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Luigi Russolo ca. 1916

Luigi Russolo with his assistant Ugo Piatti and their Intonarumori (noise machines)

Luigi Russolo (April 30, 1885 - February 4, 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter and composer, and the author of the manifestoes The Art of Noises (1913) and Musica Futurista.

Russolo was born at Portogruaro, in the Veneto region, the son of an organist in the local cathedral and director of the Schola Cantorum of Latisana. His brothers were also musicians.

Russolo moved to Milan in 1901, frequenting the Brera Academy, and took part to the restoration of Leonardo's Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie. In his first works Russolo applied the divisionist techniques to a fantastic-symbolic view of subject related to the city or the industrial society.

An adherent of the Futurism movement, he worked closely with futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

On 11 March 1913 he published the treatise The Art of Noises (L'arte dei rumori). He is considered the first theorist of electronic music. Russolo invented and built instruments including intonarumori ("intoners" or "noise machines"), to create "noises" for performance. Unfortunately, none of his original intonarumori survived World War II. Luigi's brother Antonio Russolo also composed futurist music.

In 1941-1942 Russolo started again to paint, with a new style that he defined "classic modernist".

He died at Cerro di Laveno (province of Varese) in 1947.

To honor the memory of the futurist composer, The Russolo-Pratella Foundation of Varese, Italy holds an annual international composition competition for electro-acoustic music. The Luigi Russolo Prize in Electro-Acoustic Music is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of electro-acoustic music.

• custom-made instruments
• list of custom-made instrument builders

• The Art of Noises: the manifesto in which Luigi Russolo presented his ideas about the use of noises in music. (Thereminvox.com)
• Intonarumori: history, working and photographs of the Intonarumori (noise makers). (Thereminvox.com)
• http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/noises.html The Art of Noises
• http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/futurist/art_of_noise.html The Art of Noises
• http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/intonarumori/audio/1/ Intonarumori
• Luigi Russolo and the Italian Futurists
• Luigi Russolo and The Art of Noise (retrieved from the Internet archive)
• Peggy Guggenheim Collection: Luigi Russolo
• http://www.zakros.com/mica/soundart/f02/futurist.html
• JahSonic.com: Luigi Russolo
• Bob Osborn's Futurism: Luigi Russolo

• UbuWeb Historical: Russolo's Art of Noise

• Three audio clips by Luigi Russolo: Serenata, Corale and Risveglio di una città. (Thereminvox.com)
• Modern recordings of noise intoners and a fragment of Luigi Russolo's key Futurist composition The Awakening of a City can be heard on the audio CD Musica Futurista: The Art of Noises.
• UbuWeb Dada for Now, 1985, UK featuring Russolo's Veglio di una citta.