French composer Pierre Henry (1927-2017) is considered as one of the fathers of electroacoustic music. He studied music from his earliest years and was a pupil at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique from 1937 to 1947, notably under Olivier Messiaen, Félix Passerone and Nadia Boulanger.
His meeting with
Pierre Schaeffer in 1948 was a point of no return in the pursuit of unexplored territories of sound. After a time as head of the RTF Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète (Concrete Music Research Group) (GRMC) between 1950 and 1958, he left this post in order to set up the first private studio in Europe specialising in experimental music, Apsome, which was active from 1959 to 1981. This period would be rich in influential contacts with choreographers, artists, theatre and film directors.
In 1982, and for the first time supported by the Ministry of Culture, he founded the Son/Ré association. The
Maison de sons (
House of Sounds) was a living space of much creative activity at 32 rue de Toul in Paris 12, it also housed his concrete paintings and was a venue for public events.
With more than 300 opuses and 250 pieces for ballet, film, theatre, radio, advertising, etc., composed over a period of 72 years of creativity, his catalog is to this day the most extensive in this domain. In concerts, he was the performer of his works. The listening experience, which he constantly reinvented, was then amplified through his sound projection equipment — the orchestra of loud-speakers. Most of his works were released during his career on the Philips and Decca/Universal labels.
He was a major figure in musical composition, a pioneer of the sound arts, who left an indelible mark on his century. His sonothèque and his 14.000 or so magnetic and digital tapes, together with his compositional diaries, are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, where his archives are being catalogued in partnership with Son/Ré. There is a permanent space for him in the Musée de la Musique de la Philharmonie de Paris. With his combination of artistic radicality and popular appeal, he leaves us a body of work ahead of his time, which continues to inspire present generations.
