Stray Landings

“My sole ambition as a composer is to hurl my javelin into the infinite space of the future.” – Franz Liszt The term ‘Futurism’ has a curious history through the arts. Its earliest incarnations can be found in Marinetti’s description of Italian society during the early 1900s. Here, art had become transfixed by the innovations of the modern age: the racing car, the aeroplane, the industrial city. Where the Romantics held a nostalgic longing for a pre-industrial age, the Futurists embraced modernity, with all its roars and bangs. Music soon followed suite. Luigi Russolo in particular became one of the first ‘noise musicians’ in history, designing and performing with his own homemade mechanical instruments. Russolo’s first performance of futurist music – entitled ‘Awakening of a City’ – caused riots amongst the audience. Such was the shock of this movement. The Futurists worshiped technology above all and encouraged its enforcement through order, violence and industry. Little surprise that fascism also became a