The Electronic Music of Roberto Gerhard

The electronic music of Roberto Gerhard is an unexplored resource that has the potential to change not only our evaluation of this composer's work but also the development of electronic music in the UK from the 1950s onwards. Gerhard's work has as yet, not been documented due to his lack of institutional support, the difficulty in accessing his archive and the fact that this archive is not catalogued. In the archive at the Cambridge University Library are a large number of unpublished electronic works, electronic incidental music and sketches and rehearsal tapes for the Symphony no. 3 (Collages), one of the first major works following Varese's Desert to integrate orchestra and electronics. Now the University of Huddersfield has agreed a contract with the CUL to digitize and research the electronic music of Gerhard, this research project seeks to address a number of issues: what is the significance of Gerhard's electronic music on his own later instrumental music? what is Gerhard's influence on electronic music in the UK; how did Gerhard generate and structure his material? The research results will form the final three chapters of a book edited by the PI and Prof. Michael Russ. The remaining chapters are expanded versions of papers given at the 1st International Roberto Gerhard Conference which took place at the University of Huddersfield in May 2010. The PI and two RAs will also edit all of the electronic music for publication on CD by sub rosa.

Outside of the considerable academic impact this research will have a broader audience for this work can also be identified:

1) The work will be of interest to all those interested in early electronic music. The recent success of CD publications of the early electronic music of Henri Pousseur by sub rosa and the music of Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire clearly demonstrate the wide non-academic market for this proposed research. Given the success of these previous releases we will be aiming towards a major article in The Wire to accompany the release of the CD. This has a distribution of over 10,000 readers worldwide.

2) The book and CD will also be of interest to general enthusiasts of contemporary music. Again, the growth over the past decade of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival demonstrates the enthusiasm of non-professional musicians for contemporary music and especially electronic music. We will also be aiming to promote this work on BBC Radio 3. The CD will also be internationally distributed.

3) Because of Gerhard's extensive connections with Spanish writers, painters and other cultural figures the book will also be of interest to those concerned with the development of Spanish culture post-Franco in the twentieth century.