Schaeffer, Pierre

(1910-1995)

   engineer and composer

   Born in Nancy, Pierre Schaeffer, a graduate of the École polytechnique, was a sound engineer at RTF (Radiodiffusion-télévision française) With pierre henry, he founded the Studio d'essai and was one of the inventors of "concrete music, a new composition technique consisting of separating heavy recorded natural sound materials. Concrete sound is prerecorded natural sound used in electronic music, as opposed to purely synthesized noises or tones. Their electro-acoustic manipulations are the basis for several of Schaeffer's compositions, including Études de bruits (1948), Suite pour 14 instruments, Variations sur un flute mexicaine (1949) and in collaboration with Pierre Henry: Bidule et ut (1949), Symphonie pour un homme seul (1950), and Orphée, the first opera in concrete music (1953). He served as director of the music research group for ORTF and was professor at the Conservatoire de Paris. As a philosopher, he was also interested in popular culture and in communication in general.