Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1968
Wendy Carlos Releases Switched-On Bach
A pioneering work in electronic music, Switched-On Bach consisted of Wendy Carlos, working with the producer Rachel Elkind, playing music by Johann Sebastian Bach on a Moog modular synthesizer, recording each line separately on multitrack tape.
The album showed that an electronic instrument could perform familiar music with precision and character.
It became one of the best-selling classical albums of its time and won three Grammy Awards in 1970. Carlos went on to score Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Tron (1982).
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
- Wendy Carlos. “Switched-On Bach.” wendycarlos.com.
- https://www.wendycarlos.com/+sob.html
Movements
Electronic Music, Computer Music
Filed under
- Ideas
- Electronic Music
- Other subjects
- Johann Sebastian Bach, Moog synthesizer, Rachel Elkind, Switched-On Bach, Wendy Carlos, women in music technology
Le Random editorials
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt II (1960s) with Michael Spalter — listen with transcript on Le Random (21 Sep 2023, 77 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify