Else Marie Pade

Else Marie Pade (1924–2016) is regarded as Denmark’s most significant pioneer in electronic music and musique concrète. She began composing after World War II, during which she was imprisoned for her involvement in the women’s resistance. In 1952, she discovered musique concrète through radio broadcasts, which inspired her to establish an electronic music studio at Danish Radio in the early 1950s. She closely followed contemporary European trends in new music and her encounters with Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and György Ligeti were influential for her development. Her versatile oeuvre spans electronic works, chamber and orchestral music, children’s music, radio plays and music drama.

Her work, although largely forgotten in Danish music history after the early 1980s, has received renewed attention since the 2000s, with numerous new recordings, remixes and performances.