Walter Carlos was born in November 14 at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1938. Now an American electronic musician, Carlos had always had a passion for music and new technology since he was little. He created his first musical piece when he was just ten years old, and at fourteen he constructed a small computer. Throughout his early years he continued to experiment with music and technology. Being older, he decided to study and obtain a Bachelor's degree in music and physics at the Brown University and ended up teaching electronic music there. He also obtained a Master's degree in composing at the Columbia University. He then worked in the Columbia Princetown electronic music center and helped Leonard Beinstein, a famous director at the time, in one of his electronic music concerts. He also recorded (commercially that is) his first two compositions, which were Dialogues for Piano and Two Loudspeakers and Variations for Flute and Electronic Sound. Carlos then started collaborating with engineer Robert Moog in 1966, determined to create a new musical instrument from a device he was designing. This unit was able to produce electronic sound, and Carlos hoped to make it the next sensation. After hard work and collaboration, he created a prototype of this device, called the Moog synthesizer, which he used on the Switched-On series and in the musical aspect of A Clockwork Orange. Switched-On Bach won three 1969 Grammy Awards: Album of the Year (Classical), Best Classical Performance (Instrumental Soloist or Soloist - With or Without Orchestra) and Best Engineered Recording (Classical).
There was a major change in the life of Walter Carlos in 1969: he had a sex change.
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| Wendy (Walter) Carlos |
Having gender dysphoria since she (I will be referring Carlos as a woman now) was little, Carlos underwent a sex-change surgery in 1969 and changed her name to Wendy Carlos. She had been aware of this transgenderism since her early age, acknowledging that her gender identity did not match with her born sex(assigned). In 1967 she started living and acting as a normal woman, taking hormone treatments to begin to change her sex. After his composition in Switched-on Bach was a success, Carlos had sex assignment surgery and became a official woman (physically). Since then, she has been known by this name, including in the rest of her professional career as a composer and electronic musician. In other words, the name "Walter Carlos" is referred to as her early career before changing to Wendy Carlos. She built the vocoder, designed to synthesize human voice and continued to compose and work with electronic music. For example, she wrote music for The Shining, Tron, Peter and the Wolf, Sonic Seasonings, Beauty and the Beast and many more. She still continues to compose and create outstanding music today.
Wendy Carlos contributed electronic music in a significant ways, since she was crucial in the development and expansion of electronic music, the ability to synthesize many different sounds (like an orchestra) using a keyboard and the use this keyboard and synthesizers as a musical device. Her works continue bring more innovation and inspire and motivate electronic music composers. An amazing composer indeed.
^If you want to know more on how the Moog Synthesizer works, watch this video! ^
There is a sample of one of Carlos' composed music at the end.
^ I loved this! ^
It seems to be the story of Carlos somehow...
^ Another one, from A Clockword Orange ^
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I just wanted to say that Walter (Wendy) Carlos has earned all my respect. It is not easy to admit that you have an identity disorder and take action about it. She changed her sex, even though it could have meant rejection, failures, accusations and critics. I also loved that she really did not give too much detail about it, feeling and knowing that some personal aspects of her life do not have to be known by the media. I admire everyone who accepts himself/herself as who he/she is, no matter what others might think or judge. Amazing woman she is. I truly enjoyed doing research on her. I will definitely hear some of her compositions and electronic music!
Have a good night!
Sincerely,
Michelle
For more about Walter (Wendy) Carlos, I obtained this information from these sites:
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