Harald Bode was born in 1909 in Hamburg, Germany. At the age of 18 he lost his parents and started studying,[1] and graduated from the University of Hamburg in 1934.[2] In 1935, he began his pioneering work in the field of electronic musical instruments, and with funding support provided by Christian Warnke, his earliest work was completed in 1937.[1]
The Warbo Formant Organ (1937),[model 1][photo 1] an archetype of today's polyphonic synthesizer, was a four voice key-assignment keyboard with two formant filters and dynamic envelope controller. Eventually it went into commercial production by a factory in Dachau,[model 2] and it became one of the earliest polyphonic synthesizer products, along with Novachord (1939) by Hammond.
From 1950, Bode designed electronic organs for the Apparatewerk Bayern [de] (AWB) in Germany and the Estey Organ Company in the United States. In 1954, Bode immigrated to the United States as a chief engineer (later vice-president) of Estey Organ,[4] and resumed his research at several companies and as a contractor of German companies.
In 1959–1960, Bode developed a modular synthesizer and sound processor, and in 1961, he wrote a paper exploring the advantages of newly emerging transistor technology over older vacuum tube devices;[5][6][7] also he served as AES session chairman on music and electronic for the fall conventions in 1962 and 1964;[2] after then, his ideas were adopted by Robert Moog, Donald Buchla and others.
After retiring from the chief engineer of Bell Aerospace[4] in 1974, he composed TV-advertising spots and gave live concerts. Also in 1977, Bode was invited as a chief engineer of the Norlin/Moog Music[8] after Robert Moog left.
He died in New York in 1987.[2] Bode's influence upon electronic music has persisted long after his death, with a number of 21st century musicians referencing or sampling his work.
Warbo Formant Organ (1937) one of the first key-assignment polyphonic synthesizers with formant filters and dynamic envelope shaping, designed and built by Bode with the funding support provided by Christian Warnke. (Note: "Warbo" is acronym of Warnke-Bode)[model 1][photo 1][model 2]
Melochord (1947–1949) 37-key monophonic keyboard with dynamic envelope wave shaping, volume pedal controller, and transpose switches to cover seven octaves. Later a second keyboard was added to control the timbre.[model 2][model 3]
Tuttivox (1953, Jörgensen Elektronic), under license by Jörgensen Elektronic in Düsseldorf, apparently the only one of this type built (a portable electronic organ based on vacuum tube technology)[model 2][9][model 5][model 6]
But in the case of Karlheinz Stockhausen, a student of Meyer-Eppler at the University of Bonn in 1954–1956, his only use of the melochord was in a failed experiment with a ring modulator.[11] After this, he chose to disregard such instruments in favor of sine-wave generators, which he used in producing Studie I (1953) and Studie II (1954). This was also true for the two works by Karel Goeyvaerts produced there, and for Seismogramme (1954) by Henri Pousseur.[12][13][14]
^ abc"In Memoriam"(PDF), Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (JAES), 35 (9): 741, September 1987, retrieved 2007-07-18
^"The Monochord (1948)", 120 Years of Electronic Music, archived from the original on 2012-04-02 – Monochord, a modified Concert Trautonium, was commissioned from Dr. Friedrich Trautwein by the Studio for Electronic of WDR, Köln.
^ ab
Bode, Harald (1961), "European Electronic Music Instrument Design", Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, ix (1961): 267
^ abBode, Harald (Bode Sound Co.) (September 1984), "History of Electronic Sound Modification", Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (JAES), 32 (10): 730–739, archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-06-09, retrieved 2011-09-13 On the PDF version, draft typescript is available at the tail; also HTML version without draft is available in "here". 1984. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2021..
^
Morawska-Büngeler, Marietta, Schwingende Elektronen: Eine Dokumentation über das Studio für Elektronische Musik des Westdeutschen Rundfunks in Köln, 1951–1986, Cologne-Rodenkirchen: P. J. Tonger Musikverlag, 1988, p. 13
^
Kurtz, Michael (1992), Stockhausen: A Biography ((cloth) (pbk).), translated by Toop, Richard, London and Boston: Faber and Faber, p. 62, ISBN0-571-14323-7
^Stockhausen, Karlheinz (1964), "Komposition 1953 Nr. 2: Studie I, Analyse", in Dieter Schnebel (ed.), Texte 2, Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg, pp. 23–36, here p. 23
^
Stockhausen, Karlheinz (1971), "Elektronische Musik: Brief von Douglas M. Davis (Antwort: geschrieben am 13.IX.1970)", in Dieter Schnebel (ed.), Texte 3, Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg, pp. 341–347, here pp. 344–345
^Ekbert Faas, "Interview with Karlheinz Stockhausen Held August 11, 1976", Interface 6 (1977): pp. 187–204; reprinted in Feedback Papers 16 (August 1978): pp. 23–40. here p. 191 and p. 27, respectively.
^ ab
Rhea, Thomas L. (July 2011), "Harald Bode's Four-Voice Assignment Keyboard (1937)", EContact!, 13 (4) (reprint ed.), Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC); Originally published as Rhea, Tom, "Electronic Perspectives", Contemporary Keyboard (December 1979): 89
^Bode (6 octave) Clavioline (photograph). Clavioline.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-21. (photographs of Bode Clavioline and Bode Melochord with Harald Bode)