The Baschet Brothers are two French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 brothers named François Baschet (born 30 March, 1920, in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

) and Bernard Baschet (born 24 August, 1917, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

) who collaborate on creating sound sculpture

Sound sculpture

Sound sculpture is an intermedia and time based art form in which sculpture or any kind of art object produces sound, or the reverse...

s and inventing musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

s, such as the cristal Baschet

Cristal baschet

The Cristal Baschet is a musical instrument that produces sound from oscillating glass cylinders. The Cristal Baschet is also known as the Crystal Organ and the Crystal Baschet, and composed of 54 chromatically-tuned glass rods. The glass rods are rubbed with moistened fingers to produce vibrations...

. François Baschet is a sculptor and Bernard Baschet is an engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

. The Baschet Brothers invented the inflatable guitar, the aluminum piano and many other experimental musical instruments. They created an "educational instrumentarium" for exposing young people to musical concepts.

Career

François had wanted to be an artist, but his father warned him against pursuing the unstable life of an artist. He decided to study business in college, but felt no passion for it. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, which had interrupted his education, he decided to travel around the world. He brought with him on his trip a guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 to help him earn a living, but wanting something more portable he invented an inflatable guitar using a balloon

Balloon

A balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...

 and a collapsible wood neck. He continued to perform with this guitar upon his return to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Soon he and his brother, who had studied engineering, began collaborating on sculptural musical instruments.

Beginning in 1952, the Baschets started research into all existing musical instruments and put this knowledge to work in creating dozens of structures sonores (i.e., 'sonorous sculptures'). Their visually striking instruments are crafted out of steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 and aluminum and amplified

Amplifier

Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...

 by large curved conical sheets of metal, and are most often easy to play and accessible to people with any level of experience. One example of this is the Hemisfair Musical Fountain, which consists of an array of posts at the top of which are groups of conical sound diffusers, and above them circles of metal prongs. These are played by jets of water aimed by observers.

In 1954, the brothers met Jacques and Yvonne Lasry. Jacques was a pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and Yvonne was an organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

. The four formed an association which they called "Lasry-Baschet Sound Structures." They held their first concerts in 1955. The group was successful and in 1960 were asked by Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...

 to provide music for his film, Le Testament d'Orphée

Testament of Orpheus

Testament of Orpheus is a 1960 film directed by and starring Jean Cocteau. It is considered the final part of the Orphic Trilogy, following The Blood of a Poet and Orphée...

. The group toured, appearing on television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 shows including the Ed Sullivan Show. In 1966 they were invited to hold an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

 and director Alfred Barr

Alfred Barr

Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr. , known as Alfred H. Barr, Jr., was an American art historian and the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City...

 purchased a sculpture for the museum's collection

In the 1960s the Lasrys immigrated to Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. In 1977 Bernard met Michel Deneuve, a musician, who joined them, starting a new association, and assisted creating instruments. Deneuve was especially dedicated to working on their instrument called the "Cristal".

Discography

• Les Sculptures Sonores - The First Fifty Years, FMR Records, CD, 1999
• 4 Espaces Sonores, with Michel Deneuve and Alain Dumont, 1982
• Structures for Sound, Museum of Modern Art, 10" vinyl, 1965

External links

• Les Sculptures Sonores, official website of the Baschet brothers; contains a photograph of Bernard and François Baschet.
• Structures Sonores, official website of the workshop led by Frédéric Bousquet.
• Association Structures Sonores Baschet et Pédagogie.
• L’instrumentarium Baschet.