Elektronische Musik
Roots · 1951 · also known as Electronic Music (Cologne School), Ecole de Cologne, Musique electronique de Cologne
Cologne, 1951. Three years after Paris, West German radio opened a studio that took the exact opposite stance to musique concrete: where Schaeffer recorded the world and cut it up, Herbert Eimert and Karlheinz Stockhausen refused any preexisting sound and built every timbre from frequency generators. Stockhausen composed Studie I there in 1953, entirely in sine tones, then Gesang der Junglinge in 1955 and 1956, blending recorded voice with synthesis in what is considered the first work of spatialized electronic music. Its descendants are immense: Kraftwerk, formed an hour away in Dusseldorf, carried this heritage to Detroit techno, while its research into pure texture flows directly into ambient music.
10 reference tracks
- Herbert Eimert: Klang im unbegrenzten Raum (1952)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen: Studie I (1953)
- Karel Goeyvaerts: Compositie Nr. 5 met zuivere tonen (1953)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen: Studie II (1954)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1956)
- Ernst Krenek: Spiritus Intelligentiae Sanctus (1956)
- Gottfried Michael Koenig: Klangfiguren II (1956)
- György Ligeti: Artikulation (1958)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen: Kontakte (1960)
- Mauricio Kagel: Transición I (1960)
At a glance
- First appeared: 1951
- Machines: Magnétophone à bande, Melochord
- The sound: Generateurs de frequences, Modulateur en anneau, Filtres passe-bande, Magnetophone multipiste
- Labels: Deutsche Grammophon, WERGO, Editions Mego, Stockhausen-Verlag, OTRJ
- Key artists: Karlheinz Stockhausen, Herbert Eimert, Gottfried Michael Koenig
Producing Elektronische Musik
What separates Cologne from Paris is the refusal to record anything: everything here is calculated, with durations fixed by number series rather than feeling, try a short Fibonacci sequence, 3, 5, 8, 13, turned into durations in seconds or sixteenth notes. There is no groove and no swing, rhythm is treated as structure, and Stockhausen's Studie II even published its score as a graph of durations and frequency bands. There is no drum kit either, rhythmic events are envelopes applied to synthesized tones: build a sound from four additive sine operators with a 0ms attack and an 80ms decay for a metallic impulse, or a 400ms attack and a long decay for a breath-like tone, alternating the two according to your duration series, then remove notes that land on strong beats so the pulse disappears while the order remains.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Elektronische Musik?
Cologne, 1951. Three years after Paris, West German radio opened a studio that took the exact opposite stance to musique concrete: where Schaeffer recorded the world and cut it up, Herbert Eimert and Karlheinz Stockhausen refused any preexisting sound and built every timbre from frequency…
Who are the key Elektronische Musik artists?
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Herbert Eimert, Gottfried Michael Koenig.
In the same family
- Musique concrète
- Électroacoustique
- Krautrock
- Kosmische Musik
- Space Music
- Proto-Techno
- Synth-pop
- Early Industrial
- Funk
- Philly Soul
- Dub
- Hip-Hop
Listen to Elektronische Musik in the atlas · Cette page en français
