Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores.
In 1953, at fourteen, Carlos won a scholarship for building a computer presented at the Westinghouse Science Fair, a science competition for high-school students.
From 1958 to 1962, Carlos studied at Brown University and graduated with a degree in music and physics, during which she taught lessons in electronic music at informal sessions. In 1965, Carlos graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in music composition, and assisted Leonard Bernstein in presenting an evening of electronic music at the Philharmonic Hall.
Carlos studied with Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening, two pioneers of electronic music in the 1960s; they were based in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City, the first of its kind in the United States.
The two shared a home, studio, and business premises in a brownstone building in the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Carlos recorded several compositions in the 1960s as a student at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.
Part of her compensation for making the recording was in Moog equipment. == Career == === 1960s === Carlos's music career began with Switched-On Bach, an album formed of several pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach performed on a Moog modular synthesizer.
Released as By Request in 1975, the album includes pieces from Bach, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, two of Carlos' compositions from the 1960s, and renditions of "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles and "What's New Pussycat?", originally sung by Tom Jones.
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving to New York City in 1962 to study music composition at Columbia University.
From 1958 to 1962, Carlos studied at Brown University and graduated with a degree in music and physics, during which she taught lessons in electronic music at informal sessions. In 1965, Carlos graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in music composition, and assisted Leonard Bernstein in presenting an evening of electronic music at the Philharmonic Hall.
Sometime after entering graduate school (Columbia University) in the fall of 1962 she encountered studies of transgender issues for the first time, which explained to her what she was feeling.
From 1958 to 1962, Carlos studied at Brown University and graduated with a degree in music and physics, during which she taught lessons in electronic music at informal sessions. In 1965, Carlos graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in music composition, and assisted Leonard Bernstein in presenting an evening of electronic music at the Philharmonic Hall.
A third, Variations for Flute and Electronic Sounds (1964, featuring John Heiss on flute) was recorded and released in 1965 on a Turnabout Records "Electronic Music" compilation.
By 1966, Carlos owned a small Moog synthesizer, which she used to record sound effects and jingles for television commercials, which earned her "anywhere from $100 to $1000.” In 1967, Carlos befriended Rachel Elkind, a former singer who had a musical theatre background and worked as a secretary for Goddard Lieberson, then-president of Columbia Records.
In the summer of 1966 New York sexologist and pioneering transgender advocate Harry Benjamin published his landmark book The Transsexual Phenomenon, and in the fall of 1967 Carlos began counseling with him (well before Switched-On Bach).
By 1966, Carlos owned a small Moog synthesizer, which she used to record sound effects and jingles for television commercials, which earned her "anywhere from $100 to $1000.” In 1967, Carlos befriended Rachel Elkind, a former singer who had a musical theatre background and worked as a secretary for Goddard Lieberson, then-president of Columbia Records.
The idea came about around 1967, when Carlos asked Elkind to listen to some recordings by Carlos and musicologist Benjamin Folkman made up to ten years prior at the Electronic Music Center, one of them being Bach's Two-Part Invention in F major, which Elkind took a liking to.
In the summer of 1966 New York sexologist and pioneering transgender advocate Harry Benjamin published his landmark book The Transsexual Phenomenon, and in the fall of 1967 Carlos began counseling with him (well before Switched-On Bach).
She composed the score to two Stanley Kubrick films – A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980) – and Tron (1982) for Walt Disney Productions. In 1979, Carlos raised public awareness of transgender issues by disclosing she had been living as a woman since at least 1968, and in 1972 had undergone sex reassignment surgery. == Early life == Carlos was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the first of two children born to working-class parents.
After Ussachevsky suggested to Carlos that she work in a recording studio to support herself, Carlos began working as a recording and mastering engineer at Gotham Recording Studios in New York City; she worked in this position until 1968.
Recording was a dragged-out and time-consuming process as the instrument could only be played one note at a time. Released in October 1968, Switched-On Bach became an unexpected commercial and critical success and helped to draw attention to the synthesizer as a genuine musical instrument.
By early 1968 Carlos had begun hormone replacement treatments under Benjamin's care, which began altering her appearance.
This created some problems for Carlos when Switched-On Bach became an unexpected hit after its release in October 1968.
1 on its Classical Albums chart from January 1969 to January 1972.
It was the second classical album to sell over one million copies and was certified Gold in 1969 and Platinum in 1986 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Released in November 1969, the album reached No.
Studying and working with various electronic musicians and technicians at the city's Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, she helped in the development of the Moog synthesizer, the first commercially available keyboard instrument created by Robert Moog. Carlos came to prominence with Switched-On Bach (1968), an album of music by Johann Sebastian Bach performed on a Moog synthesizer, which helped popularize its use in the 1970s and won her three Grammy Awards.
In 1970, the album won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Album, Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (With or Without Orchestra), and Best Engineered Classical Recording.
The success of both albums allowed Carlos to move into Elkind's more spacious New York City home in 1971. === 1970s === After the release of Switched-On Bach, Carlos was invited to compose the soundtrack of two science fiction films, Marooned (1969), directed by John Sturges, and A Clockwork Orange (1971) by Stanley Kubrick.
Recorded as early as 1970 and finished in mid-1971, before the A Clockwork Orange project was complete, Carlos wished to produce music that did not require "lengthy concentrated listening", but more than a collection of ambient noises to portray an environment.
Carlos did the same thing when she met Kubrick and for an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970.
The success of both albums allowed Carlos to move into Elkind's more spacious New York City home in 1971. === 1970s === After the release of Switched-On Bach, Carlos was invited to compose the soundtrack of two science fiction films, Marooned (1969), directed by John Sturges, and A Clockwork Orange (1971) by Stanley Kubrick.
In 1971, she and Elkind had asked Columbia Records to attach a pre-paid business reply card in each new pressing of her albums, which resulted in a considerable amount of suggestions from the public regarding the subject of her future releases.
She composed the score to two Stanley Kubrick films – A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980) – and Tron (1982) for Walt Disney Productions. In 1979, Carlos raised public awareness of transgender issues by disclosing she had been living as a woman since at least 1968, and in 1972 had undergone sex reassignment surgery. == Early life == Carlos was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the first of two children born to working-class parents.
1 on its Classical Albums chart from January 1969 to January 1972.
A soundtrack containing only the film cuts of the score was released as Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange in 1972, combining synthesized and classical music by Henry Purcell, Beethoven and Gioacchino Rossini with an early use of a vocoder.
a pleasurable venture". Carlos experimented with ambient music on her third studio album Sonic Seasonings, released as a double album in 1972, with one side-long track dedicated to each of the four seasons.
Finally, the commercial success of Switched-On Bach allowed Carlos to undergo sex reassignment surgery in May 1972, although for marketing reasons she released two more albums as Walter Carlos (1973's Switched-On Bach II and 1975's By Request.) Carlos disclosed her transgender status in a series of interviews with Arthur Bell held between December 1978 and January 1979 and published in the May 1979 issue of Playboy magazine.
168 in the Billboard 200 and influenced other artists who went on to pursue the ambient and new-age genres in later years. By 1973, Columbia/CBS Records had received a considerable number of requests for Carlos to produce another album of synthesized classical music.
The result, Switched-On Bach II, was released in 1973 and sold over 70,000 copies in the US during the first five weeks of its release. Following Switched-On Bach II, Carlos changed musical directions once more.
Between 1974 and 1980 she scored several short films for producer Dick Young for UNICEF (seven of which were released in 2005 on Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol.1). By Request was followed by Switched-On Brandenburgs, a double album containing all six of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos played on a synthesizer, in 1980. === 1980s === Carlos reunited with Kubrick to compose the score for his psychological horror film The Shining (1980).
Released as By Request in 1975, the album includes pieces from Bach, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, two of Carlos' compositions from the 1960s, and renditions of "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles and "What's New Pussycat?", originally sung by Tom Jones.
Finally, the commercial success of Switched-On Bach allowed Carlos to undergo sex reassignment surgery in May 1972, although for marketing reasons she released two more albums as Walter Carlos (1973's Switched-On Bach II and 1975's By Request.) Carlos disclosed her transgender status in a series of interviews with Arthur Bell held between December 1978 and January 1979 and published in the May 1979 issue of Playboy magazine.
Finally, the commercial success of Switched-On Bach allowed Carlos to undergo sex reassignment surgery in May 1972, although for marketing reasons she released two more albums as Walter Carlos (1973's Switched-On Bach II and 1975's By Request.) Carlos disclosed her transgender status in a series of interviews with Arthur Bell held between December 1978 and January 1979 and published in the May 1979 issue of Playboy magazine.
She composed the score to two Stanley Kubrick films – A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980) – and Tron (1982) for Walt Disney Productions. In 1979, Carlos raised public awareness of transgender issues by disclosing she had been living as a woman since at least 1968, and in 1972 had undergone sex reassignment surgery. == Early life == Carlos was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the first of two children born to working-class parents.
Finally, the commercial success of Switched-On Bach allowed Carlos to undergo sex reassignment surgery in May 1972, although for marketing reasons she released two more albums as Walter Carlos (1973's Switched-On Bach II and 1975's By Request.) Carlos disclosed her transgender status in a series of interviews with Arthur Bell held between December 1978 and January 1979 and published in the May 1979 issue of Playboy magazine.
Between 1974 and 1980 she scored several short films for producer Dick Young for UNICEF (seven of which were released in 2005 on Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol.1). By Request was followed by Switched-On Brandenburgs, a double album containing all six of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos played on a synthesizer, in 1980. === 1980s === Carlos reunited with Kubrick to compose the score for his psychological horror film The Shining (1980).
The Shining (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), released in 1980 on Warner Bros.
Some of Carlos' music had some legal issues regarding its release, but much of it was made available in 2005 as part of her two-volume compilation album Rediscovering Lost Scores. With work on The Shining complete, Elkind ended her long-time collaboration with Carlos when she moved to France with her husband in 1980.
It housed her new, remodelled studio, which was enclosed in a Faraday cage to shield the equipment from white noise and outside interference from radio and television signals. Carlos' first project with Franklin began around 1980, when The Walt Disney Company asked her to record the soundtrack to its science fiction feature Tron (1982).
Carlos intended to release her scores on her own album, but Columbia/CBS showed a lack of interest in the prospect. Three studio albums from Carlos were released in the 1980s.
Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in 1982 and reached No.
The first was Digital Moonscapes in 1984, Carlos' first to only feature digital synthesizers.
In 1985, Carlos spoke about the reaction to her transition: "The public turned out to be amazingly tolerant or, if you wish, indifferent ...
Plans for an album of several Bach compositions developed from there, leading to a recording contract with Columbia Masterworks through Elkind's contacts, a deal that lasted until 1986.
It was the second classical album to sell over one million copies and was certified Gold in 1969 and Platinum in 1986 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 1986, Audion released Beauty in the Beast, which saw Carlos experiment with just intonation, Balinese scales, and four new microtonal scales she devised for the album: Harmonic, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.
She followed the album with Secrets of Synthesis in 1987, her final album for CBS/Columbia, featuring several introductions and demonstrations of synthesized music from Carlos with audio examples from her previous albums. In 1988, CBS Records asked Carlos to collaborate with comical musician "Weird Al" Yankovic to release a parody of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.
She followed the album with Secrets of Synthesis in 1987, her final album for CBS/Columbia, featuring several introductions and demonstrations of synthesized music from Carlos with audio examples from her previous albums. In 1988, CBS Records asked Carlos to collaborate with comical musician "Weird Al" Yankovic to release a parody of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.
Released in October 1988, Peter and the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals–Part II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1989. === 1990s–2000s === To mark the 25th anniversary of Switched-On Bach, Carlos re-recorded the album with her set of digital instruments and recording techniques.
Released in October 1988, Peter and the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals–Part II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1989. === 1990s–2000s === To mark the 25th anniversary of Switched-On Bach, Carlos re-recorded the album with her set of digital instruments and recording techniques.
Released in October 1988, Peter and the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals–Part II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1989. === 1990s–2000s === To mark the 25th anniversary of Switched-On Bach, Carlos re-recorded the album with her set of digital instruments and recording techniques.
Released in 1992 on Telarc Records, Switched-On Bach 2000 took roughly one and a half years to produce; Carlos estimated around 3,000 hours were invested in the project, which involved using several digital audio workstation software packages, including Pro Tools.
Louis Symphony Orchestra, the first of two live performances since her days as a student (the other being with the Kurzweil Baroque Ensemble for "Bach at the Beacon" in 1997).
Released in 1992 on Telarc Records, Switched-On Bach 2000 took roughly one and a half years to produce; Carlos estimated around 3,000 hours were invested in the project, which involved using several digital audio workstation software packages, including Pro Tools.
Between 1974 and 1980 she scored several short films for producer Dick Young for UNICEF (seven of which were released in 2005 on Rediscovering Lost Scores, Vol.1). By Request was followed by Switched-On Brandenburgs, a double album containing all six of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos played on a synthesizer, in 1980. === 1980s === Carlos reunited with Kubrick to compose the score for his psychological horror film The Shining (1980).
Some of Carlos' music had some legal issues regarding its release, but much of it was made available in 2005 as part of her two-volume compilation album Rediscovering Lost Scores. With work on The Shining complete, Elkind ended her long-time collaboration with Carlos when she moved to France with her husband in 1980.
To help pay the legal fee, Momus charged a fee of $1,000 dollars to 30 fans in exchange for a song written about them. === Biography === A biography by musicologist Amanda Sewell, Wendy Carlos: A Biography, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020.
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