De Introduction à La musique Concrèteao Traité des Objets Musicaux: gênese do solfeijo dos objetos musicais de Pierre Schaeffer

Abstract

Pierre Schaeffer is considered the father of musique concrète. More than an invention, musique concrète represented a new musical conception. In search of a more general music, Schaeffer developed diverse concepts and carried out research leading to the Solfège of Musical Objects, a method that should provide the basis for a generalized musicality. Focusing on this method, whose genesis I present in three stages, I analyze a selection of texts by Schaeffer. The firrst stage is represented by Esquisse d'un solfège concret (Schaeffer 1952b), of which I offer a detailed description. The second stage, the programme for research into musique concrète of 1957, propounded in Lettre à Albert Richard (Schaeffer 1957a), is presented as an attempt to gather various contemporary musical trends under the experimental music moniker. Having expounded Schaeffer's notion of four functions of listening and other key concepts, I tackle the third stage, that is, the Solfége of Musical Objects as presented in Traité des objets musicaux (Schaeffer 1966). I conclude that although unfinished as an executable method, the theoretical construction upon which Schaeffer's recherche musicale is based constitutes a reference for studies in aural perception and musical proposals beyond the traditional system.