Elektronische Musik refers to a branch of early electronic music developed in West Germany during the 1950s, especially in Cologne, as a counterpart to French Musique Concrète. It was founded by Herbert Eimert and Werner Meyer-Eppler at the newly established WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) Electronic Music Studio in Cologne (1951). Karlheinz Stockhausen soon became the central composer of the movement.
While Musique Concrète worked with recorded “real” sounds, Elektronische Musik insisted on building music from purely electronic sources:
oscillators, filters, sine tones and noise generators. It pursued total control of sound—composers could shape pitch, duration, timbre, and dynamics with mathematical precision. It was seen as a scientific approach to music, emphasizing serialism (extending Schoenberg and Webern’s methods into sound design).
Some key works are Karlheinz Stockhausen – Studie I (1953), Studie II (1954), among the first pure electronic compositions, and
Herbert Eimert – Klangstudie II (1951). Gottfried Michael Koenig created works exploring serial structures.
Elektronische Musik established electronic music as a serious art form within academia, and inspired future electronic pioneers, from avant-garde composers to synthesizer designers. Stockhausen’s later works (Gesang der Jünglinge, Kontakte) combined Elektronische Musik with Musique Concrète, merging electronic and natural sound.