Electronic music
At the turn of the 20th century, a massive machine called the Telharmonium filled concert halls with sound generated entirely by electricity. This instrument, developed in the late 19th century, used rotating shafts and tone wheels to create musical notes without any acoustic source like strings or air columns. Ferruccio Busoni wrote an influential book titled Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music in 1907, predicting that machines would replace traditional instruments. He argued that electronic devices could produce microtonal music impossible for human hands to play on standard keyboards. Futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo published The Art of Noises manifesto in 1913, calling for the inclusion of factory sounds and machinery noise into composition. They envisioned a new musical soul emerging from great factories, railways, battleships, and automobiles. By the early 1930s, smaller instruments like the theremin and ondes Martenot became commercially available for public performance. These vacuum tube-based devices offered expanded pitch resources that composers like Charles Ives and Olivier Messiaen eagerly exploited. Percy Grainger used the theremin to abandon fixed tonation entirely, while Russian composer Gavriil Popov treated it as a source of pure noise within otherwise-acoustic works.
In 1942, Egyptian student Halim El-Dabh recorded sounds of an ancient zaar ceremony using a cumbersome wire recorder at Middle East Radio studios. He processed these recordings with reverberation, echo, voltage controls, and re-recording techniques to create what is believed to be the earliest tape music composition titled The Expression of Zaar. This work was presented in 1944 at an art gallery event in Cairo before magnetic tape technology spread globally after World War II. Pierre Schaeffer originated the theory and practice of musique concrète following his work with Studio d'Essai at Radiodiffusion Française during the early 1940s. On the 5th of October 1948, Schaeffer broadcast Etude aux chemins de fer, marking the beginning of studio realizations where edited collages of everyday noise became the foundation of electronic composition. Schaeffer employed a disc cutting lathe, four turntables, a four-channel mixer, filters, an echo chamber, and a mobile recording unit to construct these sound pieces. In 1950, he gave the first public concert of musique concrète at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, though the performance did not go well due to the difficulty of creating live montages with turntables. That same year, Schaeffer collaborated with Pierre Henry on Symphonie pour un homme seul, recognized as the first major work of musique concrète. By 1951, RTF established the first studio for electronic music production in Paris, which later evolved into the Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète.
In 1968, Wendy Carlos released Switched-On Bach, a bestselling album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer that won three Grammy Awards including Best Classical Album. This record triggered a craze for synthesizer music by demonstrating that complex classical works could be performed entirely on electronic instruments. The Mini-Moog Model D, released in 1970, became among the first widely available portable synthesizers affordable enough for touring musicians. Patrick Gleeson pioneered the use of synthesizers in a touring context when he began playing with Herbie Hancock in 1970, adapting bulky modular equipment for stage stress. By the start of the 1980s, keyboard synthesizers had become lighter and more affordable, integrating all necessary audio synthesis electronics into single slim units. In 1983, Yamaha introduced the DX7 digital synthesizer, which used frequency modulation synthesis to produce bright tonalities at an accessible price point. The Korg Poly-800 followed in 1983 with an initial list price of $795, making it the first fully programmable synthesizer sold for less than $1000. Casio released the CZ-101 phase distortion synthesizer in November 1984, becoming one of the best-selling polyphonic models available under $500. Roland launched the D-50 digital synthesizer in April 1987, featuring subtractive synthesis and onboard effects alongside an analogue-styled layout design.
In 1953, the WDR Cologne studio officially opened its doors as what would become the most famous electronic music facility in the world. Karlheinz Stockhausen worked there for many years after briefly visiting Pierre Schaeffer's Paris studio in 1952. The brainchild of Werner Meyer-Eppler, Robert Beyer, and Herbert Eimert, the Cologne studio soon attracted talent like Gottfried Michael Koenig. By 1955, experimental studios began appearing globally including the Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano and a facility at the NHK in Tokyo founded by Toshiro Mayuzumi. In 1963, Morton Subotnick established the San Francisco Tape Music Center with additional members Pauline Oliveros, Ramon Sender, Anthony Martin, and Terry Riley. This center later moved to Mills College where it was directed by Pauline Oliveros before being renamed the Center for Contemporary Music. In Israel, Josef Tal established the Centre for Electronic Music at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1961 following a UNESCO fellowship study tour. Canadian composer Hugh Le Caine arrived in Jerusalem in 1962 to install his Creative Tape Recorder at this new institution. Proliferation of research institutions continued through the decades with EMS starting in Stockholm in 1964 and STEIM opening in Amsterdam in 1969. IRCAM in Paris became a major center for computer music research featuring the revolutionary Sogitec 4X computer system developed by Pierre Boulez.
In 1967, the Doors released Strange Days using the Moog synthesizer while the Monkees issued Pisces Aquarius Capricorn & Jones Ltd. that same year. The Beatles' 1966 psychedelic song Tomorrow Never Knows ushered in a new era in rock and pop music through its incorporation of tape loops and reversed sounds. By the end of the 1960s, bands like Pink Floyd, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Genesis made synthesizers central to their progressive rock sound. Kraftwerk released albums such as Trans-Europe Express between 1977 and 1981 which influenced subgenres of electronic music across Europe. In 1979, Gary Numan achieved success with his solo debut album The Pleasure Principle and single Cars, establishing synth-pop as a dominant force. Depeche Mode released their first single Dreaming of Me in 1980 followed by Speak & Spell in 1981. The Human League hit Don't You Want Me from their third album Dare became an international sensation in 1981. Electronic dance music began gaining mainstream traction when the Love Parade started in Berlin in 1989, becoming the largest street party with over one million visitors. This event inspired other popular celebrations of electronic music throughout Germany and beyond.
In 1958, Columbia-Princeton developed the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, recognized as the first programmable synthesizer available for composers. Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, Halim El-Dabh, Bülent Arel, and Mario Davidovsky used this machine extensively in various compositions. The earliest digital sampling occurred on the EMS Musys system developed by Peter Grogono, David Cockerell, and Peter Zinovieff at their London studio around 1969. First commercially available sampling synthesizers included the Computer Music Melodian by Harry Mendell in 1976 and the Synclavier I released in 1977-1978 using FM synthesis re-licensed from Yamaha. In 1983, the Korg Poly-800 became the first fully programmable synthesizer sold for less than $1000 while Casio's CZ-101 followed under $500 in November 1984. The definition of MIDI and development of digital audio made purely electronic sound creation much easier for engineers and producers exploring new equipment models. By the early 1980s, mass-produced digital synthesizers like the Yamaha DX7 democratized access to advanced sound generation capabilities. This technological infrastructure transformed production workflows by allowing musicians to integrate keyboards, drum machines, and samplers into unified systems.
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Common questions
What was the first electronic instrument to fill concert halls with electricity-generated sound?
The Telharmonium was a massive machine that filled concert halls with sound generated entirely by electricity at the turn of the 20th century. This late 19th-century instrument used rotating shafts and tone wheels to create musical notes without any acoustic source like strings or air columns.
When did Pierre Schaeffer broadcast the first musique concrète piece on radio?
On the 5th of October 1948, Pierre Schaeffer broadcast Etude aux chemins de fer marking the beginning of studio realizations where edited collages of everyday noise became the foundation of electronic composition. He employed a disc cutting lathe, four turntables, a four-channel mixer, filters, an echo chamber, and a mobile recording unit to construct these sound pieces.
Which album won three Grammy Awards for Wendy Carlos in 1968?
Wendy Carlos released Switched-On Bach in 1968 which is a bestselling album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer that won three Grammy Awards including Best Classical Album. This record triggered a craze for synthesizer music by demonstrating that complex classical works could be performed entirely on electronic instruments.
Where was the first studio for electronic music production established in Paris?
By 1951, RTF established the first studio for electronic music production in Paris which later evolved into the Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète. The WDR Cologne studio officially opened its doors as what would become the most famous electronic music facility in the world in 1953.
When did Kraftwerk release Trans-Europe Express and how did it influence subgenres?
Kraftwerk released albums such as Trans-Europe Express between 1977 and 1981 which influenced subgenres of electronic music across Europe. Gary Numan achieved success with his solo debut album The Pleasure Principle and single Cars in 1979 establishing synth-pop as a dominant force.