Sala was born in Greiz, Germany in 1910 and was involved in music from a very young age.
Today’s Doodle celebrates them Oskar Sala’s 112th birthday, an innovative electronic music composer and physicist. Recognized for producing sound effects on a musical instrument called the mix-trautonium, Salas electrified the worlds of television, radio and film.
Sala was born in Greiz, Germany in 1910 and was involved in music from a very young age. His mother was a singer and his father an ophthalmologist with musical talent. At 14, Sala began creating compositions and songs for instruments such as violin and piano.
When Sala first heard a device called a trautonium, he was fascinated by the tonal possibilities and technology the instrument offered. His life’s mission became to master trautonium and develop it further, which inspired his studies in physics and composition at school.
This new focus led Sala to develop his own instrument called mix-trautonium. Trained as a composer and electrical engineer, he created electronic music that set his style apart from others. The architecture of the mix-trautonium is so unique that it could play multiple sounds or voices at the same time.
Behind the door of a recording studio, Sala composed scores and sound effects for many television, radio and film productions, including Rosemary (1959) and The Birds (1962). The instrument made noises such as birdsong, hammering and banging on doors and windows.
Sala received many awards for his work—he gave many interviews, met many artists, and was honored in radio shows and films. In 1995, he donated his original trawton mixture to the German Museum of Modern Technology.
Sala also built the Quartett-Trautonium, the Concert Trautonium and the Volkstrautonium. His efforts in electronic music opened up the field of subharmonics. With his dedication and creative energy he became a one-man orchestra.
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