A Small Computer Plays Some Examples of Mozart's Dice-Composition Music

1967

Music/Sound

The Listening Room

Description

Recorded in 1967 on Glasgow University’s Solidac computer, A Small Computer Plays Some Examples of Mozart’s Dice-Generated Music is an early example of computer-generated sound. Programmer T.H. O’Beirne adapted 18th-century “musical dice games” attributed to Mozart, in which each bar of music was selected from a set of eleven by a throw of dice, so that the score could yield countless possible variations. For this recording, the computer itself both generated the random numbers and played the score. The result is a reedy, thin, and resolutely monophonic rendition of classical melodies. It captures the fragile timbre of early electronic synthesis while marrying two historic moments when chance entered music composition.

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