LESSON 3:

ELECTRONIC MUSIC
 ELECTRONIC MUSIC

• Electronic music came about as a result of the

transition from traditional music instruments to
the use of recording materials like vinyl records,
compact cassettes, and compact discs to the
current digital technology in music and
recording was given importance by 20th century
composers like Edgar Varese, Karlheinz
Stockhausen, and Mario Davidovsky.
• It is a process of creating music using
computers in synthesizing or producing
digital audio signals that can be produced or
composed at slow, fast speed, can be
forwarded and rewinded.

•The capacity of electronic machines such as

synthesizers, amplifiers, tape recorders, and
loudspeakers to create different sounds music
that uses the tape recorder is called Musique
concrete or Concrete music.
Synthesizers 1970s
• The composer records different sounds that are heard
in the environment such as the bustle of traffic, the
sound of the wind, the barking of dogs, the
strumming of a guitar, or the cry of an infant.

• These sounds are arranged by the composer in

different ways like by playing the tape recorder in its
fastest mode or in reverse. In musique concrete, the
composer is able to experiment with different sounds
that cannot be produced by regular musical
instruments such as the piano or the violin.
FAMOUS COMPOSER
IN
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
 EDGARD VARESE (1883-1965)

• Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varese

was born on December 22, 1883. He
considered as the “Father of
Electronic Music”.

• He is a French composer who spent

most of his career and life in the
United States of America where he
pioneered and created new sounds that
bordered between music and noise.
 EDGARD VARESE (1883-1965)

• The musical compositions of Varese

are characterized by an emphasis on
timbre and rhythm.

• He invented the term “organized

sound,” which means that certain
timbres and rhythms can be grouped
together in order to capture a whole
new definition of sound.
 EDGARD VARESE (1883-1965)

• He was described as the

“Stratospheric Colossus of Sound”.

• His musical compositions total

around 50, with his advances in
tape-based sound proving
revolutionary during his time.

• He died on November 6, 1965.

“POÈME ÉLECTRONIQUE”
 Listen to the link below:
Integrales – Edgard Varese
https://youtu.be/n7BVTlTgrH
• Alongside with electronic music,
there’s another kind of music which
blooms in this period, the Canon.

• It is a musical piece which consists of

two or more voices of instruments that
are being played or started at different
intervals.
 Listen to the link below:
Canon in D Major – Johann Pachelbel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Af372EQLck
 KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

• Is a German composer born

in 1928.
• He studied in Cologne and
Bonn
• His first important works
were written in advanced
from of serialism influenced
by Anton von Webern.
 KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

• He made use of the idea of

“Chance) aleatoric and
mixing electronic and
natural sounds.

• Famous Works:
“Kreuzspiel” (1951)
• “ Kontrapunrtre” (1952)
 KREUZSPIEL” :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIxGi_bI1CI

KONTRAPUNRTRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnr9GWVIhX8
 
 LUCIANO BERIO
• Is an Italian composer born
in 1925.

• He founded a studio in
Milan to study the
problems of electronic
music.
 LUCIANO BERIO
• His compositions were often
very unconventional and
many of them involved
visual affects.

• For him the actual

movements of the
performances are very
important.
FAMOUS WORK: “MUTAZIONI” 1956

«Mutazioni”
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=HpcEu1hgRjw 
THANK YOU
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