Durham E-Theses
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Durham E-Theses Pierre Schaeers typo-morphology of sonic objects. Palombini, Carlos Vicente de Lima How to cite: Palombini, Carlos Vicente de Lima (1993) Pierre Schaeers typo-morphology of sonic objects., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1191/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Ce West point avec des Wes, mon cher Degas, que I'on fait des vers. Cest avec des mots. (St6phane Mallarm6) Pierre Schaeffer's Typo-Morphology of Sonic Objects The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without bis prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. to MichaelSpitzer El 12M 1993 Abstract Pierre Schaeffer's Typo-Morphology of Sonic Objects proposes to present to the English-speakingreader the two accomplishedstages of Schaeffer's 1966 solage, namely typology and morphology, as expounded in Traite des objets musicaux, situating them in the larger context of Schaeffer's musicological work, and in the specific context of the solage. This is done through translation of and commentary on Schaeffer's writing. Chapter I surveys the years 1948-57, exposing the shifts of priorities which de- fine three phases: researchinto noises, concrete music, and experimental music. Particular attention is paid to Schaeffer's conception of experimental music, and through the analysis of 'Vers une musiqueexpdrimentale', what has generally been seenas an antagonismbetween the Paris and the Cologne studios emergesas the conflict between two opposing approachesto technology and tradition. Chapter II delineatesthree notions that underpin the fourth phase of Schaeffer's musicolog- ical work, musical research,of which the 1966 solage is the programme: acous- matic listening, four listening functions, and sonic object. Chapter IH elaborates on the premisses of typology and morphology. Chapter IV expounds typology proper, whilst chapter V presents morphology and the sketch of the subsequent operations of soIRge: characterology and analysis. From this study, it emergesthat Traite des objets musicaux is first and foremost an inexhaustible repository of insights into sound perception. Týpology, the first stage of the solage, is doubtless a successfully accomplished project. How- ever, as a method for discovering a universal musicality, the solfZge enterprise needs to be viewed with caution. It suffers from the almost open-endednature of its metaphorical vocabulary, the emphasis the text lays on reactive rhetoric, its reliance on 'methods of approximation, and from a gradual distancing from perceptual reality itself. This notwithstanding, Traite des objets musicaux appears as a fundamental text of twentieth century musicology. It brings to the fore two crucial issues: technology and the ways it alters our manner of perceiving and expressingreality, and reality itself thereby; the friction between soundsand mu- sical structures, transparentin the text as the friction between isolated words and the discourse, transparentin Schaeffer's life as the friction between the man and the social structures he has neededto fit in. page A Introduction: by writing page 2 1: from research Into noises to musical research 1. into (1948-49) 3 research noises ....................................................... page 2. (1948-58) 6 concrete music ............................................................ page 3. towards (1953) 9 an experimental music ................................................ page page 30 Ik three fundamental notions 4. listening 30 acousmatic ................................................................. page 5. four functions listening 31 the of ........................................................ page 6. hearing, listening to, listening for, 34 out comprehending ................................ page 7. the the phenomenologicalstatus of sonic object ..................................... page 46 page 60 111:the premisses of typology and morphology S. the for 60 method research after concrete music ........................................ page 9. the four 62 operations of solf6ge ....................................................... page 10. typo-morphology the 66 and prose/translation metaphor ................................ page 11. instrument that does 73 the timbre of the not exist ...................................... page 12. first identificatory typology, 84 morphology, second morphology ......................... page page 93 IV: classificatory typology: 'when the piping starts to sing' typology 93 13. the three pairs of criteria of classificatory ................................... page balanced 111 14. well objects, redundant objects, eccentric sounds ........................ page 121 third typology, page -V: morphology proper, characterology,analysis 121 15. morphology proper ................................................................. page homogeneous harmonic timbre 123 16. solfbge of sounds: criteria of mass and ............ page fixed dynamic 141 17. solfbge of masses: criterion ......................................... page 151 18. solf6ge of maintenance: grain and allure ........................................... page 163 19. solf6ge of variations: melodic profile and mass profile .............................. page 178 by page --conclusion: reading page 184 addendum: 'musicology and linguistics' page 188 notes page 194 bibliography page 211 figures Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomedcaves of ocean bear. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetnesson the desert air. (TbomasGray, 1751) - Maint joyau dort enseveli Dans les tenýbreset l'oubli, Bien loin despioches et dessondes; Maintefleur epanchea regret Sonparfum doux commeun secret Dans les solitudesprofondes. (Charles Baudelaire, 1851) introduction: by writing vi R-MODUMON: BY WRMNG My curiosity about the work of Pierre Schaeffer was aroused by the reading of Denis Smalley's article 'Spectro-morphologyand Structuring Processes'(Smalley 1986). A friend working in musical applications of artificial intelligence found then a copy of a triple special issue of La revue musicale: De la musiqueconcrate a la musiquemýme (Brunet ed. 1977), where fragments of Schaeffer's texts spanning the years 1948-77 were interspersed with the editor's comments. With hindsight, I believe there could have been no better introduction to Schaeffer's ceuvre. Sophie Brunet's choice of texts has been felicitous, and Schaeffer emergesnot only as an iconoclastic writer, but also as a musicologist (the term 'musicographer' has been suggested)with a messageto the Brazilian musical avant-garde of the late seventies. In fact, I read in Schaeffer's invectives against elektronischeMusik the materialization of Baudelaire's diatribes on the conformism of avant-gardes, and a necessaryantidote to the 'rigourousness' of the Brazilian musical establishment. LXI Of the delight in and preference for military metaphors shown by the French. Here every metaphor wears moustaches. Militant literature. To hold the breach. To keep the flag flying. To emerge with flying colours. To plunge into the fray. One of the old brigade. All these glorious phrasesare commonly applied to drunkards and bar-flies. LXII Frenchmetaphors. A soldierof thejudicial press(Bertin). 71e militant press. introduction: by writing VII LXIII To be added to the military metaphors: Ile fighting poets. The literary vanguard. This use of military metaphor reveals minds not militant but formed for discipline, that is, for compliance; minds born servile, Belgian minds, which can think only collectively. (Baudelaire 1930, pp. 38-9) 7be next texts I came across were Tettre A Albert Richard' (Schaeffer 1957B) and 'Vers une musique expA-rimentale'(Schaeffer 1957c)- While 'Vers une musique exp6rimentale', written in 1953, represents an attempt to syncretize the techniques of concrete music, electronic music, tape music, and world music in a congruent research method beyond particular wsthetics, Tettre h Albert Richard' reflects Schaeffer'sdisbelief in the possibility of this syncretic ideal. In the meantime, a six-month correspondencewith Denis Smalley, under whom I in- tended to work towards a Ph.D., reached an impasse when I refused to adopt his spectro- morphological idiolect, which advertised itself as 'the most recent guise of the non- vernacular fork of the musical language' (cf. Smalley 1986, p. 61), and my spectro- morphological doctorate was brought to grief when I ventured to quote Andy Warhol: no matter what remote comer of the world you may find yourself in, there is nothing as reassuring as the certainty that there, as anywhere else, a Coke, is a Coke, is a Coke... In other words, if one can speak today of a musical language in the senseof a musical code (Saussure'slangue), it is precisely