Futurism was a movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. This movement was in all facets of art and also spread to music. Futurism, as the name suggests, is all about looking to the future, celebrating it, not getting stuck in traditions and being a visionary. the Futurist composer Francesco Balilla Pratella began his second manifesto, the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Music” with “All innovators have, logically, been Futurists in relation to their times; Palestrina would have judged Bach mad, as Bach would have judged Beethoven, and as Beethoven would have judged Wagner.”
Futurists looked beyond the standard orchestra, tuning and traditional rhythms, with Luigi Rossolo, the other most well-known futurist composer, stating “Modern man needs more and more complex sounds, and this is a need that can be met by futurists musicians”. Futurist musicians researched microtones, and created what are known as “noise instruments”, or “intonarumori”. These instruments had “6 families of noises proper to the Futurist orchestra: booms, whistles, whispers, screams, percussive sounds and the voices of men and animals” [1]
Pratella called to keep the young out of conservatories and to be independent of academics and critics. and while “subordinating himself for a time to these ideals” (futurism) get “retained his own original personality and lived out an artistic history which goes beyond that of futurism”, which is something that a rigorous classical training would have potentially taken out of him, as an avant-garde visionary. Luigi Russolo was self-taught, and when he studied music in Milan, he did not go to any educational facility, proving that you do not need to be trained or taught to be an artist.
Futurism’s impacts on modern music and musical expression are very notable, with microtones being used in all manners of modern production and electronic music. Improvisation, which was “practised since Russolo by most Futurist musicians and set out as a theory in a manifesto written in 1921 by Bartoccini and Mantia”[2] is a pillar of many different types of performance, And many other parts of noise creation and performance have made their way into modern music.
“Russolo’s background was that of a visual artist, rather than a professional musician. He was, therefore. quite far removed from the linguistic studies of the Conservatory composition classes and was the first to have the courage to create something like noise-intoners”[2] Russolo being self-taught and without classical training freed him from any needs to conform to standards that he simply did not know, this same attitude allows many bedroom producers today to realise their true artistic skill without being confined to genres or rules.
One composer particularly inspired by futurists was George Antheil, whose “Ballet mécanique” “calls for a percussion ensemble consisting of three xylophones, four bass drums, a tam-tam, three airplane propellers, seven electric bells, a siren, two “live pianists”, and sixteen synchronized player pianos”, such an ensemble would have been inconceivable before futurism and futurist composers.
[1] The Music Of Futurism: Concerts And Plemics By Rodney J. Payton
[2] Artforum: Futurism and musical notes