Bebe Barron (b. 1927), electronic composer

[Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner has graciously allowed WOW'EM to reprint the following excerpt from her forthcoming book, as well as an email message that she posted on the the International Alliance for Women in Music listserv.]

"Hollywood, however, had already been utilizing instruments such as the theremin in movie scores for many years, and the first widespread American public exposure to the possibilities of the electronic medium occurred with the 1956 release of MGM's feature film Forbidden Planet. In addition to its elaborate space sets and advanced visual effects, Forbidden Planet featured an exclusively electronic musical score composed by Bebe Barron (b. 1927) and her husband Louis (1920-1989). The Manhattan-based couple had already completed several short experimental film scores utilizing electronics but had never employed their apartment electronic music studio for a full-length soundtrack. The Barrons described their compositions in an early article as not functioning in a traditionally musical way but instead as non-linear constructions designed to describe a cast of characters engaged in a dramatic plot. Once they decided on the characters' moods and situations, the couple completed a series of electrical circuits which functioned electronically in ways analogous to the human nervous system. Decisions about the circuitry were strongly influenced by their studies of the science of cybernetics which proposes that certain natural laws of behavior are applicable to both animals and more complex modern machinary. The composers employed their noise-producing circuits to emulate such needed characterizations as serenity, anger, and love. The story of Forbidden Planet is a re-telling of Shakespeare's Tempest with the modern additions of spaceships, mysterious killer creatures, and the lovable "Robbie the Robot." The crashing beats of the deadly "ID monster" theme coupled with the bubbly mood music designed for Robbie and other electronic sound effects added a creative integrity and believability to the film clearly separating it from much of the more lurid post World War II Nuclear Age horror and sci-fi Hollywood fare. Bebe and Louis' success signaled the beginning of the effective use of electroacoustic music by the modern movie industry."

Bibliography

Barron, Bebe and Louis. "Forbidden Planet". Film Music. 1956 , p. 18

Brockman, Jane. Interview with Bebe Barron. The Score. Fall/Winter 1992

Rubin, Steve. "Retrospect: Forbidden Planet, " Cinefantastique, Spring 1975, pp. 5-13.

*There is also a fine biographical entry on Barron in the New Grove Dictionary of Women by Barry Schrader 


List of Works


  Bebe Barron  (all composed with Louis Barron)



  Bells of Atlantis.  Film score.  1952.

  Cannabis.  Film score.  1975.

  The Circe Circuit.  Tape.  1982.

  The Computer Age.  Film score.  1968.

  Crystal Growing.  Film score.  1959.

  Elegy for a Dying Planet.  Tape.  1982.

  For an Electronic Nervous System.  Tape.  1954.

  Forbidden Planet.  Videotape or Laserdisc.  MGM/UA Home Video, 1991.

  Heavenly Menagerie.  Tape.  1951-52.

  Jazz of Lights.  Film score.  1956.

  Miramagic.  Film score.  1954.

  More Than Human.  Film score.  1974.

  Music of Tomorrow.  Tape.  1960.

  New Age Synthesis II on Totally Wired.  Pennsylvania Public Radio
Associates Cassette Series, 1986.

Space Boy.  Tape.  1971.  Revised and used for film of same name, 1973.

Time Machine on Music from the Soundtrack of Destination Moon and Other Themes.  Cinema Records LP-8005, 1970.

  


[letter from the IAWM listserv...]


  It is with great pleasure that I announce that the Society for Electro-
  Acoustic Music in the United States annual award for lifetime achievement
  in electro-acoustic music will this year be presented to film music
  composer Bebe Barron (and posthumously to Louis Barron) at the SEAMUS
  national conference taking place next week in Kansas City.


  SEAMUS has been presenting this award for over a decade and other
  recipients have included Max Mathews, Charles Dodge, and Mario Davidovsky.
  As one of the female members of the national board of SEAMUS (Bebe - by
  the way - was a charter member of the society), I am happy to be part
  of the first conference in which a woman will be honored for her
  work with music technology.  It is my sincere hope as a board member
  in SEAMUS and IAWM, that we continue to honor the considerable
  achievements  of pioneering women in the field.  Names like Oliveros,
  Spiegel, Smiley, Ivey, and Shields immediately come to mind and I
  encourage all of you to explore the achievements of women in music
  technology in your own studies and with your students.

 ...I have included a brief excerpt from my [forthcoming] book detailing Bebe's
  most famous contribution, the score to "Forbidden Planet." A bibliography and list of works follows.


  Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner

  Treasurer, SEAMUS

  Board member for Women and Technology, IAWM







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Copyright September 1996,

  updated February 2004.

  Kristine H. Burns, 

  Florida International University

  Questions? Contact me.