Intonarumori
Intonarumori are a group of experimental musical instruments built and invented by the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo between roughly 1910 and 1930. There were 27 varieties of intonarumori in total with different names.
Background
Russolo built these instruments to perform the music outlined in his Art of Noises manifesto. The instruments were completely acoustic, not electronic. The boxes had various types of internal construction to create different types of noise. Often a wheel was touching a string attached to a drum. The wheel rattled or bowed the strings, while the drum functioned as an acoustic resonator. Many of the instruments featured a handle on top of the box, which was used to vary the string tension. Pulling the handle raised the tone, and the horn attached to the box amplified the sound. Intonarumori ('noise makers' in Italian) made noise, but not at a very loud volume, since they were all acoustic devices.
Intonarumori reconstruction
Most of Russolo's instruments were destroyed in Paris when that city was bombed during World War II. Others have simply disappeared. Original sketches still exist, however, along with a few sound recordings of the original instruments. Based on these sources, three collections of reconstructions exist.
Intonarumori (album)
Intonarumori is a 1998 album by the New York based no wave music group Material.
Track listing
Intonarumori (band)
Intonarumori is the alias of the Seattle-based composer Kevin Goldsmith. Goldsmith started composing experimental electronic works under the name "The Unit Circle" while living in Chicago in 1986. After moving to Seattle in 1994, he adopted the new pseudonym, Intonarumori as a tribute to the Futurist arts movement as well as a reference to the Intonarumori machines created by Luigi Russolo.
Discography
Albums
Singles
Compilations
Podcasts:
