Oskar Sala

Oskar Sala (18 July 1910 – 26 February 2002) was a German composer and a pioneer of electronic music. He played an instrument called the Trautonium, an early form of electronic synthesizer.

Early life

Sala was born in Greiz, Thuringia, Germany. He studied piano and organ during his youth, performing classical piano concerts as a teenager. In 1929, he moved to Berlin to study piano and composition with composer and violist Paul Hindemith at the Berlin Conservatory. He also followed the experiments of Dr. Friedrich Trautwein, at the school's laboratory, learning to play with Trautwein's pioneer electronic instrument, the Trautonium.

On 20 June 1930 Sala and Paul Hindemith gave a public performance at the Berliner Musikhochschule Hall called “Neue Musik Berlin 1930″ to introduce the Trautonium. Later Sala toured Germany with the Trautonium; in 1931 he was the soloist in a performance of Hindemith's Concert for Trautonium with String Quartet. He also soloed in the debut of Hindemith student Harald Genzmer's “Concert for Trautonium AND Orchestra”.

Sala studied physics at the University of Berlin between 1932 and 1935. He helped to develop the "Volkstrautonium", a Trautonium that Telefunken hoped to popularize. In 1935 he built a "Radio-Trautonium", and in 1938 a portable model, the "Konzerttrautonium".

Oskar Sala was a soldier during the Nazi era. He was on the Eastern Front during World War II, where he was injured.

Mixtur-Trautonium

In 1948, Sala further developed the Trautonium into the Mixtur-Trautonium. Sala's invention opened the field of subharmonics, the symmetric counterpart to overtones, so that a thoroughly distinct tuning evolved. Pioneering music therapist Maria Schüppel studied and worked with Sala during the 1950s.