OSKAR SALA - PIONEER OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC

HISTORY OF OSKAR SALA

Its a long way from being a young pianist, who is forced to watch his teacher, Paul
Hindemith, being condemned and banished by the Nazis, to being a celebrated film composer for ALFRED HITCHCOCK´S "THE BIRDS".

OSKAR SALA, born in 1910 in Thuringia, studied composition under Paul Hindemith at the Berlin Academy of Music. He also became acquainted there with Dr. Friedrich Trautwein who was working on an electronic musical instrument called the Trautonium.

Nineteen-year-old OSKAR SALA was so fascinated by the project that he began studying with Trautwein and within a very short time gained sufficient knowledge to take over development of the prototype into a playable instrument. Hindemith had ordered three specimens, which were used for the first time in 1930 in the premiere performance of his Triostuecke fuer drei Trautonien.

Oskar Sala died at 27.2.2002 in Berlin

Oskar Sala - Links [ German ]

• http://www.trautonium.de/sala.htm
• http://www.deutsches-filminstitut.de/dt2nb35.htm
• Oskar Sala Nachruf

Foto: © Birgit Hoffmann / TIP