Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 3: Analog Era (1950s)
1957
Max Mathews Develops MUSIC I
Mathews, computer music pioneer, developed the computer music composition language on an IBM 704 while at Bell Labs. MUSIC I was the first demonstration of computer synthesized music. Mathews himself described the development: “Computer performance of music was born in 1957 when an IBM 704 in NYC played a 17 second composition on the Music I program which I wrote. The timbres and notes were not inspiring, but the technical breakthrough is still reverberating.”
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
- Max Mathews, Horizons in Computer Music, 1997, Indiana University.
People
Movements
computer art, generative art, Generative Music
Filed under
- Ideas
- Computer Music, Electronic Music, generative art, Generative Music, music, performance
- Technologies
- computer art, IBM 704, sound synthesis
- People
- Max Mathews
- Works
- MUSIC I
- Organisations
- Bell Labs
- Places
- New York
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 1991 · Music and Connectionism, edited by Peter M. Todd and D. Gareth Loy
- 1981 · Plan K International Festival voor Elektronische Muziek, Video en Computer Art in Brussels.
- 2002 · Doug Eck Advances Neural Network Creative Expression
Le Random editorials
- Timeline Chapter 1: Ten Top Moments, Peter Bauman, September 6, 2023
- Joan Heemskerk on Quantum Web4, Peter Bauman, September 10, 2024
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 3—Analog Era (1950s) with Georg Bak — listen with transcript on Le Random (10 Aug 2023, 65 min). Transcript mentions MUSIC I. Chapter 3’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 1—Pre-Modern Era with Marius Watz — listen with transcript on Le Random (06 Jul 2023, 46 min). Transcript mentions Max Mathews. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Transcript mentions Max Mathews. Apple Podcasts · Spotify