ABSTRACT
By about 1920, the availability of the vacuum tube had made possible a variety of new, electronic performing instruments. Edgard Varese was quick to incorporate new instruments such as the Ondes Martenot and Theremin into his orchestral arrangements. In the years leading up to World War II, Varese continued his quest for an electronic musical instrument that would be obedient to his desires; a dream he had spoken of so often with his old mentor Busoni. The explosion in electronic music was vaunted by a new generation of experimental composers who held him in high regard. A positive consequence of the Paris premiere of Deserts was that it provided an important link for Varese to the creation of his next and final work of electronic music. The work introduced an intriguing musical experiment to the general public and demonstrated that multimedia applications were an effective venue for electronic music.
