Edgard Varèse

Edgard Varese was a true revolutionary, and the more I listen, the more astonished I am at how far ahead of his time he stood. This French-born composer, who spent most of his career in the United States and died in 1965, coined the phrase organized sound, and works like Ionisation and the electronic Poeme Electronique still sound startlingly modern. He essentially heard the future of music decades before the technology caught up. Frank Zappa famously worshipped him, and you can hear his fingerprints across everything experimental that followed. For anyone who thinks classical music is staid, Varese is the radical antidote I always recommend.

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (French: [ɛdɡaʁ viktɔʁ aʃil ʃaʁl vaʁɛz]; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American avant-garde composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; he coined the term "organized sound" in reference to his own musical aesthetic.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Name (English)

Edgard Varèse

Name (Japanese)

エドガー・ヴァレーズ

Reading

えどがー・ゔぁれーず

Born

December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Goat

Origin

Paris, France

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

Private

Occupation

composer / musicologist / conductor

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Private

University

Private

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%89%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A1%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA

Tags

• composer
• musicologist
• conductor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.