Table Of ContentTreatise on Musical Objects
An Essay across Disciplines
Pierre Schaeff er
Translated by Christine North and John Dack
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Th e publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the
Ahmanson Foundation Humanities Endowment Fund of the
University of California Press Foundation.
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Treatise on Musical Objects
CALIFORNIA STUDIES IN 20TH-CENTURY MUSIC
Richard Taruskin, General Editor
1. R evealing Masks: Exotic Infl uences and Ritualized Performance in Modernist Music Th eater,
by W. Anthony Sheppard
2. R ussian Opera and the Symbolist Movement, by Simon Morrison
3. G erman Modernism: Music and the Arts, by Walter Frisch
4. N ew Music, New Allies: American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour
to Reunifi cation, by Amy Beal
5. B artók, Hungary, and the Renewal of Tradition: Case Studies in the Intersection of Modernity
and Nationality, by David E. Schneider
6. C lassic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism, by Mary E. Davis
7. M usic Divided: Bartók’s Legacy in Cold War Culture, by Danielle Fosler-Lussier
8. J ewish Identities: Nationalism, Racism, and Utopianism in Twentieth-Century Art Music, by
Klára Móricz
9. B recht at the Opera, by Joy H. Calico
10. Beautiful Monsters: Imagining the Classic in Musical Media, by Michael Long
11. E xperimentalism Otherwise: Th e New York Avant-Garde and Its Limits, by Benjamin Piekut
12. M usic and the Elusive Revolution: Cultural Politics and Political Culture in France, 1968–1981,
by Eric Drott
13. M usic and Politics in San Francisco: From the 1906 Quake to the Second World War, by
Leta E. Miller
14. Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West, by Beth E. Levy
15. I n Search of a Concrete Music, by Pierre Schaeff er, translated by Christine North and
John Dack
16. Th e Musical Legacy of Wartime France, by Leslie A. Sprout
17. Arnold Schoenberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw” in Postwar Europe, by Joy H. Calico
18. M usic in America’s Cold War Diplomacy, by Danielle Fosler-Lussier
19. M aking New Music in Cold War Poland: Th e Warsaw Autumn Festival, 1956–1968, by
Lisa Jakelski
20. Treatise on Musical Objects: An Essay across Disciplines, by Pierre Schaeff er, translated by
Christine North and John Dack
Treatise on Musical Objects
An Essay across Disciplines
Pierre Schaeff er
Translated by Christine North and John Dack
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information,
visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
A translation commissioned by the Groupe de recherches musicales of the
National Audiovisual Institute of France (Ina-GRM) with an editorial team
formed by: Marc Battier, Leigh Landy, Daniel Teruggi, and Valerie
Vivancos.
© 2017 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Originally published as Traité des objets musicaux: Essai interdisciplines
© Editions du Seuil, 1966
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schaeff er, Pierre, 1910–1995, author. | North, Christine, translator. |
Dack, John, translator.
Title: Treatise on musical objects : an essay across disciplines / Pierre
Schaeff er ; translated by Christine North and John Dack.
Other titles: Traité des objets musicaux. English
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2017] |
Series: California studies in 20th-century music ; 20 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2016052008 (print) | lccn 2016055109 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520294295 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780520294301 (pbk. : alk.
paper) | isbn 9780520967465 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Music—Philosophy and aesthetics.
Classifi cation: lcc ml3800.s252 t713 (print) | lcc ml3800.s252 (ebook) |
ddc 781.1—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052008
Manufactured in the United States of America
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of my violinist father,
whose precept was:
“Work at your instrument.”
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contents
Th e Treatise on Musical Objects and the GRM, by Daniel Teruggi xv
Translators’ Introduction, by Christine North xxi
Pierre Schaeff er’s Treatise on Musical Objects and Music Th eory,
by John Dack xxix
Acknowledgments xxxv
Preface xxxvii
Introductory Remarks: Th e Historical Situation of Music 1
Need for a Reappraisal, 1 • Th ree New Phenomena, 2 • Th e
Th ree Dead Ends of Musicology, 4 • A Priori Music, 5 • Musique
Concrète, 7 • Experimental Music, 8 • No-Man’s-Land, 10 • Divergence of
Disciplines, 11 • Music as Interdiscipline, 12 • Resources for Musical
Experimentation, 14 • Th e Aims of Musical Experimentation:
Objects, Structures, Languages, 15 • Musical Research, 17
book one. making music
1. Th e Instrumental Prerequisite 23
1. Homo Faber or Homo Sapiens, 23 • 2. Neanderthal Music, 24 • 3. Th e
Instrumental Paradox: Th e Birth of Music, 24 • 4. From the Instrument
to the Work, 25 • 5. From the Instrument to the Musical Domain: Musical
Civilizations, 26 • 6. Concrete and Abstract in Music, 27 • 7. Registers
and Musical Domains, 28 • 8. Limitations of “Musical Catechisms,” 30
