Biography
Pierre Georges Albert François Henry (9 December 1927 – 5 July 2017) was a French composer and a trailblazer in musique concrète.
Born in Paris, Henry began experimenting with sounds from various objects at age 15. He developed a keen interest in incorporating noise into music, a genre now known as noise music. From 1938 to 1948, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris under Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen, and Félix Passerone.
From 1949 to 1958, Henry worked at the Club d'Essai studio at RTF, established by Pierre Schaeffer in 1943. During this time, he co-created the 1950 piece Symphonie pour un homme seul with Schaeffer, a significant early work in musique concrète. Henry also composed the first musique concrète piece featured in a commercial film: the 1952 short Astrologie ou le miroir de la vie by Jean Grémillon. Additionally, he composed scores for numerous films and ballets.
In 1960, two years after leaving RTF, Henry and Jean Baronnet founded Studio Apsone-Cabasse, France's first private electronic music studio.
Among Henry's notable works is the 1967 ballet Messe pour le temps présent, created with composer Michel Colombier and choreographer Maurice Béjart, which premiered in Avignon. In 1970, he collaborated with the British rock band Spooky Tooth on their album Ceremony.
A 1997 compilation titled Métamorphose: Messe pour le temps présent featured remixes of Henry's compositions by electronic artists such as Fatboy Slim, Coldcut, Saint Germain, The Mighty Bop, and Dimitri From Paris. Composer Christopher Tyng drew heavy inspiration from Henry's Psyché Rock when composing the theme for the animated series Futurama. The theme closely resembles Psyché Rock, considered a variation of the original piece by Henry and Michel Colombier from 1967. The track combines bells, flutes, brass, rock ensemble (guitar, bass, drums), and electronic music, taking strong influence from The Troggs' "Wild Thing" (written by Chip Taylor) and "Louie Louie," written by Richard Berry and popularized by The Kingsmen.
Pierre Henry passed away on Wednesday, 5 July 2017, at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Paris at the age of 89.
