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Home , Hammond organ, Ondes Martenot, Telharmonium, Trautonium

The Early Innovations of Electronic The (Dynamophone)

• Invented by Thaddeus Cahill in 1897 (also the inventor of the electric typewriter) • Presented to the public in 1906 at Holyoke, MA • Used electronic generators (“dynamos”) spinning at audio rate to produce sine tones • Transmitted sound over phone lines to be heard at the other end with phonograph-style acoustic horns • Pitches were controlled by organ-like keyboards - keyboards were both polyphonic and touch sensitive • Limited timbre control through the addition of () • Weight = 200 Tons! Length = 60 feet! (proportions of a power-station generator • Cost= $200,000! (in 1906) • Shipped to NYC in 30 Box Cars in 1906 Objectives of the Telharmonium

• Musical Objective: “to produce the notes and chords of a musical composition with any timbre desired out of their electrical elements”

• Business Objective: to sell models of the machine to cities and towns across US for the transmission of “Telharmony” to hotels, restaurants, theatres, and private homes. Inside the Telharmonium… The Fate of the Telharmonium

• New England Electric Music Company provided the funding • New York phone company sent the first strains of Telharmony to subscribers in the city • It was found to seriously interfere with telephone calls • The venture went bankrupt in 1909, and the Telharmonium disappeared into obscurity Triode

• Invented in 1906 by American Inventor Lee DeForest • Made possible amplification of electronic signals • Lead to experiments with electronic oscillators • Paved the way for new electronic instruments The • Invented in 1924 by Leon Theremin, a Russian inventor • Oldest electronic instrument still used today • Controlled by two capacitive detectors 1. vertical rod to control pitch 2. horizontal loop to control amplitude • Antennae generated electrical fields which altered according to the proximity of the hands of the performer. • Uses two radio frequency oscillators which combined create an audible difference tone. • Monophonic instrument - excellent for playing wild and glissandi, but difficult to control Leon Theremin (1896-1993) and Clara Rockmore (1911-1998) The

• Invented in 1928 by French inventor Maurice Martenot • Produces a difference tone in the same manner as the Theremin • Pitch is controlled by right hand on the keyboard or on the ribbon controller to perform glissandi. • Includes timbre controls for added overtones (additive synthesis) • Flame-shaped has strings for sympathetic vibration The Loudspeaker of the Ondes Martinot The • Invented in 1928 by Friedrich Trautweine in Berlin • Performer controlled pitch by pressing finger against a wire and pressed a metal bar to control articulation. Timbres were chosen with a which activated various filters (subtractive synthesis). Amplitude was controlled with a foot pedal. • Music for Trautonium was written by composer Paul Hindemith ( for Solo Trautonium and ) • Inspired the Mixturtrautonium, an improvement on the original with two manuals, developed by Oskar Scala, a student of Trautweine. The Trautonium The Givelet (1929) and The (1935) • Economical substitutes for the . • Both were polyphonic • The Givelet could be used with pre- punched tape in the style of a player Prophets of New Sounds

Musical Aesthetics on the Cutting Edge Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)

Italian born composer, conductor, teacher, and philosopher *Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music (1907) -championed the Telharmonium and called for a new musical language free from acoustic and aesthetic dogmas -"Suddenly, one day, it seemed clear to me that full flowering of music is frustrated by our instruments ...In their range, their tone, what they can render, our instruments are chained fast and their hundred chains must also bind the composer” -treatise influenced composer Edgar Varèse The Futurist Movement Movement in Italy initiated by poet Filippo Marinetti • Technical Manifesto of Futurist Music by Balilla Pratella (1911) -called for music to use “the musical soul of crowds, of great industrial plants, of trains, of transatlantic liners, of armoured warships, of automobiles, of aeroplanes” • The Art of Noise by Luigi Russolo (1913) -”we must break out of this narrow circle of pure musical sounds (referring to traditional orchestral instruments)and conquer the infinite variety of noise sounds” • In conjunction with percussionist Ugo Piatti, the futurists designed noise instruments called the Intonarumori for a concert in 1914 • The movement did not succeed in creating a new musical aesthetic, but in retrospect, it prophesied the expanding timbral pallette of 20th century music. Edgar Varèse (1883-1965) • French composer and musical visionary, spent much of his life in US • 1922 interview with for the Christian Science Monitor “What we want is an instrument that will give us continuous sound at any pitch. The composer and electrician will have to labor together to get it … “ • 1928 Tried unsuccessfully to acquire a laboratory for research into electronic instruments with Bell Labs • Conducted experiments on his own with phonographic records • Lived long enough to use the invention of Magnetic Tape, which heralded a new era in