Electronic Music, the First Seventy Years

[James]

The roots of electronic music go all the way back to 1897, when Thaddeus Cahill patented the Telharmonium, a kind of gargantuan proto-synthesizer - early models were 60 feet long, weighed 200 tons and interfered with local telephone networks. Not surprisingly, this musical behemoth was a roaring failure, despite being championed by Busoni in his famous Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music (1907). During the 1920s and 1930s a steady stream of electronic instruments were produced, such as the Ondes Martenot (1928), Trautonium (1930) and the Hammond Organ (1935), though these proved more sucessful in film music than concert performance, despite capturing the attention of composers as diverse as Messiaen and Hindemith (who in 1931 penned a now sadly forgotten Concerto for Trautonium & Orchestra)

The real history of electronic music began in the years immediately after World War II, and was initially dominated by two studios. The RTF studio in Paris, under the guidance of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, was the centre for musique concrete, a style of composition using electronically manipulated recordings of real sounds - anything from pianos to railway engines. By contrast, the WDR studio in Cologne, established by composer Herbert Eimert and scientist Werner Meyer-Eppler, focused on building a new musical language from scratch out of purely electronic sounds: so-called elektronische Musik. Despite their considerable artistic differences, at both studios composers focused initially on creating pieces entirely on tape, completely eradicating live musicians in performance and (usually) in the preparation of the taped sounds themselves.

Artistically, the Cologne studio was the more successful of the two, thanks to the young Karlheinz Stockhausen, who produced seminal works there such as Gesang der Junglinge (1956) and Kontakte (1960) - the first significant works to use electronics in combination with live performers. RTF and WDR were soon joined by the RAI studio in Milan, where young composers Luciano Berio and Luigi Nono pursued a path midway between those of Paris and Cologne, and produced music that was perhaps more consistently successful than either. During the 1950s, virtually every significant young European composer worked in some capacity at one of these studios, including those, such as Xenakis and Boulez, who would later play key roles in the development of electronic and computer music, and others, such as Ligeti and Dutilleux, whose interest in the medium lasted only briefly.

During the 1960s and 1970s, further studios were established on both sides of the Atlantic, including an important one at Princeton in the USA, which served as the focus for North American research and attracted composers as varied as Milton Babbitt and John Cage. The latter had for many years been following a characteristically eccentric investigation of electronics - concentrating on their use in performance rather than through producing tape pieces - beginning in 1939 with Imaginary Landscape No. 1, employing variable speed turntables playing recordings of RCA Victor test frequencies, and continuing with oddities such as Music for Amplified Toy Pianos.

These studios remained primarily concerned with the production of tape works, but commercial developments were rapidly changing and the technological landscape in which composers operated. The massive popularity of the electric guitar had already brought electronic sound production (albeit of a very simple kind) firmly into the popular music mainstream; and the Moog synthesizer, launched in 1966, combined many of the functions of the traditional studio into a single instrument at a fraction of the size and cost, spawning classics such as Walter Carlos's massively popular Switched on Bach (1968) and The Well Tempered Synthesizer (1969).

Back in the studio these developments led to a growing interest in live electronics: transforming and manipulating sounds during performance rather than using an inflexible pre-recorded tape. Again Stockhausen was in the vanguard with works such as Mikrophonie I (1964) and Mixtur (1964), while later in the decade he produced, in Telemusik (1966) and Hymnen (1967), both classics of electronic music that summed up developments thus far. These were to be two fo the last such works, however, and with the emergence of digital sound-processing and so-called "computer music" in the early 1970s, the old analogue studio techniques rapidly became obsolete.

In reality, the two postwar decades of studio research produced little of lasting musical value. But in ushering music into the technological age they opened up a momentous new phase in its history, one whose effects are now with us everywhere - from pop music and film scores to computers games and mobile ringtones.

[jowcol]

I would consider Varese a visionary in this area, even though his output was limited, and came a bit later.  In the 30s, he was envisioning editing the sound envelope, and also having an ability to generate music directly from the definition without need of performers-- which is a capability we take for granted these days.  His inability to get funding to develop the hardware he needed led to a retreat from music until, basically, the rest of the world caught up with him.

I'd also have to give some props to trance-rock groups like Tangerine Dream that, at least in the 70s, offered some pretty worthwhile applications of electronic music.

[Luke]

Yup ....and a visionary for sure.. "I work with rhythms, frequencies & intensities. Tunes are the gossips of music." And he often spoke of a "whole new world of unsuspecting sounds", foreshadowing the use of synthesizers & computers in contemporary music. "I refuse to limit myself to sounds that have already been heard".

He explored the potential of various electromechanical devices such as the theremin & ondes martenot (Ameriques, 1927)...then there is Déserts (1954) for magnetic tape ... and in 1958 Poème électronique for tape & 400 loudspeakers .. and along with Webern & Messiaen; Varese was a prime influence on the post-war avant-garde, some of the most talented composers working at the time in this area without a doubt ... i.e. Xenakis, Boulez & above all Stockhausen who did the most to realize Varese's vision of an electronic future.

There's no theremin or ondes in Ameriques (which predates 1927, too - it was written in 1921 or 1922 IIRC). The ondes appear in Ecuatorial, though - 3 of them, I think.

[jochanaan]

Are you absolutely sure? I thought he revised the score later ... substituting the lion's roar with the ondes ...

No, neither the original nor the revised version used the ondes martenot, although they both used (I think) two sirens.

Luke, there are 2 ondes martenots in Ecuatorial, plus piano and pipe organ--4 keyboards altogether!

And yes, Varèse was definitely a visionary.

[karlhenning]

We should bet on it  ...

Speaking both as one who has actually read the score, and as a friend of jo's . . . yes, you should ; )

[Luke]

Speaking both as one who has actually read the score, and as a friend of jo's . . . yes, you should ; )

Yes, I've got my own copy of the score, edited thoroughly and conclusively in the light of all Varese's tinkerings by his friend/colleague/pupil/editor Chou Wen Chung - no ondes and IIRC no mention of them in the lengthy editorial notes. I'll check when I get home.

[Franco]

According to Wikipedia (not always reliable) the ondes martenot was invented in 1928.

[karlhenning]

. . . ultimately he was into & did tinker with electronic gizmos.

Sure, but the ondes Martenot would not be any substitute for the lion's roar.  Like substituting the harp for an ocarina.

[Luke]

Got the score in front of me, with Chou Wen Chung's editorial notes (8 pages of them, very detailed!). The revision was in 1927, and it involved (among other things) eliminating 7 winds, 8 brass and some percussion, and it was published in 1929; the Chung edition is based on that revised edition, and contains no ondes, and no mention of them in the notes anywhere.

[Luke]

I have recordings of concerti by Jolivet and (mentioned on another thread today, oddly) Marcel Landowski too.

I also have a disc of the Messiean Fetes des belles eaux for ondes sextet which includes, as a filler, an arrangement of the first movement of the Ravel string quartet for ondes ensemble. Sounds sacriligious - but apparently, Ravel heard arrangements of this piece and of the Pavane pour une infante defunte for ondes ensembles and approved strongly, saying that this was how he heard the pieces when he played them in his head. The intensity purity and precision of tone, I suppose...

[snyprrr]

EM is such a rabbitt hole, I try not to want to be too curious. Any EM I have is the by product of getting something else.

All I have now is the Xenakis/EMF disc (and Persepolis/Polytope de Cluny), and Stockhausen's Mikrophonie I & II (from the Sony piano 2-cd), with maybe some Davidovsky, or other small pieces.

I like the early, oriental sounding Xenakis (the first three pieces, plus Analogues A/B), and, lately, I have been using a low volume Persepolis to go to sleep to ( ). Xenakis really locked in that ancient ancient sound.

Other Xenakis, such as the "Mycanae" piece (the really noisy, late '70s piece, 9mins) are just a bit much for my ears. Oy!

The Stockhausen I just don't...mmm...maybe there are other pieces I'd like better?



Honestly, when I was young, I was around too much cool equipment, and the veneer of mystery concerning EM, and the technology, disappeared for me. I've always felt concerning EM, that, "I could do that." Maybe it has something to do with growing up with the ubiquitous computer, whereas, for Xenakis and Stockhausen, et al, IT grew up with THEM!

Everyone here should be challenged to created the best EM they can, with the computer THEY have!! C'mon guys!!! You can do it!

[Luke]

Everyone here should be challenged to created the best EM they can, with the computer THEY have!! C'mon guys!!! You can do it!

A new take on a Saul classic! (and one I find more enticing, I must say....)

[petrarch]

Has anyone out there heard this & was it ever recorded? ....

(too lazy to google right now)

I have it on CD, along with Hindemith's 7 trios for 3 trautoniums. It's been a LONG while since I listened to it. The recollection I have is that it is far too "traditional-sounding" for my tastes. I've always preferred Oskar Sala's Elektronische Impressionen, the other piece on the same CD.

[karlhenning]

I have it on CD, along with Hindemith's 7 trios for 3 trautoniums.

I must have known of that piece at one time (I'm sure I've never actually heard it).

[zamyrabyrd]

This is probably displaying my ignorance (so be it) and my training (conventional, to be sure) but could some one suggest some substantial electronic works to listen to?

My impressions so far (but that might have to do with the kind of music I'm hearing) repeating techniques or gimmicks, like "whoosh", a base drone of pitch punctuated by catchy rhythms and to which the rest of the pitches relate, a limited number of actual tones or a motive repeated in a coloristic manner (whoosh, echo, filtering). 

Time was when technology needed to fill an entire room and the results were products long labored over. So the above in the 60's and 70's were groundbreaking, in a manner of speaking. However, the musical materials being limited (this is my impression) they were more suited to background music for films, good for dance or combined with computer graphics rather than standing on their own as musical compositions.

Now my son for instance has a whole library of trance music that employ virtually the same above techniques. This serves for him as a kind of sound background to other computer activities (makes me cringe).

ZB

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

This is probably displaying my ignorance (so be it) and my training (conventional, to be sure) but could some one suggest some substantial electronic works to listen to?

Xenakis' unbelievably intense La Legende d'Eer is the first thing that comes to my mind. Nothing gimmicky about it - it's 45 minutes long and has a strong narrative element, being based on a death-&-resurrection parable from Plato's Republic.

[zamyrabyrd]

Xenakis' unbelievably intense La Legende d'Eer is the first thing that comes to my mind. Nothing gimmicky about it - it's 45 minutes long and has a strong narrative element, being based on a death-&-resurrection parable from Plato's Republic.

Thanks, it was on youtube and I found it interesting. I was somewhat familiar with his Pleiades. From my limited knowledge of the medium, it seems that drones (as in the first) and rhythm (as in the second) are more suited to it and emphasized rather than harmony and melody.

ZB

[Karl Henning]

EM is such a rabbitt hole, I try not to want to be too curious.

I just liked this post.

[San Antone]

I just liked this post.

Funny how this thread has been bumped, I was just mentioning it in a PM.  True, EM is a very broad style, but that does not keep me from trying to come to grips with it.

[Cato]

40 years ago, I had great hopes for the Motorola Scalatron, an electronic synthesizer capable of playing mircrotonal music, all the way up to 31-tones per octave.

e.g. Imagine a 24-note quarter-tone scale with 7 1/3 tones, or vice versa!  Or an "equal" 31-tone scale: the Motorola Scalatron could handle it.

That is, if you could handle the keyboard!  It resembled the left-hand of an accordion, but had hexagonal push-buttons for all the notes.  A composer named George Secor, with whom I corresponded for a while, since I myself was rather heavily into inventing my own quarter-tone scales, had consulted with Motorola on the design, (i.e. talked them into using his design      ) and then the company sent him forth to play his own compositions to demonstrate the possibilities and the sounds and to sell the thing.

$7,500 got you the synthesizer and assorted tuning "programs" plus a black-and-white T.V. set for checking the sine-waves as the machine got tuned!

According to a source on the Internet, after advertising it in music journals and other magazines for a year or two, the company ended up building precisely two machines, and one of them was the demo used by George Secor.

(I was a little bit sour about this, because the man made it clear to me that he had no interest in performing anyone's music but his own, and let's just say I found his stuff less than impressive.     )

Update:

Go to this page, and you will hear one of Secor's most recent - and still rather primitive and boring - compositions: take away the microtonal scale and you don't have much of interest at all!  Listen to the left-hand part especially!

http://www.sagittal.org/

On the other hand, maybe you will like it!