1956-1960 Electronic music at the Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven. In 1956, a studio for electronic music was opened within the acoustics department of Philips Research Laboratories. This acoustics department had a long tradition as a pioneer in the area of reverberation tests, concert multiplication, electronic music instruments, loudspeaker and microphone design, sound synthesis, perception research, and stereophony. |
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demonstration hall of the acoustics department (1950) |
loudspeaker violins (1940) |
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electronic reverberation system (1955) |
optical siren for synthetic sound (1938) |
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artificial head stereophonics (1940) |
The productions made in this studio emphasized functional music for (animated) film, ballet, exhibition areas, and 'popular' music for gramophone records. |
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electronic studio in room 306 of Philips Research (1957) |
Dick Raaijmakers at work in room 306 (1957) |
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popular electronic music by Kid Baltan (1957) |
nucleair fusion animation film with electronic music (1960) |
The artistic highlight of the electronic music activities at Philips was the 'Poème électronique', an automated performance with image, color, and electronic music in a building specially designed by Iannis Xenakis for the Brussels World Fair in 1958. The project was directed by the architect Le Corbusier, who also determined the sequences of colors and images. The electronic music was composed by Edgard Varèse who came to Eindhoven for nine months to do this. In the pavilion, the music from three sound tracks was distributed using a system of 350 loudspeakers which were divided into clusters and routes. The sounds could leap or move gradually through space. |
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| Sound routes in the Philips pavilion at the Brussels World Fair of 1958 | |