Institute of Sonology (1959-69)

Instituut voor sonologie, a short history

The Institute of Sonology was founded on September 1, 1960, at the instigation of several people representing cultural institutions who had already taken initiatives in the field of electroacoustic music since 1954. A large complex of studios (initially under the name STEM = STudio voor Electronische Muziek) was set up under the patronage of Utrecht university in an old house on Plompetorengracht in Utrecht; and the instruments and tapes (among them, that of Varèse’s ‘Electronic Poem’) of Philips laboratories’ former studios in Eindhoven were handed over to STEM. The composer Dick Raijmakers (who had already worked in the Philips studios) attempted to elaborate a program of musical education and production. STEM had no doctrine of ‘style’ or composition at its inception. It welcomed all sorts of composers – Tom Dissevelt, Jan Boerman, Peter Schat, Will Eisma and Henk Badings (who was director from 1962 to 1964), as well as painter Karel Appel. In 1964 Gottfried Michael Koenig was named STEM’s artistic director. (Koenig had played a key role in Cologne’s famous radio station WDR, contributing to the concept of an electronic music based on the principles of serialism.) Koenig tried to incorporate Cologne’s aesthetic and technical principles into STEM activities, while conserving its liberal spirit. During the sixties, we see the internationalisation of STEM: composers from totally different horizons congregate there, including Makoto Shinohara, Mauricio Kagel, Christobal Halffter, José Luis de Delas, Konrad Boehmer, Milan Stibilj, Milko Kelemen, Jan Vriend and Jos Kunst. On October 18, 1967, STEM was rechristened the Instituut voor Sonologie, underlining the institution’s emphasis on theory and research. Towards the end of the sixties, Dutch composers began withdrawing from the Institute to set up their own private studios. In 1968, a second studio was founded on the basis of a contra-ideology clearly alluded to in its name STElM (STudio voor Plectro Instrumentale Muziek = studio for electro instrumental music).

In 1966 Dick Raaijmakers and Jan Boerman had already founded a didactic studio at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In 1971, the Institute of Sonology introduced its first computer (the Digital Equipment Corporation’s PDP-15), focusing more and more on computer music as well as on computer-aided synthesizers. Koenig and mathematician Stan Tempeluars were behind this initiative. Scientific collaborators included Paul Berg (as of 1973) and Werner Kaegi (from 1974 to 1986). Around 1984, the University of Utrecht decided, for budgetary reasons, to close the Institute and transfer it to another institution. As of 1986, the Institute of Sonology is an integral part of Royal Conservatory of The Hague. This was also the year that G.M. Koenig retired, and the direction was thus assumed by Stan Tempelaars until 1994, (his successor being Konrad Boehmer). Thanks to its integration into the Royal Conservatory, the Institute of Sonology was able to develop a significant educational program. Students pursing the full four-year course can specialize in one of three areas: composition, ‘performance’ and research. Alongside this program, the Institute has set up a one-year international course, directed principally at students and young musicians from around the world who wish to deepen their overall knowledge of electroacoustic, digital and computer music, etc. Since January 1993 – after two years of reconstruction – the institute has 7 new studios, among which the ‘analogue’ studio, which had already existed in Utrecht. The teaching staff now includes l4 professors. The archives hold some 700 taped works. The Institute of Sonology is partnered with Karlsruhe’s Institut fur Kunst und Medientechnologie (IDEAMA). It maintains close and friendly relations with IRCAM, INA.GRM, and la MUSE en CIRCUIT, as well as with many other studios in Europe, North America and Latin America. For some time now the Institute of Sonology has taken part in various international electroacoustic music festivals, including the ‘Festival NIJ’ (Antwerp), Amsterdam’s ‘Sonic Acts’ festival, the ‘Tolvutonlistarhâtldin’ festival (Reykjavik/Kopavagur) and the ‘Terza Prattica’ festival (Amsterdam).

by Konrad Boehmer

From Philips pavilion to Institute of Sonology

To begin with, the Philips pavilion, today a legendary acoustical and architectural construction (Le Corbusier / Xenakis / Varèse), set up in Brussels for a few months for the 1958 World’s Fair. Konrad Boehmer explains somewhere the combination of forces that would found what was to become the INSTITUTE OF SONOLOGY.

Guy Marc Hinant : You were as teenager at the World’s Fair….

Konrad Boehmer : The psychic experience I had while visiting the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels with my family. I was still a child. We spread out and suddenly I found myself in front of the Philips pavilion where Edgar Varèse’s Poème Electronique was playing with slides being projected – I was so fascinated that I thought to myself – or at least felt – that a new world was opening before me. And it’s later that I had the idea of ‘ how to make such music’ ? I had the idea that to compose such music, the relationship between fantasy and means of production had to be rationalised. There, that’s how it happened.

– It is true that our investigation starts with the idea of this pavilion. At one point there was a new architecture, a new way of listening, composers – it all was, they say, extraordinary. But also, our investigation, starts there – in that destruction.

– Yes, it was one of those moments, like the opening of a gothic cathedral, if you like.

– Except that the cathedral is still there, whereas the pavilions are gone

– Yes, because its purpose was long term ! (laughs) What I deeply regret is that it’s the symbol of a new world, a new musical universe that has been destroyed – ten years after the total destruction caused by the second world war. It’s a shame. It’s a shame for Philips, a shame for those responsible for the fair, it’s a shame for all of us. Because instead of destroying it, we should have seized the idea and put in each city a centre of the same quality and the same fantasy. Something which, as you know, did not happen.

Amsterdam on January 29, 2001

Compiled and coordinated by Guy Marc Hinant under the aegis of Konrad Boehmer.
This publication is dedicated to him.