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Treatise on Musical Objects An Essay across Disciplines
Pierre Schaeffer Translated by Christine North and John Dack
UNIVERSIT Y OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
The 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. Revealing Masks: Exotic Influences and Ritualized Performance in Modernist Music Theater, by W. Anthony Sheppard 2. Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement, by Simon Morrison 3. German Modernism: Music and the Arts, by Walter Frisch 4. New Music, New Allies: American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour to Reunification, by Amy Beal 5. Bartók, Hungary, and the Renewal of Tradition: Case Studies in the Intersection of Modernity and Nationality, by David E. Schneider 6. Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism, by Mary E. Davis 7. Music Divided: Bartók’s Legacy in Cold War Culture, by Danielle Fosler-Lussier 8. Jewish Identities: Nationalism, Racism, and Utopianism in Twentieth-Century Art Music, by Klára Móricz 9. Brecht at the Opera, by Joy H. Calico 10. Beautiful Monsters: Imagining the Classic in Musical Media, by Michael Long 11. Experimentalism Otherwise: The New York Avant-Garde and Its Limits, by Benjamin Piekut 12. Music and the Elusive Revolution: Cultural Politics and Political Culture in France, 1968–1981, by Eric Drott 13. Music 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. In Search of a Concrete Music, by Pierre Schaeffer, translated by Christine North and John Dack 16. The 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. Music in America’s Cold War Diplomacy, by Danielle Fosler-Lussier 19. Making New Music in Cold War Poland: The Warsaw Autumn Festival, 1956–1968, by Lisa Jakelski 20. Treatise on Musical Objects: An Essay across Disciplines, by Pierre Schaeffer, translated by Christine North and John Dack
Treatise on Musical Objects An Essay across Disciplines
Pierre Schaeffer Translated by Christine North and John Dack
UNIVERSIT Y 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 The 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: Schaeffer, Pierre, 1910–1995, author. | North, Christine, translator. | Dack, John, translator. Title: Treatise on musical objects : an essay across disciplines / Pierre Schaeffer ; 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. Identifiers: lccn 2016052008 (print) | lccn 2016055109 (ebook) | isbn 9780520294295 (cloth