Varèse, Edgard Victor Achille Charles (1883–1965)

French composer. He left Paris for New York 1916 where he co-founded the New Symphony Orchestra in 1919 with the French-born US harpist Carlos Salzédo (1885–1961) to promote modern and pre-classical music. His work was experimental and often dissonant, combining electronic sounds with orchestral instruments

Renouncing the values of tonality, he discovered new resources of musical expression in the percussion sonorities of Ionisation (1929–31), the swooping sound of two theremins in Hyperprism (1933–34), and the combination of taped and live instrumental sounds in Déserts (1950–54).