Who is Iannis Xenakis?

A renowned composer, yes. But also a pivotal architect and a talented mathematician. And somehow he combined all of these talents into one extraordinary career. A remarkable thinker and a true polymath, it’s no wonder Xenakis called himself an ancient Greek stuck in the contemporary world.

In what would have been his 100th year, here is his arresting story. One that transcends Europe, and which brings Xenakis into contact with Second World War resistance, a near death experience, one of the most renowned modern architects, and some of the leading composers of the 20th century. 

He was born in Romania

Giannis Klearchou Xeankis, to give him his full name, was born in Brăila, a city on the Danube in the east of Romania. His father was a successful businessman and his mother a pianist who encouraged Xenakis musical pursuit by gifting him a flute. Sadly Xenakis’ mother died when he was just five years old, and after initially being educated by various governesses he was sent to boarding school on the Greek Aergen island of Spetses at the age of ten. His love of music continued throughout school – he sang with the school choir and studied notation and solfège – but a proficiency for maths and physics meant that Xenakis was set to pursue a university education in architecture and engineering, only for his plans to be interrupted by events of the Second World War.

He almost lost his life fighting in the Second World War

The Italian invasion of 1940, followed by the Axis occupation of Greece from 1941, saw the now Athens-based Xenakis join the National Liberation Front and later become part of its armed resistance, with the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS). Having seen off the Axis, ELAS were also opposed to Winston Churchill’s efforts to restore the Greek monarchy. During street fighting against British tanks, Xenakis was wounded and facially disfigured by shrapnel from a tank blast. The injuries cost him the sight of his left eye, but it could have been much worse, his survival of the blast has been described as a miracle.

He was forced to flee Greece after the war

Despite his injuries, his commitments to the resistance movement, and the continuing Civil War in Greece, Xenakis still managed to graduate with a degree in civil engineering in 1947. At the same time the Greek government began arresting left-wing former resistance members, and Xenakis was forced to go into hiding, before fleeing with the aid of a fake passport via Italy for Paris. In his absence Xenakis was sentenced to death by the right-wing government of Greece. The sentence was commuted to a ten year jail term in 1951, but wasn’t completely lifted until the Greek junta fell in 1974.

‘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 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.’

Iannis Xenakis, taken from Conversations with Iannis Xenakis by Bálint András Varga

He became a renowned architect in Paris

Though he arrived in Paris an illegal immigrant, Xenakis’ training in civil engineering secured him a job in the studio of the renowned architect Le Corbusier. From an initial role as an engineering student he rose quickly during 12 years at the practice to collaborate with Le Corbusier on major projects including the Dominican Order priory of Sainte Marie de La Tourettenear Lyon, and the Unité d’habitation of Nantes-Rezé, before overseeing the entire construction of the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. An influential building, the Philips Pavilion is recognised as the precursor of what is today called parametric architecture; an approach that can be seen in the biomorphism of Zaha Hadid. 

Yet he always maintained an enthusiasm for music

Even whilst working as an architect, Xenakis retained his passion for music and continued to study harmony, counterpoint and composing. Yet despite his clear passion for music, which would often see him studying long into the night, he initially struggled to convince several teachers of his worth. He was rejected by Nadia Boulanger, and Arthur Honegger amongst others, before a close friend of Boulanger suggested he try approaching Olivier Messiaen.

He finally found a willing champion in Messiaen

Recognising Xenakis’ brilliance as an architect and mathematician, Messiaen not only took him on, but encouraged him to draw on his engineering influences in his music. Xenakis regularly attended the composer’s classes from 1951 until 1953, becoming a class-mate of Karlheinz Stockhausen who also studied under the composer in 1952. Messiaen continued to encourage Xenakis in future years, helping him to join Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry’s Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète in 1954. 

But not everyone was as open to his work

Even to the contemporary music hipsters of the early 1950s, aspects of Xenakis approach were seen as alien and a touch too experimental. According to Tom Service, writing in The Guardian in 2013, the 1955 premiere of Xenakis’ Metastaseis at the Donaueschingen Festival was one of the scandals of postwar music. Indeed, the critic for Allgemeine Zeitung compared the composer’s first major work to ‘sirens screaming during an air raid’. 

His architecture and composition were often intertwined

Xenakis’ Philips Pavilion offers a great example of how his work as an architect helped inspire his music. The maths that underlie the construction of the building, and its shape and form, have a direct correlation in the way he uses the orchestra in Metastaseis. Xenakis organises the entries of the instruments, and the pitches they play, according to mathematical and statistical formulae which mirror the hyperbolic paraboloid surfaces of the Pavilion.

He created his own sounds to aid his compositions

Undeterred by the critical response to his premiere of Metastaseis, Xenakis continued to compose, with his work becoming so well regarded in artistic circles that in 1959 he left Le Corbusier’s studio to focus on music. But his engineering and mathematical background continued to stand him in good stead, helping him to develop computer programs, algorithms and synthesisers to create unique sounds for his electronical compositions.

He went on to write several influential musical texts

In the 1960s Xenakis became recognised as one of the most important European composers of the time, and taught across the world. He also continued to compose well into his later years, with his final work, O-mega for percussion soloist and chamber orchestra, completed in 1997 despite deteriorating health that would eventually see him pass away in 2001. As well as composing and teaching, Xenakis wrote several essays and texts on music, most notably 1963’s Formalized Music, which brings to bear a number of complex mathematical composition models including sieves, arborescences, Brownian motion, Markov chains, Poisson distributions, and game theory. All of it baffling to us, but seemingly as straight-forward as sketching a treble-clef to a mind like that of Xenakis.