Episode 8 (Fall 2026)
16:00 - 17:00 Sunday, September 20th, 2026
Christian & Henry
"One of the most valuable inventions to the field of electronic music was the tape recorder (1935) by Allgemeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft. Without this instrument electronic music would have virtually been non-existent." – David Ernst, Musique Concrète (1972)
Mise-en-scène is back! We'll have some extra hosts throughout this semester and are planning some awesome episodes (expect consistent, weekly episodes). To start off the show's return Henry and I decided to go wayyy back to the 1940s and discuss the fascinating origins of electronic music – labeled "Musique Concrète."
Peter Schaeffer, a French composer and theoretician (pictured at the top of the page), was our main character for the episode. He worked in broadcasting in Paris starting in 1942, having been a part of the founding of the Studio d'Essai de la Radiodiffusion Nationale (a center for the French Resistance on radio, responsible for the first broadcasts in liberated Paris, August 1944). It was here that Schaeffer began the first electronic music studio, messing with the facilities there like tape recorders, phonographs, microphones and sound-effects records.
Schaeffer composed with sound-effects recordings of locomotives, bells, toy whistling tops, variable-speed phonographs, canal boats, pans, spoken and sung sounds, harmonicas, piano, xylophone, you name it. What was remarkable was his manipulation of the tape recordings themselves. Splicing, reversing, looping, etc. He developed all kinds of fascinating techniques that many would go on to replicate and use for their own compositions. He had this philosophy of "sound objects" – the recorded sounds were the raw material. He and his followers strengthened the concept of musique acousmatique, this idea that one could refer to a sound one hears without seeing the causes behind it.
While Schaeffer approached these compositions from a very academic, researcher perspective (often producing very avant-garde, even abrasive works), many went on to apply his techniques in popular/psychedelic music (notably Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and the Beatles on Revolver and The White Album), and in show/film scoring (Doctor Who). Furthermore, while there's not really a direct lineage between Schaeffer and early Hip Hop artists, it's notable how similar their uses of music-production technology were – using those tools as active components to "composition" and creation, not as passive recording/playback devices.
Next week, we're going to explore the History of Krautrock!! Thanks!
Playlist - Selection by Christian
"Etude Aux Chemins de Fer (Concert of Locomotives)" (1948) by Pierre Schaeffer
"The New Sound of Music" Documentary Excerpt (1979) from the BBC
"Symphonie pour un Homme Seul" (1949) by Pierre Schaeffer & Pierre Henry
"William's Mix" (1953) by John Cage, Earle Brown & David Tudor
"Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966) by The Beatles
Sources / Further Learning
[1] Musique concrète - Wikipedia
[2] This Genre Re-Imagined Music - Connects this story well with Psych Rock and The Beatles
[3] Musique Concrete - That BBC Documentary Excerpt, good visuals!
[4] Music Revolutionaries - Pierre Schaeffer
[5] Musique Concrète (1972) by David Ernst