User:Techn0logist/Sources for electronic music in the 1920s and 1930s

General:

  • "Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture" (4th Edition) by Thom Holmes [1]
  • Some information on early experimental compositions in the text preceding and inside the "Free lines" section of "Into the Maelstrom" by Toop [2]

Microtonal-centric:

  • Some information on microtonal use in the "Pitch and the early history of electronic music" section of "Composing Electronic Music: A New Aesthetic" by Curtis Roads [3]

French-centric:

  • ...

German-centric:

  • "Music and the Technological Imagination in the Weimar Republic" (good in general, but various great bits on the grammaphone experiments) [4]
  • "Elektrische Klangmaschinen" covers the electronic music of the 1920s and 1930s in Germany. It appears to have a wealth of information on Mager, Trautonium, Hindemith, and so on -- but is unfortunately not in English. [5]

Russian-centric:

  • "Microtonal Storm and Stress: Georgy Rimsky-Korsakov and Quarter-Tone Music in 1920s Soviet Russia" paints a pretty clear picture of microtonal composition in the Russian 1920s. In this period it seems their focus was on acoustic instruments, and the electrophon only gets a short mention because Jager had some correspondence with them. The scene in Russia seemed to fade out by the end of the 20s. We also learn that archives of Rimsky-Korsakov were destroyed. [6]
  • The Early Film Music of Dmitry Shostakovich [7]
  • "Original Documents and Reconstructions of 72 Key Works of Music, Poetry and Agitprop from the Russian Avantgardes (1908-1942)" [8]
  • "Sound in Z: Experiments in Sound and Electronic Music in Early 20th Century Russia", by Andrey Smirnov.
  • Andrey Smirnov presentation [9]
  • Andrey Smirnov website [10]

Theremin-centric:

  • "Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage"

Phonograph-centric:

  • "History Overview of Turntable Experimentation" in "Hip-Hop Turntablism, Creativity and Collaboration" [11]
  • "The Rise and Fall of Gramaphonmusik" section in "Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music" [12]
  • "The Record Effect" [13]

Film-centric:

  • "Antecedents" section of "Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide" [14]
  • The Early Film Music of Dmitry Shostakovich [15]
  • Sound and Music in Film and Visual Media: A Critical Overview [some very good information on drawn sound]
  • “Tones from out of Nowhere” [some very good information on drawn sound]