Periodic Reporting for period 4 - DTHPS (Sound and Materialism in the 19th Century)
Période du rapport: 2020-03-01 au 2021-08-31
The project investigates a scientific and materialist perspective on music and sound in the 19th century. It aims to enlarge substantially our understanding of the dialogue between 19th-century music and natural science, examining in particular how a scientific-materialist conception of sound was formed alongside a dominant culture of romantic idealism.
The basic problem being addressed is that idealist metaphysics has exerted a disproportionate influence over the writing of the history of music during the 19th century: sound as disembodied and intangible, at once a philosophical monstrance and poetic tool of metaphysics. But sound was also regarded by writers as tangible, material and subject to physical laws. This has led to a blind spot in research, where these perspectives remain unintegrated.
The research is important for society because (i) we live in a new technological age in which sound objects, devices and technologies continue to change how we interact with sound, often with dizzying speed; by understanding better how this interaction took place in the past, we are better equipped to ground our knowledge of the present; (ii) historiographical writing on 19th-century music tends to neglect acoustic theory, the natural sciences, and the philosophy of materialism, all of which were powerful discourses; by excavating these sedimented fields of knowledge and integrating them with music-driven discourses, we will help redress this problem and seek to achieve a more integrated view of musical and scientific culture for the period; (iii) writings in the History and Philosophy of Science have not typically integrated with musicology well (with one or two notable exceptions), and this project seeks to bridge the disciplinary divide through its personnel, outputs, and events.
The project’s overall objections, therefore, are:
- to pursue lines of research that can integrate the historical discourses of natural science and music for the period
- to establish an intellectual framework for philosophical materialism that can account for both idealist and materialist metaphysics of sound
- to investigate the role of sound for scientists and mathematicians working on everything from Heat (Fourier) to physiology (Müller) and animals anatomy (Leopardi)
- to establish for the first time a cultural history of the sine wave, as the mathematical emblem of sound
- to pursue research into alternative histories of listening, and other modes of perception
- to probe the gap between silent objects of auditory signification (from manuscripts to resonators), and the actual sensations of sound.
- to examine the means and manner of interaction between materiality and sound in all its manifestations for the period.
The basic problem being addressed is that idealist metaphysics has exerted a disproportionate influence over the writing of the history of music during the 19th century: sound as disembodied and intangible, at once a philosophical monstrance and poetic tool of metaphysics. But sound was also regarded by writers as tangible, material and subject to physical laws. This has led to a blind spot in research, where these perspectives remain unintegrated.
The research is important for society because (i) we live in a new technological age in which sound objects, devices and technologies continue to change how we interact with sound, often with dizzying speed; by understanding better how this interaction took place in the past, we are better equipped to ground our knowledge of the present; (ii) historiographical writing on 19th-century music tends to neglect acoustic theory, the natural sciences, and the philosophy of materialism, all of which were powerful discourses; by excavating these sedimented fields of knowledge and integrating them with music-driven discourses, we will help redress this problem and seek to achieve a more integrated view of musical and scientific culture for the period; (iii) writings in the History and Philosophy of Science have not typically integrated with musicology well (with one or two notable exceptions), and this project seeks to bridge the disciplinary divide through its personnel, outputs, and events.
The project’s overall objections, therefore, are:
- to pursue lines of research that can integrate the historical discourses of natural science and music for the period
- to establish an intellectual framework for philosophical materialism that can account for both idealist and materialist metaphysics of sound
- to investigate the role of sound for scientists and mathematicians working on everything from Heat (Fourier) to physiology (Müller) and animals anatomy (Leopardi)
- to establish for the first time a cultural history of the sine wave, as the mathematical emblem of sound
- to pursue research into alternative histories of listening, and other modes of perception
- to probe the gap between silent objects of auditory signification (from manuscripts to resonators), and the actual sensations of sound.
- to examine the means and manner of interaction between materiality and sound in all its manifestations for the period.
PI has researched the following major fields:
- printed source material available on discourses of materialism from 1840s to 1880s
- the phenomenon of ultrasonics, their material existence and perception
- the role of phrenology in music education, theories of the creative process, and material / mechanical cognition.
- a ground-breaking study of a fragmentary manuscript by Franz Liszt, ostensibly as a case study in the gap between tactile sonic object and sensation, but which
had unexpected results (see below)
- 19th-century texts in comparative anatomy in their relation to listening and discourses of ‘hearing differently’
- empirical methods for recreating historical train sounds prior to sound recording
Alongside over thirty peer-reviewed chapters and articles, three monographs were published:
[1] E. Gillin, _Sound Authorities_ (Chicago University Press, 2021)
[2] M. Kromhout, _The Logic of Filtering_ (Oxford University Press, 2021)
[3] E. Gillin, _The Victorian Palace of Science_ (Cambridge University Press, 2017)
Collectively, these explored: the role of sound within the natural sciences in Great Britain; the mathematical dimension of sounds, in its intersection with human physiology; attempts by physicists, musicians and instrument makers to hear beyond 20,000Hz between 1860-90, and genealogies with transhumanist discourses; the role of phrenology in Anglo-German theories of music pedagogy; acoustic simulations of train sounds prior to sound recording; reciprocal relations between mechanical players pianos and human bodies.
Two edited collections resulted:
[1] _Nineteenth-Century Opera and the Scientific Imagination_: 14 chapters offering path-breaking research on studies of stage machinery, sound and hypnotism, auditory prosthesis, and medical studies of hearing loss.
[2] _Acoustics of Empire: Sound, Media & Power in the Long 19th Century_: 12 chapters drawing together work in sound studies, 19th-century studies and postcolonial studies to raise new questions about the forms and circulation of cultural, technological and military power as manifest in and through sound.
The project has been proactive in fostering interactions between scholars through international conferences:
• ‘After Idealism’ (Cambridge, 2017). A special issue of _19th-Century Music_, published selected papers from this event.
• ‘Acoustics of Empire’, Cambridge / Berlin / Harvard (2018). These three cumulative events resulted in an edited volume with OUP.
• ‘Sensing the Sonic: Histories of Hearing Differently,’ (Cambridge, 2018). With talks from leading figures in sound studies, all talks were uploaded to the project site.
And co-organised events:
• ‘Music and the body Between Revolutions’ (31 March 2017), with Columbia Society of Fellows
• ‘The Audible Spectrum: Sound Studies, Cultures of Listening and Sound Art’ (7-9 June 2018), with Université Paris 8 and Philharmonie de Paris.
Unexpected outcomes:
The PI's research into the agency of sonic objects (specifically the gap between a tactile sonic objects and auditory sensation), resulted in the discovery that a manuscript deemed fragmentary and illegible in fact contained the full, continuous draft of the first act of an Italian opera by Franz Liszt.
The result was an international success story with major international exposure. The PI produced the first critical edition of the music (Neue Liszt Ausgabe), and orchestrated it according to Liszt’s cues and instructions in the manuscript to create a performing edition (Schott Music). This work resulted in the recovery of an entirely unknown opera by a major composer not known for opera. It ‘changes music history’ (The Times). The world premiere took place in Weimar with an international cast of singers on 19 August 2018. Since then the opera’s performances, in Germany, Italy, Austrian, America, and Serbia, have garnered worldwide attention, reaching c. 789 million people: https://www.cam.ac.uk/Lisztopera
The research has been disseminated extensively via media (CD, online research documentary, trailers), news coverage, and concert performances.
- printed source material available on discourses of materialism from 1840s to 1880s
- the phenomenon of ultrasonics, their material existence and perception
- the role of phrenology in music education, theories of the creative process, and material / mechanical cognition.
- a ground-breaking study of a fragmentary manuscript by Franz Liszt, ostensibly as a case study in the gap between tactile sonic object and sensation, but which
had unexpected results (see below)
- 19th-century texts in comparative anatomy in their relation to listening and discourses of ‘hearing differently’
- empirical methods for recreating historical train sounds prior to sound recording
Alongside over thirty peer-reviewed chapters and articles, three monographs were published:
[1] E. Gillin, _Sound Authorities_ (Chicago University Press, 2021)
[2] M. Kromhout, _The Logic of Filtering_ (Oxford University Press, 2021)
[3] E. Gillin, _The Victorian Palace of Science_ (Cambridge University Press, 2017)
Collectively, these explored: the role of sound within the natural sciences in Great Britain; the mathematical dimension of sounds, in its intersection with human physiology; attempts by physicists, musicians and instrument makers to hear beyond 20,000Hz between 1860-90, and genealogies with transhumanist discourses; the role of phrenology in Anglo-German theories of music pedagogy; acoustic simulations of train sounds prior to sound recording; reciprocal relations between mechanical players pianos and human bodies.
Two edited collections resulted:
[1] _Nineteenth-Century Opera and the Scientific Imagination_: 14 chapters offering path-breaking research on studies of stage machinery, sound and hypnotism, auditory prosthesis, and medical studies of hearing loss.
[2] _Acoustics of Empire: Sound, Media & Power in the Long 19th Century_: 12 chapters drawing together work in sound studies, 19th-century studies and postcolonial studies to raise new questions about the forms and circulation of cultural, technological and military power as manifest in and through sound.
The project has been proactive in fostering interactions between scholars through international conferences:
• ‘After Idealism’ (Cambridge, 2017). A special issue of _19th-Century Music_, published selected papers from this event.
• ‘Acoustics of Empire’, Cambridge / Berlin / Harvard (2018). These three cumulative events resulted in an edited volume with OUP.
• ‘Sensing the Sonic: Histories of Hearing Differently,’ (Cambridge, 2018). With talks from leading figures in sound studies, all talks were uploaded to the project site.
And co-organised events:
• ‘Music and the body Between Revolutions’ (31 March 2017), with Columbia Society of Fellows
• ‘The Audible Spectrum: Sound Studies, Cultures of Listening and Sound Art’ (7-9 June 2018), with Université Paris 8 and Philharmonie de Paris.
Unexpected outcomes:
The PI's research into the agency of sonic objects (specifically the gap between a tactile sonic objects and auditory sensation), resulted in the discovery that a manuscript deemed fragmentary and illegible in fact contained the full, continuous draft of the first act of an Italian opera by Franz Liszt.
The result was an international success story with major international exposure. The PI produced the first critical edition of the music (Neue Liszt Ausgabe), and orchestrated it according to Liszt’s cues and instructions in the manuscript to create a performing edition (Schott Music). This work resulted in the recovery of an entirely unknown opera by a major composer not known for opera. It ‘changes music history’ (The Times). The world premiere took place in Weimar with an international cast of singers on 19 August 2018. Since then the opera’s performances, in Germany, Italy, Austrian, America, and Serbia, have garnered worldwide attention, reaching c. 789 million people: https://www.cam.ac.uk/Lisztopera
The research has been disseminated extensively via media (CD, online research documentary, trailers), news coverage, and concert performances.
Research beyond the state of the art:
The rediscovery of a signifiant opera, lost for 170 years, by a major composer not associated with opera; the performance and worldwide dissemination of this previously unheard music: https://www.sardanapalo.org
Research documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEqRAdUEO2E
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edi_S1rkYKA
* first Anglo-German study of phrenology & music c.1820
* unprecedented article on transhumanism, prosthetic hearing and ultrasonics in the 19th century
* first study of pitch regularion & mathematical waveforms c. 1860
The rediscovery of a signifiant opera, lost for 170 years, by a major composer not associated with opera; the performance and worldwide dissemination of this previously unheard music: https://www.sardanapalo.org
Research documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEqRAdUEO2E
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edi_S1rkYKA
* first Anglo-German study of phrenology & music c.1820
* unprecedented article on transhumanism, prosthetic hearing and ultrasonics in the 19th century
* first study of pitch regularion & mathematical waveforms c. 1860