Herbert Brun
Encyclopedia
Herbert Brün was a composer
and pioneer of electronic
and computer music
. Born in Berlin
, Germany
, he taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
from 1962 until he retired, several years before his death.
.) He studied at Tanglewood
and Columbia University
from 1948 through 1950. His work as an electronic-music composer began in Paris
in the late 1950s, at the WDR studio in Cologne
, and at the Siemens studio in Munich
.
Joining the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1962, Brün began research on composition with computers, which resulted in pieces for tape and instruments, tape alone, and graphics. His compositions from this period include Futility 1964 (1964) and Non Sequitur VI (1966). His notable students include Stuart Saunders Smith
.
Brün began programming in FORTRAN
in the late 1960s as he pursued an interest in designing processes. This work resulted in Infraudibles (1968) and Mutatis Mutandis (1968). The work included the creation of graphical representations of computer-generated music.
In 1972, Brün created a new synthesis technique which generated new timbre
s by linking and merging tiny portions of waveforms. (Efforts along similar lines are described in the article Granular synthesis
.) From 1980 on, he toured and taught with the Performers' Workshop Ensemble, a group he founded.
Brün was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt
, and the Norbert Wiener
medal from the American Society for Cybernetics
in 1993. He helped found the School for Designing a Society in 1993 and taught there through the year 2000.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and pioneer of electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and computer music
Computer music
Computer music is a term that was originally used within academia to describe a field of study relating to the applications of computing technology in music composition; particularly that stemming from the Western art music tradition...
. Born in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, he taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
from 1962 until he retired, several years before his death.
Career
Brün left Germany in 1936 to study piano and composition at the Jerusalem Conservatory (later renamed Israel Academy of Music) in (then) PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
.) He studied at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
from 1948 through 1950. His work as an electronic-music composer began in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the late 1950s, at the WDR studio in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, and at the Siemens studio in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Joining the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1962, Brün began research on composition with computers, which resulted in pieces for tape and instruments, tape alone, and graphics. His compositions from this period include Futility 1964 (1964) and Non Sequitur VI (1966). His notable students include Stuart Saunders Smith
Stuart Saunders Smith
Stuart Saunders Smith is a notable and widely performed American composer, percussionist, and poet. He was born in Portland, Maine and grew up in Portland and central Maine, to a family that had originally come from central Maine.He studied with Edward Diemente at the Hartt School of Music...
.
Brün began programming in FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
in the late 1960s as he pursued an interest in designing processes. This work resulted in Infraudibles (1968) and Mutatis Mutandis (1968). The work included the creation of graphical representations of computer-generated music.
In 1972, Brün created a new synthesis technique which generated new timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
s by linking and merging tiny portions of waveforms. (Efforts along similar lines are described in the article Granular synthesis
Granular synthesis
Granular synthesis is a basic sound synthesis method that operates on the microsound time scale.It is based on the same principle as sampling. However, the samples are not played back conventionally, but are instead split into small pieces of around 1 to 50ms. These small pieces are called grains...
.) From 1980 on, he toured and taught with the Performers' Workshop Ensemble, a group he founded.
Brün was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt
University of Frankfurt
University of Frankfurt may refer to:*Goethe University Frankfurt, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany*Viadrina European University, in Frankfurt , Germany...
, and the Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
medal from the American Society for Cybernetics
American Society for Cybernetics
The American Society for Cybernetics is an American non-profit scholastic organization for organization for the advancement of cybernetics as a science and the interdisciplinary collaboration and synthesis of cybernetics. The society contributes to the cooperation around the research and...
in 1993. He helped found the School for Designing a Society in 1993 and taught there through the year 2000.
Selected works
- Five Pieces for piano, Op.1 (1940-45)
- Sonatina for viola alone, Op.12 (1950)
- String Quartet No.2 (1957)
- Anepigraphe (1958) (tape alone)
- Klange unterwegs ('Wayfaring Sounds') (1962) (tape alone)
- Trio (1964)
- Futility 1964 (tape alone)
- Sonoriferous Loops (1964) (chamber ensemble and tape)
- Infraudibles (1968/1984) (optional chamber ensemble and tape)
- Piece of Prose (1972) (tape alone)
- Dust (1976) (SAWDUST No. 1) (tape alone)
- More Dust (1977) (SAWDUST No. 2) (optional percussion and tape)
- Dustiny (1978) (SAWDUST No. 3) (tape alone)
- A Mere Ripple (1979) (SAWDUST No. 4) (tape alone)
- U-TURN-TO (1980) (SAWDUST No. 5) (tape alone)
- I toLD YOU so! (1981) (SAWDUST No. 6) (tape alone)
- Sentences Now Open Wide (SNOW) (1984)
- on stilts among ducks (1996) (viola and tape)
Publications
- Brün, Herbert. Über Musik und zum Computer. Karlsruhe: G. Braun, 1971. Accompanied by a 10-inch LP recording.
- Computer-generated graphics. Computer Music JournalComputer Music JournalComputer Music Journal is an American academic journal that covers a wide range of topics related to digital audio signal processing and electroacoustic music. It is published on-line and in hard copy by MIT Press. The magazine is accompanied by an annual CD/DVD that collects audio and video work...
, Vol. 5, No. 2, summer, 1981. - Brün, Herbert. My Words and Where I Want Them. Champaign, IL ; London: Princelet Editions, 1990. ISBN 0-86298-028-3
- Brün, Herbert. Irresistible Observations, edited by Mark Enslin, Susan Parenti, Andrew Trull. Champaign, IL: Non Sequitur Press. ISBN 0966244869
- Brün, Herbert. Sighs in Disguise, edited by Mark Enslin, Susan Parenti, Andrew Trull. Champaign, IL: Non Sequitur Press. ISBN 0966244850
- Brün, Herbert. When Music Resists Meaning: The Major Writings of Herbert Brün, edited by Arun Chandra. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8195-6669-1 (cloth) ISBN 0-8195-6670-5 (pbk.)