Intuitive Music

Oskar Sala

Born in Greiz, Germany in 1910, Oskar Sala was one of the very first people to begin experimenting and inventing electronic sounds.

Oskar Sala studied piano and organ during his youth and as a teenarger started performing classical piano concerts. In 1929, he moved to Berlin where he studied piano and composition with the composer and violinist Paul Hindemith. During this period he knew about the experiments of Dr. Friedrich Trautwein at the school’s laboratory in the invention of the pioneer electronic instrument, the Trautonium.

Oskar Sala learned how to master the Trautonium and on 20th June 1930 he took part along with Paul Hindemith in a public performance to introduce the instrument at the “Neue Musik Berlin 1930″ at the Berliner Musikhochschule Hall. Later, Sala started a tour around Germany to introduce the new instrument. In 1931, Hindemith wrote Concert for Trautonium with String Quartet which Oskar Sala performed live as a soloist.

Between 1932 and 1935, Oskar Sala studied physics at the University of Berlin with the aim of getting ready for the world of electronic instruments invention. During this period he helped in the developing of the Volkstrautonium, a popular Trautonium produced by Telefunken. During the period of Nazism in Germany the Trautwein’s laboratory was closed and the electric musi was banned. Trautwein got to have an audience with the Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, where Oskar Sala performed classical pieces, getting the aproval of the Reich to carry on with their investigations. During the war, Sala took charge of the design and development of the new Trautonium, building the Radio-Trautonium in 1935, and three years later the Konzerttrautonium, a portable model for live performances.

In 1944, Oskar Sala was drafted to the war in the East Front were he was injured, staying convalescent most of the campaign. In 1946 and coinciding with the end of the war, Sala got back to his laboratory in Berlin. In 1948, he started working in his definitive instrument, the Mixturtrautonium, which was presented in 1952. Based in the same technology than the Thyratron valb, the Mixturtrautonium featured subarmonic tones, an electronic metronom, one oscillator, a white noise generator, and a drum machine.

Oskar Sala

During the 50’s, Oskar Sala also built a large scale version of the instrument, the Quartett-Trautonium, which explode in it’s first connection. He was also in touch with the most important electronic laboratories in Europe: the WDR in Cologne and the Siemens Studio in Munich. In 1958, Oskar Sala established his own studio at the film company Mars Film in Berlin and started working in the production of electronic soundtracks such as Veit Harlan’s “Das Dritte Geschlecht” (1957), Rolf Thiele’s “Das Madchen Rosemarie” (1959), and Fritz Lang’s “Das Indische Grabmal ” (1959). In 1961, Oskar Sala travelled to New York to create the sound of the birds for the classic Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”. Two years later he was awarded with the Best Music Award at the Industrial Film Festival in Berlin for the soundtrack of “Der Facher “.

In 1987, Oskar Sala was honored with the Filmband in Gold for his soundtrack work after having worked for more than 400 movies and in 1991 he was honoured with the Merit Cross for a lifetime dedicated to music. During the 80’s Sala was commited tu build a modern version of the Mixturtrautonium using microprocesors and the new digital instrument was presented in 1987.

One of the electronic musicians who was most influenced by Oskar Sala’s work was Pete Namlook, whom developed a MIDI generator of sub-harmonic tones with his help after eight years of investigation. In 1995, Namlook re-issued on his Fax label a limited edition of Oskar Sala albums “My Fascinating Instrument ” and “Subharmonische Mixturen”. Sala also introduced the Trautonium in the late 60’s to the bands Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. In 2000, a documental called “Oskar Sala, the Old Future of the Sound” was produced on his biography. Oscar Sala died on 26 February 2002 in Berlin at the age of 91.