50. The Iranian Context of Iannis Xenakis’s Persepolis

This contribution reviews the historical turning-point and political climate of the time when Iannis Xenakis’s electro-acoustic work Persépolis (1971) premiered at the Shiraz Arts Festival. It covers criticisms leveled at the time and Xenakis’s response to them. It also points to a historic misconception that emerged from the turmoil of the 1970s. At the time, Iran was undergoing rapid cultural changes and increasing political division that would give way to the Revolution of 1979. Xenakis was hardly unaware of or ambivalent to the heavy-handed methods with which Mohammad Reza Shah conducted his domestic affairs, with routine maiming and killing of dissidents, courtesy of SAVAK. Xenakis’s eventual decision to cut ties with the Shiraz Festival and the Pahlavi court was paralleled by criticisms from all directions: anti-Shah elements living in Paris, the Iranian press, and even students with whom Xenakis met after the event. However, these should be seen as separate from the moral opprobrium heaped on the Shiraz Festival by the followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini. While Xenakis made his views on the regime clear in his 14 December 1971 “Open Letter” in Le Monde, this did not stop certain misconceptions from entering circulation. One of these has been the enduring myth that Persépolis was premiered (or replayed) at the opulent opening event of the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, when in fact it was another work named Persepolis by a different composer altogether. These and other topics explored in my book Iannis Xenakis’s Persepolis, published in early 2023 as part of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series, are highlighted. A vibrant exchange afterwards with participants in the New York leg of the Meta-Xenakis marathon global conference opens new questions of inquiry.