The Genesis of GENDY3. The Creative Process that Led to Xenakis' Opus Summum

Abstract

Gendy 3 (1991) by Iannis Xenakis is the culmination of his lifelong quest for an automated (i.e. algorithmic) music. About 20 minutes of digital sound are computed directto- disk and presented more or less as such to the public. Therefore, Gendy 3 demonstrates the machine computability of a work of art. Officially, there is only one Gendy 3 in Xenakis' catalogue of works. However, before the world premiere of Gendy 3 on 11/17/1991 in Metz, France, Xenakis presented a proto version called GENDY301 at ICMC Montreal on 10/18/1991, which is a similar but completely different piece. Moreover, an uncut “raw” version (I call it “GENDY3”) can be obtained by re-executing Xenakis' own algorithm. It contains 75 seconds more music than Gendy 3. And finally, Xenakis' algorithm also allows creating a 16-track version by generating all of its 16 layers of sound separately. These 4 versions (2 by Xenakis, 2 by the author), taken together, help to retrace the creative process that led to one of the most remarkable pieces of electroacoustic music to date.