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.
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.
Quote from: James on July 06, 2010, 06:40:13 AM
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.
Quote from: James on July 06, 2010, 08:01:03 AM
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! :o :D
And yes, Varèse was definitely a visionary. 8)
Quote from: James on July 06, 2010, 08:57:06 AM
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 ; )
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 06, 2010, 09:01:01 AM
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.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondes_Martenot) (not always reliable) the ondes martenot was invented in 1928.
Quote from: James on July 06, 2010, 09:56:36 AM
. . . 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.
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.
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...
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 ( :o). 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? ;D
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!
Quote from: snyprrr on July 07, 2010, 11:24:34 AM
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....)
Quote from: James on July 07, 2010, 08:09:27 AM
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.
Quote from: petrArch on July 07, 2010, 12:16:26 PM
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).
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
Quote from: zamyrabyrd on October 17, 2010, 08:05:13 AM
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.
Quote from: Velimir on October 17, 2010, 09:32:37 AM
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
Quote from: snyprrr on July 07, 2010, 11:24:34 AM
EM is such a rabbitt hole, I try not to want to be too curious.
I just liked this post.
Quote from: karlhenning on March 17, 2014, 10:48:15 AM
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.
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 8) ) 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/ (http://www.sagittal.org/)
On the other hand, maybe you will like it!
Luciano Berio
https://www.youtube.com/v/HpcEu1hgRjw
https://www.youtube.com/v/-uIvzVgk16c
https://www.youtube.com/v/L2nk52Iaouw
https://www.youtube.com/v/8mxGHXCMPcM
Quote from: sanantonio on February 19, 2015, 08:08:23 AM
Luciano Berio
https://www.youtube.com/v/HpcEu1hgRjw
https://www.youtube.com/v/-uIvzVgk16c
https://www.youtube.com/v/L2nk52Iaouw
https://www.youtube.com/v/8mxGHXCMPcM
So,
San Antonio,what do you think? 0:)
I find much to like in how Luciano Berio handles the mixture of taped electronics and voice and other acoustic instruments. Did you listen to any of the clips?
Quote from: sanantonio on February 19, 2015, 08:26:42 AM
I find much to like in how Luciano Berio handles the mixture of taped electronics and voice and other acoustic instruments. Did you listen to any of the clips?
Indeed very nice clips, especially "visage" impresses me. Thank you for that. With Berio I always had the feeling, that he was immensely talented but for some reason seldomly realized completely satisfying works. Well with visage he seemed to achieve this.
Quote from: karlhenning on July 06, 2010, 10:01:25 AM
Sure, but the ondes Martenot would not be any substitute for the lion's roar. Like substituting the harp for an ocarina.
Although the Ondes Martenot does produce a sound like a dog barking, exploited by Jolivet in the
Les Chiens d'Érèbe section of
Suite Delphique.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/uprr8j
The Ondes Martenot also has a gong stop - anyone know of any instances of its use?
A friend of mine lately recommended me the works from Laurie Spiegel, a minimalist composer that works mostly with electronic means. I find the following track from her is both, deep and accessible.
https://www.youtube.com//v/zIqS5_bh4nM/
Quote from: Dax on February 21, 2015, 01:30:48 AM
Although the Ondes Martenot does produce a sound like a dog barking, exploited by Jolivet in the Les Chiens de Érèbe section of Suite Delphique.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/uprr8j
The Ondes Martenot also has a gong stop - anyone know of any instances of its use?
The gong diffuser? If I recall, it is in the third movement of Messiaen's
Turangalila-Symphonie (near the beginning, before the part that gets real loud with the slides).
Stockhausen's Kurswellen and particularly Prozession, if I've spelt them right, are among the most original of electronic compositions.
Laurie Spiegel's idiom should similarly have some potential.
Acousmatrix : History Of Electronic Music (9CD Boxset) (http://www.whitenoiserecords.org/archives/7350)
Acousmatrix 8/9 (2cd) : Francis Dhomont
Cycle de l'Errance: Points De Fuite, ...Mourir Un Peu, Espace/Escape Les Derives du Signe: Novars, Chiaroscuro, Meteores, Signe Dionysos
Acousmatrix 7 : Berio/Maderna
Luciano Berio: Momenti, Thema-Omaggio a Joyce, Visage. Bruno Maderna: Le Rire, Invenzione su una voce (featuring Cathy Berberian)
Acousmatrix 6 : COLOGNE – WDR: early electronic music
Herbert Eimert, Robert Beyer, Karel Goeyvaerts, Paul Gredinger, Gottfried Michael Koenig, Henri Pousseur, Bengt Hambraeus, Franco Evangelisti, Gyorgy Ligeti, Gieselher Klebe, Herbert Brun
Acousmatrix 5 : Konrad Boehmer
Aspekt, Cry of this Earth, Apocalipsis cum Figuris SVEM -Studio, Instituut voor Sonologie, Den Haag
Acousmatrix 4 : Henri Pousseur
Scambi, Trois Visages de Liege, L'Air de L'Eeau, Voix de la Ville, Forges Paraboles – Mix Recherches Musicales de Wallonie
Acousmatrix 3 : Luc Ferrari
Petite Symphony Intuitive pour un Paysage de Printemps, Strathoven, Presque Rien avec Filles, Hetereozygote INA-GRM, La Muse en Circuit
Acousmatrix 1/2 (2cd) : Gottfried Michael Koenig
Klangfiguren II, Essay, Terminus I, Terminus II, Output, Funktion rot, Funktion grau, Funktion violett, Funktion blau, Funktion indigo Studio fur Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunks, Instituut voor Sonologie, Utrecht
Francis Dhomont - Transfert I
https://www.youtube.com/v/r1mWHGxCYMk
Taylor Deupree
https://www.youtube.com/v/hjmXfI3KHzw&list=PLhcZU4baj3TPFUaaE56hjDv7ukYXH8ejF
Philip Jeck
https://www.youtube.com/v/dcZx-7lOmrY&list=PLKtI6DyKnYmPjIm6Vfjeyzi0EnvSAsTZI
Stephan Mathieu - Remain
https://www.youtube.com/v/7JxjZrWnz70
Luc Ferrari - Petite symphonie intuitive pour une paysage de printemps
https://www.youtube.com/v/CG05gJ6uqP4