|
Instruments for New Music
University of California Press, 2016 Winner of the 2017 Lewis Lockwood Award from the American Musicological Society Player pianos, radio-electric circuits, gramophone records, and optical sound film—these were the cutting-edge acoustic technologies of the early twentieth century, and for many musicians and artists of the time, these devices were also the implements of a musical revolution. Instruments for New Music traces a diffuse network of cultural agents who shared the belief that a truly modern music could be attained only through a radical challenge to the technological foundations of the art. Centered in Germany during the 1920s and '30s, the movement for new instruments encompassed a broad spectrum of aesthetic orientations, from the exploration of microtonal tunings and exotic tone-colors to the ability to compose directly for automatic musical machines. It involved composers, inventors, and visual artists, including Paul Hindemith, Ernst Toch, Jörg Mager, Friedrich Trautwein, László Moholy-Nagy, Walter Ruttmann, and Oskar Fischinger. This book combines an artifact-oriented history of new music in the early twentieth century with a re-examination of still-relevant debates about the relationship between technology and the arts. |
|
|
“The smartest book on the German roots of what happened once electricity joined sound to make music and media. Amid profound historical events technological possibilities were hacked, recordings stopped repeating themselves to perform something new, and the innovative art forms with us today were born.” —DOUGLAS KAHN, author of Earth Sound Earth Signal: Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts “Instruments for New Music is a fascinating story of the technological music instrumentarium that not only gives composers and improvisers new sounds and new ways to play but also engages all of us in new social and philosophical insights.” —PAULINE OLIVEROS, Composer and Professor of Practice, Department of the Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute “Every so often a book comes along with something new to say about a familiar topic. Through meticulous new research on electronic music in Germany during the Weimar Republic, Thomas Patteson recovers the forgotten history of early twentieth century music... This book shows how today’s sounds were born long before the age of electronics.” —TREVOR PINCH, author of Analog Days: The History and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer |
|
Contributions to the Oxford Handbook of Timbre (edited by Emily I. Dolan and Alexander Rehding)
Oxford University Press, 2021 Winner of the 2022 Ruth A. Solie Award from the American Musicological Society "Ethereal Timbres" (with Emily Dolan) The notion of the “ethereal” has a long and surprisingly continuous history in Western art music. From the Aeolian harp to early electronic music, listeners have identified certain instruments as producing otherworldly and supernatural sounds. This essay considers the diverse range of technologies that have been frequently identified as “ethereal,” while also delving into the use of the idea of the ethereal within writing about music. Translations Theodor W. Adorno, "The Function of Timbre in Music" Carl Dahlhaus, "On the Theory of Instrumentation" |
|
ESSAYS
Information, Melody, Beauty: Composing with Information Theory (2024)
In this paper I examine the encounter between information theory and musical composition in the middle of the twentieth century, paying special attention to the question of how the reception of information-theoretical concepts among composers and theorists inflected pre-existing debates about the nature and function of music in modernity.
In this paper I examine the encounter between information theory and musical composition in the middle of the twentieth century, paying special attention to the question of how the reception of information-theoretical concepts among composers and theorists inflected pre-existing debates about the nature and function of music in modernity.
The Composers of Group '55 (2020)
I wrote a short essay on the three composers associated with the Philadelphia-based modernist collective Group '55 (George Rochberg, Vincent Persichetti, and Joseph Castaldo) for the catalogue for the Woodmere Art Museum's exhibit Sam Feinstein, Group '55, and Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia.
I wrote a short essay on the three composers associated with the Philadelphia-based modernist collective Group '55 (George Rochberg, Vincent Persichetti, and Joseph Castaldo) for the catalogue for the Woodmere Art Museum's exhibit Sam Feinstein, Group '55, and Midcentury Abstraction in Philadelphia.
Stockhausen's Systems (2018)
A short essay on the aesthetic and metaphysical resonances of the serial technique in the work of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, published in the program book for Elizabeth Huston's 2018 production of Stockhausen's Klang: The 24 Hours of the Day in Philadelphia.
A short essay on the aesthetic and metaphysical resonances of the serial technique in the work of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, published in the program book for Elizabeth Huston's 2018 production of Stockhausen's Klang: The 24 Hours of the Day in Philadelphia.
Cat Pianos, Sound-Houses, and Other Imaginary Musical Instruments (with Deirdre Loughridge, 2015)
This essay for the Public Domain Review provides an introduction to the contents and guiding spirit of our Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments.
Player Piano (2014)
I wrote this essay on the technological and intellectual history of the player piano (AKA mechanical piano, pianola, etc.) for Oxford Handbooks Online.
I wrote this essay on the technological and intellectual history of the player piano (AKA mechanical piano, pianola, etc.) for Oxford Handbooks Online.
The Critique of Technology in Electronic Music (2013)
In this short, speculative paper, I challenge the conventional model of instrumentality implicit in the history of electronic music in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. In contrast to the quest for the rational mastery of sound material that dominates accounts of the genre, I highlight composers’ attempts to exploit electronic instruments as sources of chaos, and uncertainty, and play.
In this short, speculative paper, I challenge the conventional model of instrumentality implicit in the history of electronic music in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. In contrast to the quest for the rational mastery of sound material that dominates accounts of the genre, I highlight composers’ attempts to exploit electronic instruments as sources of chaos, and uncertainty, and play.
Noise before The Art of Noises: Thoughts on the History of Sound (2013)
A short exploration of conceptions of noise in the history of European music. This paper was written for the centenary of Luigi Russolo's Art of Noises and read at <fidget> in Philadelphia on March 11, 2013.
A short exploration of conceptions of noise in the history of European music. This paper was written for the centenary of Luigi Russolo's Art of Noises and read at <fidget> in Philadelphia on March 11, 2013.
Music and Boredom (2012)
Consideration of boredom, duration, and attention in 20th-century music, composed for the exhibit "Prolonged Exposure," curated by Kaegan Sparks and shown at the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn.
Consideration of boredom, duration, and attention in 20th-century music, composed for the exhibit "Prolonged Exposure," curated by Kaegan Sparks and shown at the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn.
The Time of Roland Kayn's Cybernetic Music (2012)
Beautifully published paper on the enigmatic German composer Roland Kayn, presented at Sonic Acts XIV 2012 in Amsterdam. The book in which it appears is entitled Travelling Time and features articles and interviews by Pauline Oliveros, Mark Fell, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and more.
Beautifully published paper on the enigmatic German composer Roland Kayn, presented at Sonic Acts XIV 2012 in Amsterdam. The book in which it appears is entitled Travelling Time and features articles and interviews by Pauline Oliveros, Mark Fell, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and more.
Music, Technology, Utopia: The Legacy of Pietro Grossi (2011)
This essay introduces the work of the Italian composer Pietro Grossi (1917-2002), a pioneer in the fields of computer music, algorithmic composition, and collective creativity.
This essay introduces the work of the Italian composer Pietro Grossi (1917-2002), a pioneer in the fields of computer music, algorithmic composition, and collective creativity.
Less is Less: Morton Feldman's Minimalism (2011)
I wrote this short piece on the music of Morton Feldman for American Sublime, a festival of Feldman's late works presented by Bowerbird in June 2011.
I wrote this short piece on the music of Morton Feldman for American Sublime, a festival of Feldman's late works presented by Bowerbird in June 2011.
Eliane Radigue: An Introduction (2010)
This text was published in the program notes for the American premiere of Eliane Radigue's three-part Naldjorlak cycle, which was presented by Bowerbird on September 24, 2010.
The Echo of Nature: Sound Technology and the Re-enchantment of the World (2008)
In this paper I chart three historically overlapping phases in the historical relationship between musical sound, the natural world, and the instruments that mediate between the two. The text was heavily influenced by my reading of Douglas Kahn's book Noise Water Meat.
In this paper I chart three historically overlapping phases in the historical relationship between musical sound, the natural world, and the instruments that mediate between the two. The text was heavily influenced by my reading of Douglas Kahn's book Noise Water Meat.
"Wirkungen, nicht Werke": The Musical Aesthetics and Influence of Herder's Kalligone (2008)
Putting on my philosophical hat, in this paper I look at conceptions of musical sound and their aesthetic consequences in Germany around 1800. The paper concerns the opposing theories of Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottfried Herder.
Putting on my philosophical hat, in this paper I look at conceptions of musical sound and their aesthetic consequences in Germany around 1800. The paper concerns the opposing theories of Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottfried Herder.
Musica secundum imaginationem: Notation, Complexity, and Possibility in the Ars subtilior (2008)
Fascinated by the remarkable experiments in notation and musical form undertaken in the late medieval movement known as the Ars subtilior ("more subtle art"), I investigate both the history of music and the various attempts scholars have made to explain it.
Fascinated by the remarkable experiments in notation and musical form undertaken in the late medieval movement known as the Ars subtilior ("more subtle art"), I investigate both the history of music and the various attempts scholars have made to explain it.
Sound between Magic and Science: Toward an Understanding of Early Modern Aurality (2007)
Taking Francis Bacon's famous "sound-houses" passage from New Atlantis as my starting point, in this paper I explore the changing conceptions of music and sound amidst the emergence of experimental science and the birth of acoustics in the 17th century.
Taking Francis Bacon's famous "sound-houses" passage from New Atlantis as my starting point, in this paper I explore the changing conceptions of music and sound amidst the emergence of experimental science and the birth of acoustics in the 17th century.
Sibelius and the "Sound-Sheet": Orchestral Innovations in the Early 20th Century (2007)
I examine certain characteristic orchestral textures in the music of Jean Sibelius and suggest his influence on later movements in twentieth-century music, such as timbral layering and Klangkomposition.
I examine certain characteristic orchestral textures in the music of Jean Sibelius and suggest his influence on later movements in twentieth-century music, such as timbral layering and Klangkomposition.
"Iannis Xenakis' Kottos" (2006, in German)
A short analytical study of Xenakis' composition for solo cello, which I wrote while studying at the University of Cologne.
A short analytical study of Xenakis' composition for solo cello, which I wrote while studying at the University of Cologne.
"To Blast away the Things that Block Men's Ears": Adorno's Relevance for Contemporary Music (2004)
My senior thesis at New College of Florida was study of the musical aesthetics of the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno. I also examine critiques of Adorno by Peter Bürger and Jürgen Habermas and the continuing engagement with his legacy in movements such as Fluxus and the Scratch Orchestra and the music of composers Brian Ferneyhough and Wolfgang Rihm.
My senior thesis at New College of Florida was study of the musical aesthetics of the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno. I also examine critiques of Adorno by Peter Bürger and Jürgen Habermas and the continuing engagement with his legacy in movements such as Fluxus and the Scratch Orchestra and the music of composers Brian Ferneyhough and Wolfgang Rihm.
