Photo of Russolo, Ugo Piatti and their “noise intoners”
(intonarumori), Milan circa 1920. These were invented in 1914 to
correspond with the theories outlined in this essay. There were
ultimately 27 different types of intoners, each producing a unique
sound in one of the six “families” listed, including “howlers”,
“exploders”, “crumplers”, “hissers”, “scrapers”, etc. Russolo performed
several concerts with these in the 1920’s. Unfortunately, only one very
brief recording is
known to exist of these (the intoners have apparently been destroyed). It’s
only about thirty seconds long, so I hope to have it available at this site
someday.
Another shot of the intonarumori, from 1919.
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