenakis had originally trained as an architect, so some of his drawings, which he called 'arborescences', resembled both organic forms and architectural structures." These drawings' various curves and lines that could be interpreted by UPIC as real time instructions for

5820-636: The most central composers of our century in the realm of art music, exercising within its various fields an influence which cannot be readily overstated". After several years of serious illness, on 1 February 2001 the composer lapsed into a coma. He died in his Paris home four days later, on 4 February, aged 78; and was shortly after cremated, with his ashes being given to his family. He was outlived by his wife, who died on 12 February 2018 in Courbevoie , and his daughter. Specific examples of mathematics, statistics, and physics applied to music composition are

5917-500: The natural world, of the stars, of gas molecules, and the proliferating possibilities of mathematical principles." Service described Xenakis as a composer "whose craggily, joyously elemental music turned collections of pitches and rhythms and instruments into a force of nature, releasing a power that previous composers had only suggested metaphorically but which he would realise with arguably greater clarity, ferocity, intensity than any musician, before or since," and suggested that his music

SECTION 60

#1732794590447

6014-429: The orchestra; percussion works such as Psappha (1975) and Pléïades (1979); compositions that introduced spatialization by dispersing musicians among the audience, such as Terretektorh (1966); electronic works created using Xenakis's UPIC system; and the massive multimedia performances Xenakis called polytopes , that were a summa of his interests and skills. Among the numerous theoretical writings he authored,

6111-594: The others all did the same, immediately the entire palace area was consumed, so great was the conflagration. It was most remarkable that the impious act of Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it, and in sport. Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis ; Greek : Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης , pronounced [ˈʝanis kseˈnacis] ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001)

6208-699: The others. [...] He is of superior intelligence. [...] I did something horrible which I should do with no other student, for I think one should study harmony and counterpoint. But this was a man so much out of the ordinary that I said... No, you are almost thirty, you have the good fortune of being Greek, of being an architect and having studied special mathematics. Take advantage of these things. Do them in your music. Francisco Estévez has described this work as "mathematical formulas translated . . . into beautiful, exciting, and above all, convincing music." Xenakis regularly attended Messiaen's classes from 1951 until 1953. Messiaen and his students studied music from

6305-625: The present time, the traces of fire are visible in some places." On the upside, the fire that destroyed those texts may have preserved the Persepolis Administrative Archives by preventing them from being lost over time to natural and man-made events. According to archaeological evidence, the partial burning of Persepolis did not damage what are now referred to as the Persepolis Fortification Archive tablets, but rather may have caused

6402-486: The relationship between the conductor and the composer was of vital importance for the latter. By the late 1950s Xenakis slowly started gaining recognition in artistic circles. In 1957, he received his first composition award, from the European Cultural Foundation , and in 1958 the first official commission came through, from Service de Recherche of Radio France . In the same year, he produced

6499-475: The ruins of Persepolis was published as part of his Relaçam in 1611. In 1618, García de Silva Figueroa , King Philip III of Spain 's ambassador to the court of Abbas I , the Safavid monarch, was the first Western traveler to link the site known in Iran as "Chehel Minar" as the site known from Classical authors as Persepolis. Pietro Della Valle visited Persepolis in 1621, and noticed that only 25 of

6596-428: The same time, he dropped the "G" from his professional name to get the name he is most commonly known by, "Iannis". At the same time, while working for Le Corbusier, Xenakis was studying harmony and counterpoint, and composing. He worked long and hard, frequently far into the night, and sought guidance from a number of teachers, most of whom, however, ultimately rejected him. Such was the case with Nadia Boulanger , who

6693-457: The school's boys' choir, where the repertoire included works by Palestrina , and Mozart 's Requiem , which Xenakis memorized in its entirety. It was also at the Spetses school that Xenakis studied notation and solfège , being introduced to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms and became enamoured of Greek traditional and church music. At the same time, he discovered

6790-528: The site in the medieval period was Čehel Menâr ( Persian : چهل منار , "Forty Minarets "), transcribed as Chilminara in De Silva Figueroa and as Chilminar in early English sources. Persepolis is near the small river Pulvar, which flows into the Kur River . The site includes a 125,000 m (1,350,000 sq ft) terrace, partly artificially constructed and partly cut out of

6887-402: The sound synthesis process. The drawing is, thus, rendered into a composition. Mycenae-Alpha was the first of these pieces he created using UPIC as it was being perfected. Xenakis also developed a stochastic synthesizer algorithm (used in GENDY), called dynamic stochastic synthesis , where a polygonal waveform's sectional borders' amplitudes and distance between borders may be generated using

6984-593: The south and north with reliefs of throne scenes and on the east and west with scenes depicting the king in combat with monsters. Two colossal stone bulls flank the northern portico. The head of one of the bulls now resides in the Oriental Institute in Chicago and a column base from one of the columns in the British Museum . At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes I, the Throne Hall was used mainly for receptions for military commanders and representatives of all

7081-483: The staircases allow one to observe the people from across the empire in their traditional dress, and even the king himself, "down to the smallest detail". The Apadana hoard is a hoard of coins that were discovered under the stone boxes containing the foundation tablets of the Apadana Palace in Persepolis. The coins were discovered in excavations in 1933 by Erich Schmidt , in two deposits, each deposit under

7178-484: The subject nations of the empire. Later, the Throne Hall served as an imperial museum. Tachara , was the exclusive palace of Darius the Great at Persepolis. Only a small portion of the palace was finished under his rule, it was completed after the death of Darius in 486 BC, by his son and successor, Xerxes , who called it a Taçara, which means "winter palace" in Old Persian. It was then used by Artaxerxes I . In

7275-543: The term "music": ... 7. It is a mystical (but atheistic) asceticism ...". Xenakis completed his last work, O-mega for percussion soloist and chamber orchestra, in 1997. His health had been getting progressively worse over the years, and by 1997 he was no longer able to work. In 1999, Xenakis was awarded the Polar Music Prize "for a long succession of forceful works, charged with sensitivity, commitment and passion, through which he has come to rank among

7372-1142: The treasury, and the reception halls and occasional houses for the King. Noted structures include the Great Stairway, the Gate of All Nations , the Apadana , the Hall of a Hundred Columns, the Tripylon Hall and the Tachara , the Hadish Palace, the Palace of Artaxerxes III , the Imperial Treasury, the Royal Stables, and the Chariot House. Ruins of a number of colossal buildings exist on the terrace. All are constructed of dark-grey marble. Fifteen of their pillars stand intact. Three more pillars have been re-erected since 1970. Several of

7469-546: The two deposition boxes that were found. The deposition of this hoard is dated to c.  515 BC . The coins consisted in eight gold lightweight Croeseids , a tetradrachm of Abdera , a stater of Aegina and three double- sigloi from Cyprus . The Croeseids were found in very fresh condition, confirming that they had been recently minted under Achaemenid rule. The deposit did not have any Darics and Sigloi , which also suggests strongly that these coins typical of Achaemenid coinage only started to be minted later, after

7566-926: The use of the statistical mechanics of gases in Pithoprakta , statistical distribution of points on a plane in Diamorphoses , minimal constraints in Achorripsis , the normal distribution in ST/10 and Atrées , Markov chains in Analogique , game theory in Duel , Stratégie , and Linaia-agon , group theory in Nomos Alpha (for Siegfried Palm ), set theory in Herma and Eonta , and Brownian motion in N'Shima . Persephassa , commissioned by

7663-577: The western side of platform. This palace was called the Apadana . The King of Kings used it for official audiences. Foundation tablets of gold and silver were found in two deposition boxes in the foundations of the Palace. They contained an inscription by Darius in Old Persian cuneiform , which describes the extent of his Empire in broad geographical terms, and is known as the DPh inscription: Darius

7760-401: The word along to form a victory procession [epinikion komon] in honor of Dionysius. (5) Promptly, many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the komos to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thais the courtesan leading the whole performance. (6) She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace. As

7857-507: The writer Homer and had a habit of visiting museums. In 1938, after graduating from the school, Xenakis moved to Athens to prepare for entrance exams at its National Technical University , also studying Ancient Greek . He was encouraged by his friends and family to do so due to his interests in physics and mathematics. Although he intended to study architecture and engineering, he also took lessons in harmony and counterpoint with Aristotelis Koundouroff . In 1940, he successfully passed

7954-411: The years. The Macedonians raced into it, slaughtering all the men whom they met and plundering the residences; many of the houses belonged to the common people and were abundantly supplied with furniture and wearing apparel of every kind... 72 (1) Alexander held games in honor of his victories. He performed costly sacrifices to the gods and entertained his friends bountifully. While they were feasting and

8051-753: Was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist , architect, performance director and engineer. After 1947, he fled Greece, becoming a naturalised citizen of France eighteen years later. Xenakis pioneered the use of mathematical models in music such as applications of set theory , stochastic processes and game theory and was also an important influence on the development of electronic and computer music . He integrated music with architecture, designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances. Among his most important works are Metastaseis (1953–54) for orchestra, which introduced independent parts for every musician of

8148-428: Was an atheist . Polish musicologist Zbigniew Skowron, describing Aïs , wrote "In accordance with his atheist views, Xenakis emphasizes the finality of death as the ultimate event of human life, and this is probably why wild shrieks and moans punctuate his score". Xenakis himself wrote, "Man is one, indivisible, and total. He thinks with his belly and feels with his mind. I would like to propose what, to my mind, covers

8245-494: Was an influence on Xenakis's first large-scale work, Anastenaria (1953–54): a triptych for choir and orchestra based on an ancient Dionysian ritual. The third part of the triptych, Metastaseis , is generally regarded as the composer's first mature piece; it was detached from the triptych to mark the beginning of the "official" Xenakis oeuvre. He was considered to be part of the Darmstadt School , but later broke with

8342-526: Was blinded; the fact that Xenakis survived the injury has been described as a miracle. The Technical University operated intermittently during these years. Despite this, and Xenakis's other activities, he was able to graduate in 1947, with a degree in civil engineering. Xenakis was then conscripted into the national armed forces. Around 1947 the Greek government began arresting former resistance members that were left-wing oriented and sending them to prison. Xenakis, fearing for his life, went into hiding. With

8439-466: Was born in Brăila , Romania —which at the time had a large Greek community , as the eldest son of Greek parents; Klearchos Xenakis, a businessman from Euboea who was managing director of an English export-import agency and one of the richest men in the city, and Fotini Pavlou from Lemnos , a pianist who also spoke German and French. His two younger brothers were Jason , who became a philosophy professor in

8536-612: Was born in 1956 in Paris. In late 1954, with Messiaen's support, Xenakis was accepted into the Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète ; an organization established by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry , dedicated to studying and producing electronic music of the musique concrète variety. Shortly after that Xenakis met conductor Hermann Scherchen , who was immediately impressed by the score of Metastaseis and offered his support. Although Scherchen did not premiere that particular work, he did give performances of later pieces by Xenakis, and

8633-589: Was buried in the Tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae , which is mentioned by Ctesias as his own city. If it is true that the body of Cambyses II was brought home "to the Persians," his burying place must be somewhere beside that of his father. Ctesias assumes that it was the custom for a king to prepare his own tomb during his lifetime. Hence, the kings buried at Naghsh-e Rostam are probably Darius I , Xerxes I , Artaxerxes I and Darius II . Xerxes II , who reigned for

8730-624: Was elected as a member of the Académie Française . In addition to composing and teaching, Xenakis also wrote a number of articles and essays on music. Of these, Formalized Music (1963) became particularly known and was later expanded into a full book. A collection of texts on applications of stochastic processes , game theory and computer programming in music, it was later revised, expanded and translated into English as Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition (1971) during Xenakis's tenure at Indiana University. Xenakis

8827-607: Was five years old, was a traumatic experience that, in his own words, "deeply scarred" the future composer. She had previously been infected from measles and died after giving birth to a stillborn daughter. He was subsequently educated by a series of English, French, and German governesses , and then, in 1932, sent to Greece to study at the Anargyrio-Korgialenio boarding school on the Aegean island of Spetses . He excelled in both academics and athletics and sang in

8924-401: Was furious and left to study with Darius Milhaud , but these lessons also proved fruitless. Annette Dieudonné, a close friend of Boulanger's, then recommended that Xenakis try studying with Olivier Messiaen . Xenakis approached Messiaen for advice on whether he once again start studying harmony and counterpoint. Messiaen later recalled: I understood straight away that he was not someone like

9021-479: Was in debt to them and that I had to repay that debt. And I felt I had a mission. I had to do something important to regain the right to live. It wasn't just a question of music—it was something much more significant. In the meantime, in Greece he was sentenced in absentia to death by the right-wing administration. The sentence was commuted to ten years' imprisonment in 1951, and only lifted some 23 years later, after

9118-507: Was primarily used for celebrating Nowruz , the Persian New Year, held at the spring equinox , which is still an important annual festivity in Iran. The Iranian nobility and the tributary parts of the empire came to present gifts to the king, as represented in the stairway reliefs. It is also unclear what permanent structures there were outside the palace complex; it may be better to think of Persepolis as only one complex rather than

9215-403: Was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire ( c.  550–330 BC ). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht , encircled by the southern Zagros mountains , Fars province of Iran . It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. The city, acting as a major center for

9312-452: Was the first person Xenakis approached about lessons. He then tried studying with Arthur Honegger , whose reaction to Xenakis's music was unenthusiastic. As Xenakis recounted in a 1987 interview, Honegger dismissed a piece which included parallel fifths and octaves as "not music". Xenakis, who was by that time well acquainted with music of Debussy , Béla Bartók , and Stravinsky , all of whom used such devices and much more experimental ones,

9409-513: Was the living quarters of Xerxes I , and spread to the rest of the city. It is not clear if the fire was an accident or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the second Persian invasion of Greece . Many historians argue that, while Alexander's army celebrated with a symposium , they decided to take revenge against the Persians. If that is so, then the destruction of Persepolis could be both an accident and

#446553