Schaeffer, Pierre (1910–1995)

French composer, theorist, writer, and teacher. The son of two musicians, he was educated as a scientist and embarked on a career in telecommunications. In 1941 he founded ‘Jeune France’, an interdisciplinary arts group which became a focus in French radio for the Resistance movement. In 1948 Schaeffer's experiments in electronic media with this group led to a number of tape compositions which formed the basis of the style known as musique concrète (‘concrete music’). He stopped composing in 1960, and devoted his time to a wide range of research and writings. In 1968 he was appointed associate professor at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught electronic composition. Works are for tape alone.