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Hugh Daviess Electronic Music Documentation 19611968

James Mooney

Organised Sound / Volume 20 / Special Issue 01 / April 2015, pp 111 - 121

DOI: 10.1017/S1355771814000521, Published online: 05 March 2015

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1355771814000521

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James Mooney (2015). Hugh Daviess Electronic Music Documentation 19611968. Organised Sound, 20, pp 111-121
doi:10.1017/S1355771814000521

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Hugh Daviess Electronic Music
Documentation 19611968

JAMES MOONEY
School of Music, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT, UK
Email: [email protected]

This paper provides an account and interpretation of Hugh favoured the ordering of synthesised tones according
Daviess electronic music research and documentation from to premeditated, essentially serial criteria. Computer
the period 19611968. It is argued that Davies, particularly via music involved obviously the use of computers,
his International Electronic Music Catalog (published 1968), largely to produce scores or emulate the sounds of
characterised electronic music for the rst time as a truly traditional musical instruments, whereas so-called
international, interdisciplinary praxis, whereas in the preced-
tape music exemplied by the work of Cage and
ing literature the full extent of that international, interdisci-
others appeared largely disconnected from European
plinary scope had been represented only partially, and in a
way that was heavily biased in favour of the ostensibly main aesthetic concerns despite being in some respects techni-
Western European and North American schools. This argu- cally similar. Limited awareness of activities in other
ment is demonstrated by referring to a range of published parts of the world was exacerbated by comparatively
sources dating from 1952 to 1962, which represented the praxis irregular opportunities for travel or other forms of
of electronic music as somewhat fragmented and parochial, international exchange, and perpetuated by a relatively
and to a range of Daviess published and unpublished writings, meagre literature base that tended to reect rather than
which conveyed a sense of the various international, aesthetic challenge parochialism.
and disciplinary threads coalescing into an apparently The scenario just outlined is, of course, a quite blunt
coherent whole. An interpretation of Daviess motivations generalisation, since in reality local practices varied
for representing electronic music in this way is provided, which
and overlapped considerably. However, there was yet
has to do with his belief in international and interdisciplinary
to emerge in the relevant literature of the late 1950s
exchange as catalysts for the development of the electronic
idiom. Many subsequent publications rely upon the data and early 1960s evidence of any rm consensus that
provided in the Catalog, which continues to be, arguably, these fragmented, multidisciplinary activities might be
the most complete record of international, interdisciplinary considered parts of a single, apparently coherent,
electronic music activity up to the end of 1967. Some examples idiom. Technical, aesthetic and geographic fragmen-
are given that illustrate the inuence of the Catalog upon tation was characteristic of the nascent idiom of electro-
subsequent studies. It is concluded that further work is needed nic music at this time. Electronic music had yet to
in order to fully understand and evaluate the historiographic develop a coherent global identity.
consequences of the Catalogs inuence upon discourses of I suggest that Hugh Davies (19432005), through his
electronic music history. electronic music research and documentation in the
1960s, represented electronic music for the rst time as
an apparently coherent, international, interdiscipli-
1. INTRODUCTION
nary praxis. Born in the south of England, Davies
In the 1950s and early 1960s the extent to which attended Londons Westminster School where, in
electronic music was recognised as a coherent, global 1961, he produced his rst piece of written electronic
praxis was limited. Rather, praxis and discourse music research. He went on to read music at Worcester
in electronic music at this time appeared somewhat College, Oxford, and from 1964 to 1966 lived in
fragmented and parochial, characterised by a hetero- Cologne, where he worked as personal assistant to
geneous range of activities pursued in more-or-less the avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.
isolated enclaves. To essentialise, momentarily: musique In 1967 he became a founding member of the Society
concrte was practised in France; elektronische Musik for the Promotion of New Musics (SPNM) newly
was practised in Germany; tape music and computer formed electronic music sub-committee among
music were practised in the United States and Canada. the rst formal bodies to support electronic music
These main principalities of the nascent idiom of activities in the UK and went on to become
electronic music differed in both technical means and a founder-member of the Electro-Acoustic Music
aesthetics. Musique concrte involved the musical Association of Great Britain (EMAS) and the Inter-
adaptation of real-world recorded sounds following national Confederation of Electroacoustic Music
largely intuitive criteria, whereas elektronische Musik (ICEM). As well as becoming well known as a
Organised Sound 20(1): 111121 Cambridge University Press, 2015. doi:10.1017/S1355771814000521
112 James Mooney

performer of avant-garde and improvised musics, and literature that Davies had available to him in the
as a builder of bespoke, often idiosyncratic, musical course of his research had tended to focus for the
instruments, Davies held many positions of inuence most part upon specic developments in one or other
within the international electronic music community. disciplinary or geographic area. Or, it made mention
In his published and unpublished writings from only of the ostensibly main schools of musique
the 1960s Davies specically commented upon the concrte, elektronische Musik and tape music, and
fragmented nature of the electronic idiom and identi- situated any other activities as peripheral. The
ed the need to think of it more holistically. Even in tripartite musique concrte / elektronische Musik / tape
his earliest writings on the subject there is evidence music model that emerged out of this discourse formed
of an attempt to adopt a less parochial, more inter- the backbone of what has subsequently become a
national, perspective. Davies emphasised the role of canonical version of electronic music history that
internationalisation as a potent source of musical represents the full extent of electronic musics inter-
innovation, both in the edgling idiom of electronic national and interdisciplinary scope at best only
music in particular and in avant-garde music more partially, and in a way that is heavily biased in favour
generally. He also sought to convey a sense of the of those main schools and the geographic locales and
interdisciplinary nature of electronic music by drawing disciplinary interests that they represented. One of the
parallels with the techniques of painting, sculpture interesting characteristics of Daviess documentation
and other musical traditions such as popular music is that, by drawing attention to the many other
and jazz, and by documenting a broad range of inter- disciplinary and geographic areas in which relevant
disciplinary collaborations. Throughout this period activities took place in the 1950s and earlier, it chal-
Davies worked toward the production of a comprehen- lenged the hegemony of the Paris, Cologne and New
sive inventory of electronic music, beginning in earnest York schools at a time when that canonical view of
with his Discography of Electronic Music and Musique electronic music history was itself only just beginning
Concrte, published in 1964, which listed recordings to take hold. It is, however, a matter of curiosity that
available on record and magnetic tape (Davies 1964b). this challenge appears at least until recent years to
This endeavour reached its acme in 1968 when Davies have been largely unsuccessful that is, it has been the
published his Rpertoire international des musiques canonical view of electronic music history just descri-
lectroacoustiques / International Electronic Music bed that has dominated the textbooks.
Catalog (Davies 1968), a 330-page volume in which he
attempted to list every single piece of electronic music
2. DAVIESS SOURCES
ever composed anywhere in the world: 39 countries,
560 studios and 4,950 works, were represented. In the My argument begins with an exploration of seven texts
Catalog Davies represented the erstwhile separate on electronic music published between 1952 and 1962,
disciplines of musique concrte, elektronische Musik and representing the main published texts on electronic music
tape music (etc.) holistically, under the umbrella term that were referenced by Davies in his own research. These
electronic music (musiques lectroacoustiques). He are summarised in Table 1. The purpose here is to
also included several appendices that documented the demonstrate that, although each of these texts represents
use of electronic music techniques in non-musical the international, interdisciplinary scope of electronic
disciplines such as painting, poetry, sculpture and com- music to some limited extent (and some represent it more
puting, and in other musical disciplines such as popular fully than others), no single one of them represents it to
music and jazz. The Catalog thus represented the rea- the extent that it was subsequently envisioned by Davies.
lisation of Daviess efforts to represent electronic music Much of Daviess research was primary, obtained from
as a coherent, international, interdisciplinary praxis. private conversations and letters in answer to requests
By contrast, the earlier literature that was available for information of various kinds (Davies 1963a). Those
in the late 1950s and early 1960s that is, the body of published texts that are discussed here have been chosen

Table 1. Published sources identied as key in Daviess research

1. Pierre Schaeffer, la recherche dune musique concrte (Paris: ditions du Seuil, 1952)
2. Herbert Eimert and Karlheinz Stockhausen (eds.), Electronic Music, Die Reihe (Bryn Mawr, PA: Theodore Presser, 1955)
3. Hugh Le Caine, Electronic Music, Proceedings of the IRE, 44 (1956): 45778
4. Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson, Experimental Music: Composition with an Electronic Computer (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1959)
5. Fred Prieberg, Musica ex Machina: ber das Verhltnis von Musik und Technik (Berlin: Ullstein, 1960)
6. Frederick Judd, Electronic Music and Musique Concrete (London: Neville Spearman, 1961)
7. Radiodiffusion-Television Francaise, Repertoire international des musiques experimentales: studios, oeuvres, quipements,
bibliographie (Paris: Service de la Recherche de la RTF, 1962)
 Hugh Daviess Electronic Music Documentation 19611968 113

because: (a) they were identied by Davies as sources developments in a particular disciplinary area. Prieberg
of particular value (Davies 1963a); (b) they are large- situates electronic music in the broader context of the
scale books, or extended articles rather than shorter relationship between man and machine, and makes
pieces, and; (c) they focus entirely on electronic music, occasional references to work in other disciplines,
rather than mentioning it only as a small part of a wider such as the cybernetic sound sculptures of Nicholas
discussion. Schffer. There is a section entitled Inuences of Jazz:
Schaeffer (1952) and Eimert and Stockhausen (1955) reference to another musical discipline. In terms of
provide primary accounts of two of the original dis- geographic coverage, there are separate sections on
ciplines that fed the nascent idiom of electronic music: electronic music in Milan, Warsaw and Rome,
musique concrte and elektronische Musik. There is Cologne, Darmstadt, Holland and Belgium, New York
a certain amount of debate, in each of these texts, and Baden Baden, as well as sections on electronic
around the sometimes conicting artistic ideals music in Israel and Japan, two areas that are not refer-
underlying these two schools of thought, but no sig- red to in any of the other literature under discussion
nicant reference to anything outside that essentially (Prieberg 1960). (However, Israel and Japan have only
French-versus-German debate. two pages dedicated to them, compared to nineteen
Le Caines text provides a mainly North American pages dedicated to electronic music in Cologne and
perspective on how, technically speaking, to produce Darmstadt.) In terms of Daviess own style of doc-
complex timbres on the electronic equipment available umentation, Priebergs book appears to have been quite
at the time (Le Caine 1956). Le Caine was based in inuential. Davies referred to it as the most useful book
Ottawa, Canada, where alongside a day job as an yet issued, unfortunately not yet translated into
atomic physicist he designed and built electronic English (Davies 1964b: 207). (Priebergs book remains
musical instruments. In his 1956 article Le Caine untranslated into English, although an Italian trans-
describes some of his own instruments, as well as other lation was published a few years after the original
work carried out in Canada and United States. He also German text (Prieberg 1963).)
describes the instruments used at the musique concrte Judds Electronic Music and Musique Concrete [sic]
and elektronische Musik studios in Paris and Cologne, (Judd 1961) is aimed at the amateur electronics
so that the international perspective is slightly wider enthusiast, which could be regarded as yet another
than the US and Canada alone. There is a short section disciplinary fragment of the electronic music mosaic. It
on animated sound the production of sound by includes technical and practical information about
drawing wave shapes directly on to optical cinema lm circuit building and tape editing techniques, and
and so, to some limited extent, interdisciplinarity beyond only very briey mentions some of the better-known
the immediate eld of electronic and concrete music is at composers using those techniques. Judds book was
least alluded to if not explicitly addressed. criticised by Davies on the grounds that
Hiller and Isaacson focus upon new American
developments in computer-assisted composition that Little is said about the actual music Where actual
is, the use of a computer not for actual sound produc- compositions are discussed the author shows little
knowledge of what is being done elsewhere, and of the
tion, but to generate a musical score algorithmically,
aims of composition of any kind. In particular, the third
which is then performed by humans on acoustic appendix, which contains a wealth of references to be
musical instruments (Hiller and Isaacson 1959). followed up, includes inaccurate information. (Davies
They use the term computer music to refer to this. 1964b: 207)
Hiller and Isaacsons book includes a chapter on
other experimental music techniques that were being The text entitled Rpertoire international des musiques
developed at the time, including musique concrte, exprimentales (RIME) was a publication made by
elektronische Musik and American experiments in the research ofce of the French national radio
tape music by John Cage and others. They also briey and television company RTF (ORTF 1962). It was
mention the RAI studio in Milan. Hiller and Isaacson conceived as a directory of information on existing
state that, although related, their own work has no electronic music studios and their equipment and
direct precedent in any of these other activities. It is, compositions, designed to facilitate the exchange of
if you like, yet another disciplinary branch of the information between studios and practitioners world-
electronic music phenomenon. wide. It represented twenty electronic music studios
Priebergs Musica ex Machina: ber das Verhltnis in fteen countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
von Musik und Technik appears to be the most diverse Germany, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the
of the sources Davies consulted in terms of the breadth Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland
of its international and disciplinary coverage. It is also and the US). RIME was criticised by Davies for its
the only substantial secondary source whose main incompleteness, and the somewhat haphazard way in
purpose is to summarise and interpret previous work which it was put together. The choice of which studios
in the eld rather than focusing solely on recent to include, for example, was essentially arbitrary,
114 James Mooney

Table 2. Daviess published and unpublished writings referred to in this paper

1. Hugh Davies, A Survey of Electronic Music (London: Westminster School, unpublished essay, 1961)
2. Hugh Davies, New Directions in Music, The New University 12 (1963): 817
3. Hugh Davies, Electronic Music and Musique Concrte: An Historical Survey (Oxford University, unpublished
undergraduate thesis, 1963)
4. Hugh Davies, A Discography of Electronic Music and Musique Concrte, Recorded Sound: The Journal of the British
Institute of Recorded Sound 14 (1964): 20524
5. Hugh Davies, A Discography of Electronic Music and Musique Concrte: Supplement, Recorded Sound: The Journal of
the British Institute of Recorded Sound 2223 (1966): 6978
6. Hugh Davies, Rpertoire international des musiques lectroacoustiques / International Electronic Music Catalog (Paris and
Trumansburg, NY: Groupe de Recherches Musicales de lORTF and Independent Electronic Music Center, Inc., 1968)

based on those studios that the compilers already suggestions of travel in that direction, particularly in
knew about and asked to participate. There was Prieberg and RIME).
no attempt at comprehensiveness. Such criticisms were
rather diplomatically alluded to in the preface to
3. DAVIESS WRITINGS
Daviess Catalog (Davies 1968: iiiiv), but more
directly addressed in Daviess unpublished under- Hugh Daviess electronic music research began in
graduate thesis: 1961, while he was still a pupil at Londons Westmin-
ster School, with a brief, two-page essay entitled
The most detailed list of compositions [to date] is given in A Survey of Electronic Music (Davies 1961). In 1963
Rpertoire International des Musiques Exprimentales, he published an article, New Directions in Music, in
which unfortunately contains a considerable number the journal The New University (Davies 1963b),
of inaccurate details, and wrong dates, compositions which was soon followed by his undergraduate dis-
omitted altogether, and other details. This is partly due to
sertation (Davies was, by this time, a music student
its method of compilation: detailed questionnaire
at Worcester College, Oxford), a 30,000-word study
[sic] were sent out to studios (six studios are, for some
unaccountable reason, omitted), which must in some entitled Electronic Music and Musique Concrte:
cases have been answered in a completely different An Historical Survey (Davies 1963a). In 1964 Daviess
arrangement of details from that in which they were Discography of Electronic Music and Musique
nally printed; thus thirteen of the twenty-ve composi- Concrte (Davies 1964b), commissioned two years
tions listed from the Cologne studio are wrongly dated, earlier by the British Institute of Recorded Sound, was
some by as much as three years, and at least four published, with a supplement appearing two years later
works composed within the period covered are not listed (Davies 1966). From 1964 to 1966 Davies worked
at all [Furthermore] many [works from all over the as personal assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen. As
world] were not composed in ofcial studios, and thus a consequence there was something of a gap in his
do not come under the scope of the RTF pamphlet.
publications record during those years, although he did
(Davies 1963a)
continue to write, and in fact began work on his Catalog
Thus, although RIME evidenced the beginnings towards the end of that period. The latter part of 1966,
of attempts around this time to think of electronic and most of 1967, was spent compiling the Catalog,
music as an international phenomenon, the picture it which was published in April 1968. Table 2 provides a
presented as amply noted by Davies was patchy summary of Daviess own writings that are referred
and incomplete. to in this article. This is not an exhaustive list of
What is apparent in the published literature on Daviess written output during the period in question,
electronic music that Davies consulted, then, is a but represents a more than adequate sample for
certain disciplinary and geographic fragmentation: present purposes.
musique concrte and elektronische Musik in Europe;
instrument-building, computer music and tape music
4. DEFRAGMENTATION
in North America; and some passing reference across
the body of literature as a whole to an even wider In his writings from this period Davies identied the
interdisciplinary eld that includes (inter alia) cross- need to think of electronic music holistically. He spe-
over with practical electronics and sculpture as well as cically drew attention to its currently fragmented
other musical traditions such as jazz and popular state by pointing to the range of different terminologies
music. What is not apparent is any single publication used in different parts of the world, referencing
that fully represents the international and inter- elektronische Musik in Germany, musique concrte
disciplinary scope of electronic music as Davies would and musique sur bande in France, and musica su nastro
go on to document it (although there are some in Italy, as well the use of terms such as music for
 Hugh Daviess Electronic Music Documentation 19611968 115

tape-recorder by John Cage and organized sound essay Davies indicated the existence of studios in var-
by Edgard Varse. This proliferation of different ious different countries throughout the world, in
names for what is basically the same kind of music, addition to those at Paris and Cologne, noting studios
he observed, shows that a considerable number of in Belgium, Canada, England, Holland, Israel, Italy,
composers in different countries are all trying to nd Japan and Poland. From the outset, then, there was a
a workable idiom (Davies 1963b: 11). In his under- conspicuous attempt, in Daviess electronic music
graduate thesis he suggested that a general word is documentation, to adopt a broad international per-
needed to describe the whole medium collectively spective that was largely absent from preceding
(Davies 1963a: 27). In doing so Davies sought to publications.
rationalise and consolidate apparently related, yet as What emerged in Daviess subsequent writings was a
far as one might understand from the preceding clear tendency to organise and classify material
literature largely discrete praxes. by nation. In the introduction to his Discography
Daviess project was, then, a defragmentation Davies chronicled the establishment of electronic
exercise of sorts.1 However, it is important to note that, music studios around the world in (consecutively) the
for Davies, the process of defragmentation was not the USA, Canada, Japan, Holland, Italy and Switzerland,
same thing as a process of homogenisation. He did not Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, Iceland, Israel,
believe that one single genus of electronic music ought Norway, Poland and Sweden (Davies 1964b: 2067).
to be propagated the world over. On the contrary as In his article New Directions in Music he charted
ought to become obvious in the following discussions developments in avant-garde music in different parts of
about international and interdisciplinary exchange the world including England, Italy, Japan, Poland, the
the very development of the electronic idiom at this USA and Yugoslavia, while in his undergraduate
point in time in fact depended, as far as Davies was thesis he systematically surveyed activities in twenty
concerned, on there being a variegated range of dis- different countries: Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia,
tinct praxes. Daviess main concern was that this range Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany,
of distinct praxes should be conceived of holistically Holland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland,
rather than as a series of disparate fragments. Russia, Spain, Sweden, the USA and Yugoslavia.
Within these lists of countries there will be noted
an abundance of nations outside of those Western
5. CLASSIFICATION BY NATION European and North American countries that tended
Daviess writings evidenced consistent attempts to con- to dominate high-prole avant-garde music activities
ceive of electronic music as a truly global, international in the 1960s, including northern and eastern European
phenomenon. Although rudimentary at rst, such efforts nations (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway,
can be found even in Daviess earliest writings on the Sweden; Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia) as well
subject, dating from 1961, where Davies drew attention Middle- and Far-Eastern nations such as Israel and
to a large international group of composers attached Japan, and the then Soviet Russia. This emphasis on,
to the WDR studio in Cologne, and named those com- as it were, fringe nations corresponds with Daviess
posers specically along with their nationalities: participation, as a student, in what he described
as small-scale campaigning activities to promote
[Elektronische Musik] came into being at the studio of the the avant-garde musics of non-Western-European
Studio of the Cologne Radio Station Its directors are countries. In particular, Davies campaigned for the
Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Fritz Enkel
distribution, in the UK, of avant-garde music scores
(technical), and there is a large international group of
from Japan and Poland that were, as yet, unavailable
composers attached to it: Paul Gredinger, Giselher Klebe,
Gottfried Michael Koenig (Germany), Pierre Boulez (Davies 1964a). Daviess advocacy of the avant-garde
(France), Luigi Nono, Franco Evangelisti (Italy), Henri musics of under-represented nations provides further
Pousseur (Belgium), Cornelius Cardew (England), Ernst evidence that he took an active interest in challenging
Kenek (USA), Bo Nilsson (Sweden), Mauricio Kagel the hegemony of the Western European and North
(Argentina), and Gyrgy Ligeti (Hungary). (Davies 1961: 1; American nations as the dominant forces in avant-garde
my emphasis) and electronic musics. Daviess tendency to organise
and classify by nation in his documentation was not a
This might at rst seem like a trivial, even nave, essay-
mere organisational device, then, but rather a way of
writing strategy, but I suggest that it actually repre-
representing electronic music as a truly global praxis.
sented the beginnings of an attempt on Daviess part to
characterise electronic music as a far wider interna-
tional phenomenon than had ever been fully shown in 6. INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE AS
any single publication up to that point. In the same CATALYST
1
Thank you to Professor Simon Emmerson for providing this very Daviess documentation conveyed a vivid sense of
helpful metaphor. the maturation of the electronic idiom, from nave
116 James Mooney

Table 3. Some visits to electronic music studios by overseas composers mentioned by Davies in his undergraduate thesis

Visiting composer Nationality Year

WDR studio, Cologne, Germany

Franco Evangelisti Italy >1956
Mauricio Kagel Argentina >1956
Gyorgi Ligeti Hungary >1956
Bo Nilsson Sweden >1956
Cornelius Cardew England >1956
Philips Laboratory, Eindhoven, Holland
Edgard Varse France 1957
RTF/GRM studio, Paris, France
Iannis Xenakis Greece 1958
RAI studio, Milan, Italy
Andr Boucourechliev Bulgaria 1956
Henri Pousseur Belgium 1957
John Cage USA 1958
Bengt Hambraeus Sweden 1959
Andr Zumbach Switzerland 1959
Columbia University studio, New York, USA
Michiko Toyama Japan 1959
Blent Arel Turkey 1960
Mario Davidovsky Italy 1960
Halim El-Dabh Egypt 1960
Edgar Varse France 19601

experimentation towards a fully edged medium. Witold Lutosawski who performed a similarly
One of the most important drivers of this process of successful hybridisation of Western and traditional
maturation, Davies believed, was the exchange of Polish frameworks. Of Matsudaira, Davies wrote:
musical ideas aesthetics, languages, traditions
He had a Western training as well as a thorough
across international boundaries. Specically, he grounding in traditional Japanese music, and he has put
pointed to the developmental avenues opened up via both to good use in his recent music. The forms of many
the hybridisation, or cross-fertilisation, of already- of his works are based on traditional Japanese styles
developed international musical traditions. Davies felt like the Bugaku and Gagaku. The integration of the two
that if the time-honoured musical traditions of various cultures is well-achieved in his work, giving it a freshness
different parts of the world could be hybridised, this that is often lacking in European work of the same period.
would provide a range of highly developed aesthetic (Davies 1963b: 13)
avenues along which contemporary avant-garde music The message here is that true musical innovation comes
could develop. This was preferable, in Daviess view, not from the hasty invention of novel curiosities or
to abandoning tradition altogether and simply invent- gimcrack new musical languages, but from the artful
ing new musical languages, forms or syntaxes on the application of rareed techniques such as those found in
spot, as he criticised some composers of the European time-honoured musical traditions. One way in which
and American avant-garde of doing. Such on-the-spot this essentially conservative view could be reconciled
inventions he referred to as parlour games (Davies with ultimately forward-looking agenda of the avant-
1963b: 9). Daviess belief in the catalytic power of garde was via the process of hybridisation, as espoused
international exchange provides a further rationale for by Davies in a stance on musical innovation that was a
his tendency to organise and classify by nation: one curious blend of traditionalist and progressive. Davies
cannot draw attention to exchange across boundaries emphasised the role of internationalisation as a potent
without rst drawing attention to the boundaries source of musical innovation, both for avant-garde
themselves. music generally and for the edgling idiom of electronic
For Davies, international exchange provided a music in particular, and it was this belief in the catalytic
deeper gene-pool of highly developed local traditions power of international exchange I suggest that
that could be drawn upon. Examples given by provided a signicant part of his motivation for think-
Davies included the Japanese composer Yoritsune ing of electronic music globally.2
Matsudaira who, to Daviess mind, successfully
combined elements of Western avant-garde and tradi- 2
As mentioned, Hugh Davies acted as personal assistant to Karl-
tional Japanese musics and the Polish composer heinz Stockhausen from 1964 to 1966. Towards the end of that
 Hugh Daviess Electronic Music Documentation 19611968 117

7. VISITS TO ELECTRONIC MUSIC STUDIOS In 1959 Bengt Hambraeus created Konstellationer II at

BY OVERSEAS COMPOSERS Milan. His previous electronic works were Doppelrohr II,
composed at Cologne in 1955, and some background
Daviess belief in progress via internationalisation music for radio programmes created at the Stockholm
provides a context in which we can interpret his doc- radio station Another visitor to Milan in 1959 had also
umentation in his undergraduate thesis of visits to had previous experience in tape music, the Swiss compo-
electronic music studios by composers from overseas. ser Andr Zumbach Until 1960 all the guest composers
In light of his preoccupation with international at Milan were from other countries, with the exception of
exchange this can be interpreted as an attempt to Mario Migliardi (Davies 1963a: 3842)
highlight the catalytic inuence that such visits had Composers nationalities were conspicuously and fre-
upon the development and maturation of the electronic quently mentioned, and in some cases other studios
idiom in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davies they visited were also named. The process of interna-
specically mentioned visits by non-native composers tional exchange was thus foregrounded, all the more so
to among others the WDR studio in Cologne, the with Daviess explicit observation that with only one
Philips Laboratory in Eindhoven, the RTF/GRM exception, which I will return to shortly all the guest
studio in Paris, the RAI studio in Milan and the composers were from other countries.
Columbia University studio in New York (Davies Similarly, after a quite lengthy discussion of
1963a: 33, 403, 51, 6970). Some of the visits docu- (mainly) non-native visitors to Le Club dEssai in
mented by Davies are summarised in Table 3. Paris, Davies made the following observations:
Davies mentioned these international visits, I claim,
not only as a matter of interest, but as a way of sug- 1958 marks the beginning of a reorganisation of Le Club
gesting that the visits themselves played a catalytic dEssai. The ofcial name of the studio, and all connected
work, was changed to Le Groupe de Recherches Musi-
role in the maturation and aesthetic diversication of
cales de la RTF in 1957, from Le Groupe de Recherches
the electronic medium in its formative years. This is
de Musique Concrte, originally applied in 1951. This is
not so much explicitly stated as implied in the text of indicative of the changing attitudes to composition The
Daviess dissertation. For instance, of the RAI (Milan) scope of the studio was widened with works by a number
studio Davies made the following comments. Note of new composers, [including] Mavena by the Yugosla-
how observations about the studios typical composi- vian Ivo Malec and Diamorphoses and Concret PH by
tional style are immediately followed by a discussion of Yannis Xenakis [sic] from Greece. Diamorphoses is a
non-native composers, implying an inuence of the good example of the new type of musique concrte that
one upon the other: was now being produced. While still based on concrete
sounds recorded through a microphone, the treatment of
The most prominent European studio to be set up since them renders them unrecognisable: the resulting sounds
those in Paris and Cologne is that in Milan. Since the are the kind of abstract sounds that were also coming to
pointillistic trend of the rst works by Berio and Maderna be used in [elektronische Musik]. (Davies 1963a: 22)
the studio has seen the creation of works with clear and
simple formal construction (this has been comparatively Thus, as a further example of the catalytic effects
rare in the history of tape music) and considerable lyrical of international visits, Davies pointed to the fusing of
feeling. The rst visitor to this studio was Andr the erstwhile parochialised disciplines of musique
Boucourechliev, who later visited Le Club dEssai In concrte and elektronische Musik into a hybrid form
1957 the Belgian composer Henri Pousseur created that incorporated aspects of both, citing Xenakiss
Scambi I and II, indeterminately arranged elements Diamorphoses as an example. He noted a similar
of xed material, which can be realised into a piece
trend at the WDR studio in Cologne, where develop-
in a similar way to a performance of Stockhausens
Klavierstck XI. The next visitor to Milan was Marc
ments, he suggested, went from [one] extreme of the
Wilkinson, the rst English composer to compose a piece possibilities opened up by tape music towards a more
in a properly equipped studio In [1958] John Cage general, centralised [path] (Davies 1963a: 29). In my
created the four tapes of Fontana Mix, which, like interpretation, Davies believed that this centralisa-
Scambi, consist of material to be organised into a piece tion was due, in no small part, to the diversication in
aesthetics and techniques brought about by interna-
(F'note continued) tional exchange.
period Stockhausen completed his electronic music work Telemusik,
consisting of recordings of various traditional world musics that were
transformed and hybridised using electronic techniques. Telemusik
was completed in 1966, whereas Davies wrote about these sorts of 8. INTERDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGE AS
ideas some three years earlier, before he ever met or contacted CATALYST
Stockhausen. One might speculate, then, that the idea behind
Stockhasuens Telemusik may have originated in a conversation with There is also evidence to suggest that Davies viewed
Davies about the transformative potential of international exchange interdisciplinary exchange as a catalyst for the
as a potent mediator of aesthetic innovation in contemporary avant-
garde music. However, conclusive evidence that such a conversation maturation and diversication of electronic music,
ever took place has yet to materialise. although the extent to which this was systematically
118 James Mooney

explored in his earlier writings was somewhat more Daviess decision to organise the Catalog by country
limited than was the case with international exchange. was not a mere organisational device, but a reection
Nonetheless, if we accept that distinct musical domains of his belief in the importance of international
such as popular music and jazz or elektronische exchange as a mediator of musical innovation. Here
Musik and musique concrte, for that matter might are some reasons for suggesting that. First, the simple
be considered separate disciplines, then it will be fact that the Catalog is organised by country straight
seen that a tendency to highlight interdisciplinary away implies that Davies considered national bound-
hybridisations was apparent in Daviess writing. aries to be a signicant factor in electronic music.
Davies noted, for example, that Andr Hodeir was It seems to lend itself to the idea that each country
well-known in the eld of jazz, perhaps better-known might represent a distinct electronic music culture, or
in the jazz world than in the avant-garde one (Davies electronic music style. Whether or not this is true, it
1963a: 7). In this case interdisciplinarity was clearly seems in line with Daviess preoccupation with inter-
highlighted through allusion to the meeting of national cross-fertilisation as a potent force in avant-
(ostensibly separate) jazz and avant-garde worlds. garde music. Second, the fact that the Catalog was
(Hodeir composed Jazz et Jazz, for piano and tape, at alphabetically organised meant that it represented all
the RTF studio in Paris in 19512.) Similarly, Davies nations as equals, or at least attempted to. Unlike
made mention of the fact that Dieter Schnbach has many other texts on the history of electronic music, the
composed lm music which combines elements of Catalog did not afford privileged status to Germany,
[elektronische Musik], musique concrte and jazz France and the USA, but rather represented those
(Davies 1963a: 58). Once again, the fusion of erstwhile nations as equals alongside less canonised ones. This is
separate musical disciplines was highlighted as a in line with Daviess campaign to place non-canonical
salient characteristic. avant-garde musics on an equal footing with those
Perhaps the most illustrative example, however, of the EuropeanAmerican mainstream. Finally,
concerned the visit of the Italian composer Mario it should be taken into account that organising the
Migliardi to the RAI studio in Milan. Davies noted Catalog by country was not the easiest of all possible
that until 1960, all the guest composers at Milan were options, and in fact presented quite considerable dif-
from other countries, with the exception of Mario culties during the compilation process, not least in the
Migliardi, who in 1958 began experimenting with the frequent cases where a composer began work on a
synthesis of electronic music with popular music and piece in one studio and completed it in another. In the
jazz (Davies 1963a: 44). The signicance, here, rests early stages of compiling the Catalog it was put to
in the fact that Davies presented Migliardi not as a Davies that it would be much easier to arrange the
visiting composer from a foreign country, but as Catalog by composer. Davies conceded that this would
a composer bringing inuences from two foreign indeed be easier, but counter-argued that organisation
disciplines: popular music and jazz. In other words, he by composer doesnt give so clear a picture as
framed the inuence of outside disciplines in the same organising by country (Weidenaar 1966).3 This further
way that he framed the inuence of overseas visitors: as supports the interpretation that Davies wanted a clear
the mediators of a richer idiom. picture of electronic music activity in different geo-
graphic areas and was willing to pursue that particular
approach even though it was not the easiest possible
9. INTERPRETING DAVIESS
option. He chose geographic organisation because it
INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC MUSIC
tted his agenda of international exchange.
CATALOG
The extent to which the catalytic effects of inter-
Daviess preoccupation with international and inter- disciplinary exchange were systematically explored in
disciplinary exchange as the arbiters of a fully mature Daviess early writings was somewhat limited, but this is
electronic music idiom provides a context for under- taken further in the Catalog, in which several appendices
standing his International Electronic Music Catalog. were provided that drew attention to the use of electronic
The Catalog is a book of 330 pages listing ostensibly music techniques in disciplines outside the immediate
every piece of electronic music produced anywhere sphere of electronic music. These are listed in Table 4.
in the world up to the end of 1966 (and some from These appendices drew attention to disciplinary bound-
January to April 1967). It was arranged alphabetically aries not as a way of suggesting entirely separate,
by country, and, within each country, individual impermeable domains, but on the contrary as a way
electronic music studios were listed alphabetically by of foregrounding the many instances of bi-directional
city. Under each studio, there followed a list of all the exchange across those boundaries.
electronic music compositions realised there. A
detailed description of the Catalog and its features is
3
In a letter, dated 5 October 1966, Weidenaar suggests that it would
be much simpler to list works by names of composers. In the margin,
unnecessary for present purposes, but can be found Davies has written easier (!) but doesnt give so clear a picture. Cross
elsewhere (Mooney 2013). refs. either way.
 Hugh Daviess Electronic Music Documentation 19611968 119

Table 4. Countries represented in Daviess Catalog, and titles of the appendices that are relevant to the discussion in this paper.
These provide a convenient representation of the international and interdisciplinary scope of the Catalog.

Countries Appendices

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Jazz

Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, German Democratic Painting
Republic, German Federal Republic, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Poetry
Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Popular music
Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Precursors (includes disc techniques,
Switzerland, Turkey, USSR, UK, USA, Venezuela, Yugoslavia mechanical instruments and drawn sound)
Sculpture
Synthesisers (also includes computers)

There is evidence to support this interpretation in the open questions but, rather, asked about particular
way that these appendices were structured. The Jazz things and implicitly excluded others. For example,
appendix, for instance, included a separate list that he asked studio managers to provide information on
identied which of the composers listed in it specialised the use of electronic music techniques in painting
in jazz: and sculpture but did not ask about the use of such
techniques in conjunction with, say, dance. How might
Of the above composers, the following specialize in jazz:
Dissevelt, Hodeir, James, Migliardi, Russo, Sheff, Smith. the picture painted by the Catalog have been different,
(Davies 1968: 289) one wonders, had Davies asked different questions in
the rubric he sent to studio managers? Similarly,
Implicit in this statement is the suggestion that the Davies asked studio managers to classify electronic
other composers listed in this appendix Ahlstrom, music works according to his own predetermined
Ashley, Byrd, Deutsch, Eaton, Greussay, Kaegi, system of functional classications (concert works,
Mumma, Parmegiani and Trythall did not specialise operas, etc.). Studio managers were not allowed to
in jazz. Group 1, Dissevelt et al., was thus identied as invent their own classications, and there is some evi-
belonging to the discipline of jazz, whereas Group 2, dence to suggest that this might have compromised the
Ahlstrom et al., was identied as not belonging to that nal representation somewhat, particularly in relation
discipline, instead belonging natively to the discipline to musical cultures whose ontologies and paradigms
of avant-garde electronic music. In effect, different were at odds with the essentially Western perspective
classications were allocated to, on the one hand, the adopted by Davies in his classications. The general
composers in group 1, who have a background in jazz point here is that, although Daviess representation of
and have gone on to make use of electronic techniques electronic music did much to challenge the hegemony of
as electronic music immigrants, and, on the other, the the dominant Western European and North American
composers in group 2, who are native electronic schools, it inevitably introduced its own biases.
music composers who have dabbled in jazz. The Nonetheless, Daviess Catalog arguably remains to
boundary between disciplines jazz, electronic music this day the most complete record of international,
was established in order to demonstrate the reciprocal interdisciplinary electronic music activity up to the
exchange of techniques and inuences across it. end of 1967. In the 1990s the Catalog was used as the
Similar organisational strategies were employed in basis of a new project Internationale Dokumentation
the other appendices. These represent, I suggest, an Elektroakustischer Musik (EMDoku) (Hein 1999)
attempt on Daviess part to illustrate the spread of which has since been identied by Teruggi as the clo-
electronic music beyond its native territory, and sest thing in existence to a complete inventory of all
conversely the reciprocal inuence of outside dis- electronic music (Teruggi 2004). It is not surprising,
ciplines upon the traditionally avant-garde domain of then, that many subsequent publications on electronic
electronic music. music history have referenced the Catalog. An initial,
non-exhaustive, survey has identied some fty-eight
different texts (mainly books, book chapters and
10. CONCLUSION
journal articles) published between 1968 and 2014,
Daviess representation of electronic music as an whose arguments are substantiated with data drawn
international, interdisciplinary phenomenon was not from the Catalog. These include two prominent text-
perfect. Like any other epistemological construction, books that cite the Catalog as the basis for some quite
it was contingent upon many essentially arbitrary general assertions about the nature of electronic music
factors. When Davies compiled the Catalog he sent a history. Manning, in Electronic and Computer Music,
questionnaire to studio managers. In it, he did not ask speaks of an exponential growth in electronic music
120 James Mooney

during the 1960s (Manning 2004: 4012). Similarly, techniques and aesthetics across national and discipli-
Thom Holmes, in Electronic and Experimental Music, nary boundaries provided diverse avenues along which
notes that the number of electronic music studios the idiom could develop, without recourse to the kinds
worldwide increased dramatically between 1948 of supercial novelty or incestuous self-referentiality
and 1966 (Holmes 2012: 154). In both cases, statistics that, he believed, would follow from continued
from the Catalog are provided as the evidence. Such developments within the geographic and disciplinary
examples point to the Catalogs totemic status as a connes of the dominant Western European and
unique record of historical activities in electronic North American traditions. In effect, Daviess Catalog
music. Landy, in an article on the musicology of mapped the territory of electronic music, for the rst
electroacoustic music, goes so far as to use a single time, as a truly international, interdisciplinary eld,
footnote reference to the Catalog as a general pointer and, in a sense, actually dened that eld.
to the entire history of [electroacoustic] music (and its
pre-history) (Landy 1999: 64).
Furthermore, the structure of the Catalog its sys- REFERENCES
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