The Principles of Electronic Music (1956)

What is it about?

First published in the April 1956 issue of the magazine ‘Ongaku Geijutsu’ (The Art of Music), and drawing heavily on two German texts from 1954 that had been unofficially translated into Japanese, composer and electronic music pioneer Toshiro Mayuzumi presents an overview of electronic music divided into four sections: (1) a historical perspective positioning electronic music as developing from twelve-tone compositional techniques; (2) a brief history and overview of activities of the Cologne Electronic Music Studio; (3) an overview of the techniques of electronic music, including an account of Mayuzumi’s first experimental electronic music composition, ‘Music for Sine Waves by Sequences of Prime Number Ratios’ (1955) composed at the NHK studio in Tokyo; and (4) some of the composer’s own thoughts on the tasks and future of electronic music.

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Why is it important?

Written in 1956 by a pioneer of electronic music in Japan, Mayuzumi's historic essay is translated here in English for the first time. The essay provides details of how the Cologne Electronic Music Studio was used as a model for establishing the NHK electronic music studio, as well as details of how Stockhausen's "Studie I" was used as a model for Mayuzumi's first experiments in electronic music composition. The essay also reveals Mayuzumi's dissatisfaction with the serial approach to electronic music composition as proposed by the Cologne School.