At the end of the 20s, a work published by André Cœuroy, called Panorama of Contemporary Music, focused on the production of music that could be reproduced through gramophones. However, another revolution happened regarding both the perception and production of music itself. It was the first instrument to be played "contactless", as spatial waves generated with the movement of hands in the air interfered with the electric field, and thus produced sounds.ĭuring the 1920s, many other musical experiments were made, following the Theremin, about which we unfortunately do not have space to talk about here we could mention, at least, the Ondes Martenot, the Sphäraphon and the Neo Violena. Leon Theremin built an instrument, called namely the "Theremin", where sound was created through electronic oscillators. Music was "written" on a paper roll, which had perforations according to different pitch and lengths, and a separate track for volume.īut the real revolution happened at the beginning of the 20th century. This clavier combined watch mechanics, electro-magnetism and telegraphy. One of the earliest innovations in the field, with the exception of Prokop's amazing and controversial invention, is represented by Matthäus Hipp’s Electro-Mechanical Piano, described by the author himself in the 1867 edition of the Polytechnisches Journal. The modern world needed "concrete" sounds, and music-along with musicians, of course-responded properly. The beginning of the 20th century was a fertile and stimulating moment, in which science and music went hand in hand, almost merging in unison as if it were a choir an overwhelming and disruptive chorus which, however, had surprising historical implications and to which we still refer today. The first proper electronic instruments, built not for sale but solely for public display and general demonstrations, drew a line connecting the classical composition of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries with the needs born from the technological development of the new century. The first experiments on soundwaves and on the modification of natural sounds gave way to a new sentiment, a completely new approach to music, which influenced generations to come. The idea to combine electricity with sound existed already back then, but it became a reality only at the beginning of the twentieth century. We cannot establish with certainty that Václav Prokop Diviš, the protagonist of our last Milestone, really did invent the first electronic instrument, but it is sure that he was aiming in that direction.
0 kommentar(er)
