History of Electronic Music

Important Dates in Electronic Music History

Period: Jan 1, 1897 to Jan 1, 2007

Teleharmonium Invented

Jan 13, 1897

Invented by Thaddeus Cahill. Instrument weighed 7 tons.

Wire Recorders In Use

Jan 1, 1898

First practical tape recorder called Magnetophon.

Theremin Invented

Jan 1, 1919

Leon Theremin playing a ThereminInvented by Leon Theremin, a Russian physicist. Not patented until 1928.

Ondes Martenot Invented

Jan 2, 1928

Invented by Maurice Martenot. Similar in design to the Theremin.

Tape Recorder Invented

Jan 1, 1931

Reel-to-reel tape recorder invented. First tape recorder to be publicly available, sold as a consumer technology after World War II.

Musique Concrete

Jan 1, 1948

Term coined by Pierre Schaeffer. French for "real music," the genre utilizes concrete sounds that eminate from natural phenomena.

First Electronic Music For Magnetic Tape Composed

Jan 1, 1950

Composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. These men are considered pioneers in the American history of Electronic Music.

CSIRAC

Jan 1, 1951

CSIRACFirst digital computer to play electronic music. It originated in Australia and is still around today.

RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer

Jan 1, 1957

First programmable electronic synthesizer. Installed at Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.

Pulitzer Prize for Electronic Music

Jan 1, 1970

Composed by Charles Wuorien. Called "Time's Encomium"

Minimoog Invented

Jan 1, 1970

Invented by Bill Hemstash and Robert Moog. Designed to include all important elements of larger synthesizers, but be compact enough to play during live performances.

MIDI Developed

Jan 1, 1980

MIDI Wiki PageMIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

Yamaha DX7

Jan 1, 1983

First commercially successful digital synthesizer. Manufactured from 1983-1986.

First Laptop Orchestra

Jul 13, 2002

Known as Huddersfield Electronic Laptop Orchestra

Cosmic Pulses

Jan 1, 2007

Album by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Last album he produced before his death in December of 2007.