Early electronic music from 1959 to 1969 produced by the Institute of
Sonology, in Utrecht, Holland. Their pioneering research work helped
define brand-new forms during the crucial 1960s decade.
These electronic works, composed between 1959 and 1969 at the Institute of
Sonology by Dick Raaymakers, Frits Weiland, Ton Bruynel, Konrad Boehmer,
Gottfried Michael Koenig and
Rainer Riehn,
are raw material similar to what Mego could release today. We need to
reflect on this period—the revolution of the fifties and sixties—and
understand that what was done then was elaborated without a
base—ex nihilo—a music produced by machines designed to
construct the new.
Officially founded on September 1, 1960, at the instigation of several
people representing cultural institutions, the institute of sonology, had
already taken initiatives in the field of electroacoustic music since
1954. A large complex of studios (initially under the name STEM = STudio
voor Electronische Muziek) was set up under the patronage of Utrecht
university in an old house on Plompetorengracht in Utrecht University; and
the instruments and tapes (among them, that of Varèse's
Electronic
Poem) of Philips laboratories' (important to remember the mythic
Philips Pavillion in the Brussels's fair in 1958).
Founded in 1960 at the University of Utrecht, Holland, the Institute of Sonology is now part of the Royal
Conservatoire in The Hague. It has a 50-year tradition of education, research
and production in the fields of
electroacoustic music, computer music and
sound art.
