Obituary: Bebe Barron, Pioneering Electronic Composer
There are pioneers and artists — and then there are people whose impact is great enough that they become inseparable with the history of a medium. Bebe Barron, along with husband Louis Barron, was far enough ahead of her time that her ideas remain futuristic today. The Barrons didn’t just produce the first full-length electronic film score with Forbidden Planet; they created an ambient sonic world between music and special effects, and tied it to cybernetic theories. That score stands in contrast to films still dominated by Alfred Newman-style, post-Wagnerian theatrics. Today, artists are only just re-discovering the possibilities of electronic sound without the use of synths and samplers, built from scratch as the Barrons did.
Bebe Barron’s work went well beyond Forbidden Planet, however. She went on to produce music for film, tape, and technology well into her later life. She was an early leader of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music, and continued — with her husband, and as a solo composer following his death — to lead the way in finding new compositional purposes for electronic sound. (And apparently even seduction through witchcraft! Viva electronics!)
We’ve seen a lot of obituaries in the three and a half years of this site; there’s no question that a generation of composers is passing into history. Bebe died of natural causes at age 82. I was struck by a quote from Barry Schrader, who called her "the last of the pioneering composers of classical studio electronic music." That may be, but listening to Bebe’s sounds and ideas, I wonder what the next generations might still be capable of pioneering, and who will take up the radical element from 1950s and 60s sound and bring it into the coming decades.
The best insight I’ve heard into the Barron’s work comes from a 2005 interview with Bebe on NPR’s Morning Edition:
The Barrons: Forgotten Pioneers of Electronic Music
Matrixsynth has an enormous obituary with lots of background information — a must-read:
And here’s Bebe’s last interview, from the beginning of this year, speaking about Anais Nin. That’s poignant to me — my great aunt and uncle were part of the New York circle that ran with Anais Nin and crowd. It’s a reminder to value your crazy and radical creative friends, to keep supporting what they’re doing to enjoy the short time we all have to make art.
Anais Nin has the best quote — she described the Barrons’ music as sounding like "a molecule that has stubbed its toes."
15 Comments
Leave a Commentdead_red_eyes
Oh man, that’s said to hear of Bebe’s passing.
April 21, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Raiding RadiOM and other adventures in soundwaves. at K.M.Krebs 833-45
[...] Finally, another pioneer of electronic music has past away: Bebe Barron. [...]
April 21, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
15 People » Blog Archive »
[...] Another obituary here: Obituary for Bebe Barron [...]
April 21, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Motion
Awesome woman….personally a big influence musically and sonically.Forbidden Planet is one of my favourite top 10 movies ever…incredible piece of work not to mention the rest of her contributions….a true pioneer indeed.
April 21, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
» Blog Archive » Obituary: Bebe Barron, Pioneering Electronic Composer
[...] was sorry to hear of the passing of Bebe Barron, Pioneering Electronic Composer.Create Digital Music have published an excellent Obituary with a number of other links including a [...]
April 22, 2008 @ 12:16 am
horse latitudes » RIP Bebe Barron
[...] The innovative and to some degree unheralded, electronic composer, Bebe Barron has died. [...]
April 22, 2008 @ 4:45 am
deltasleep
So sad to hear of her passing. Forbidden Planet was my first introduction to electronic music. My dad loved 50s sci-fi and F.P. was always our favorite.
The movie wouldn’t have been nearly as great without their score!
April 22, 2008 @ 7:11 am
DJ Oxygen
Forbidden Planet is fantastic, and the score is an integral part of its fantasticosity. It is sad to lose these electronic music pioneers, and it seems we’ve lost too many in the past few years.
In my opinion, the best way to honor their memory is to continue to push the envelope, such that in another 40 years, a new generation will speak of some of our work in the same way we speak of these.
I agree that film scoring hasn’t progressed much since Wagner. I would submit that one of the best recent examples of non-post-Wagnerian film scoring is Underworld’s score for Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine”. As with Forbidden Planet, it balances on the tightrope between music and sound-effect to great effect.
April 22, 2008 @ 9:55 am
Melinda
Very Sad News.
I love Anais Nins quote.
April 23, 2008 @ 1:30 am
My Chord Space
Bebe Baron 1927 – April 21 2008…
Bebe Baron was, along with her Husband Louis Baron, one of the first and most important pioneers of electronic music.
In his Obituary Peter Kirn says
There are pioneers and artists — and then there are people whose impact is great enough that they b…
April 23, 2008 @ 1:31 am
Create Digital Music » Tristram Cary, Tape Music Pioneer, VCS3 Designer, Composer, Dies
[...] been a rough week for electronic music — having lost Bebe Barron, we’ve now lost one of the other great early pioneers of electronic music, South Australian [...]
April 24, 2008 @ 8:40 am
Glacial Communications » Blog Archive » Press The Button Podcast for April 23, 2008
[...] The Button Podcast for April 23, 2008 An attempt at something in honor of the late Bebe Barron, who passed away on Sunday. Made a little extra challenging, since WRUW doesn’t have anything by [...]
April 24, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
Echo Bloom » Blog Archive » Friday Update!
[...] RIP Bebe Barron, electroacoustic pioneer, and, with husband Louis, composer of the seminal score for Forbidden Planet [...]
April 24, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
Sonic Surgery
Electronic music has lost one of it most outstanding pioneers.
She paved the way for so many, especially those of us of the female persuasion. Her work touched the lives of so many people and her passion was an inspiration. She will be missed.
April 28, 2008 @ 7:24 pm
Disquiet » tangents / Electroplankton, Alaska, cabaret …
[...] who is best known for her work with her husband, Louis Barron, on the score to Forbidden Planet (createdigitalmusic.com, echoes.org, cinefantastiqueonline.com). I never met Bebe Barron but I did have the pleasure of [...]
July 1, 2008 @ 6:26 am
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