Editing Musique concrète (section)

==History==

===Beginnings===
{{see also|Electroacoustic music|Tape music}}
In 1928 music critic André Cœuroy wrote in his book ''Panorama of Contemporary Music'' that "perhaps the time is not far off when a composer will be able to represent through recording, music specifically composed for the [[Phonograph|gramophone]]".<ref>{{harvp|Cœuroy|1928|p=162}}</ref> In the same period the American composer [[Henry Cowell]], in referring to the projects of [[Nikolai Lopatnikoff]], believed that "there was a wide field open for the composition of music for phonographic discs". This sentiment was echoed further in 1930 by [[Igor Stravinsky]], when he stated in the revue ''Kultur und Schallplatte'' that "there will be a greater interest in creating music in a way that will be peculiar to the gramophone record". The following year, 1931, [[Boris de Schlözer|Boris de Schloezer]] also expressed the opinion that one could write for the gramophone or for the [[Radio|wireless]] just as one can for the piano or the violin.<ref>{{harvp|Battier|2007|p=190}}</ref> Shortly after, German art theorist [[Rudolf Arnheim]] discussed the effects of microphonic recording in an essay entitled "Radio", published in 1936. In it the idea of a creative role for the recording medium was introduced and Arnheim stated that: "The rediscovery of the musicality of sound in noise and in language, and the reunification of music, noise and language in order to obtain a unity of material: that is one of the chief artistic tasks of radio".<ref>{{harvp|Battier|2007|p=193}}</ref>

Possible antecedents to musique concrète have been noted; [[Walter Ruttmann]]'s film ''Wochend'' (''Weekend'') (1930), a work of "blind cinema" without visuals,{{sfn|Kim-Cohen|2009|p=10}} introduced recordings of environmental sound, to represent the urban soundscape of [[Berlin]], two decades before musique concrète was formalised.{{sfn|Kim-Cohen|2009|p=10}}{{sfn|Roads|2015|p=248}} Ruttmann's soundtrack has been retrospectively called ''musique concrète''.{{sfn|Goehr|2008|p=329}} According to Seth Kim-Cohen the piece was the first to "organise 'concrete' sounds into a formal, artistic composition."{{sfn|Kim-Cohen|2009|p=10}} Composer [[Irwin Bazelon]] referred to a sound collage in the film ''[[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' (1931), during the first transformation scene, as "pre-musique concrète".{{sfn|Lerner|2009|p=56}} [[Ottorino Respighi]]'s ''[[Pines of Rome]]'' (1924) calls for a phonograph recording of [[Bird vocalization|birdsong]] to be played during the third movement.{{sfn|Rehding|Dolan|2021|p={{page needed|date=March 2024}}}}

===Pierre Schaeffer and Studio d'Essai===
{{main|Studio d'Essai}}
[[File:L430xH465 jpg Schaeffer big-2eb70.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pierre Schaeffer]] with the phonogène]]
In 1942, French composer and theoretician [[Pierre Schaeffer]] began his exploration of radiophony when he joined [[Jacques Copeau]] and his pupils in the foundation of the [[Studio d'Essai]] de la [[Radiodiffusion Nationale (France)|Radiodiffusion nationale]]. The studio originally functioned as a center for the [[French Resistance]] on radio, which in August 1944 was responsible for the first broadcasts in liberated Paris. It was here that Schaeffer began to experiment with creative radiophonic techniques using the sound technologies of the time.<ref name="Palombini-1993-p14">{{harvp|Palombini|1993|p=14}}</ref> In 1948 Schaeffer began to keep a set of journals describing his attempt to create a "symphony of noises".{{sfn|Schaeffer|1952a|loc=ch. Journal entry of March 1948}} These journals were published in 1952 as ''A la recherche d'une musique concrète'', and according to Brian Kane, author of ''Sound Unseen: Acousmatic Sound in Theory and Practice'', Schaeffer was driven by: "a compositional desire to construct music from concrete objects – no matter how unsatisfactory the initial results – and a theoretical desire to find a vocabulary, solfège, or method upon which to ground such music.{{sfn|Kane|2014}}

The development of Schaeffer's practice was informed by encounters with voice actors, and microphone usage and radiophonic art played an important part in inspiring and consolidating Schaeffer's conception of sound-based composition.<ref>{{harvp|Dack|1994|pp=3–11}}</ref> Another important influence on Schaeffer's practice was cinema, and the techniques of recording and montage, which were originally associated with cinematographic practice, came to "serve as the substrate of musique concrète". Marc Battier notes that, prior to Schaeffer, [[Jean Epstein]] drew attention to the manner in which sound recording revealed what was hidden in the act of basic acoustic listening. Epstein's reference to this "phenomenon of an epiphanic being", which appears through the transduction of sound, proved influential on Schaeffer's concept of reduced listening. Schaeffer would explicitly cite Jean Epstein with reference to his use of extra-musical sound material. Epstein had already imagined that "through the transposition of natural sounds, it becomes possible to create chords and dissonances, melodies and symphonies of noise, which are a new and specifically cinematographic music".<ref>{{harvp|Battier|2007|p=191}}</ref>

===Halim El-Dabh===
As a student in [[Cairo]] in the early to mid-1940s, Egyptian composer [[Halim El-Dabh]] began experimenting with electroacoustic music using a cumbersome [[Wire recording|wire recorder]]. He recorded the sounds of an ancient ''[[Zār|zaar]]'' ceremony and at the Middle East Radio studios processed the material using reverberation, echo, voltage controls, and re-recording. The resulting tape-based composition, entitled ''The Expression of Zaar'', was presented in 1944 at an art gallery event in Cairo. El-Dabh has described his initial activities as an attempt to unlock "the inner sound" of the recordings. While his early compositional work was not widely known outside of Egypt at the time, El-Dabh would eventually gain recognition for his influential work at the [[Computer Music Center|Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center]] in Manhattan in the late 1950s.<ref>{{harvp|Holmes|2008|pp=156–157}}</ref>

===Club d'Essai and ''Cinq études de bruits''===
Following Schaeffer's work with Studio d'Essai at Radiodiffusion Nationale during the early 1940s he was credited with originating the theory and practice of ''musique concrète.'' The Studio d'Essai was renamed Club d'Essai de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française{{cn|date=April 2024}} in 1946 and in the same year Schaeffer discussed, in writing, the question surrounding the transformation of time perceived through recording. The essay evidenced knowledge of sound manipulation techniques he would further exploit compositionally. In 1948 Schaeffer formally initiated "research in to noises" at the Club d'Essai<ref name="Palombini-1993-p14"/> and on 5 October 1948 the results of his initial experimentation were premiered at a concert given in Paris.<ref>{{harvp|Chion|1983}}</ref> Five works for [[phonograph]] – known collectively as ''[[Cinq études de bruits]]'' (Five Studies of Noises) including ''Étude violette'' (''Study in Purple'') and ''Étude aux chemins de fer'' (Study with Railroads) – were presented.

===Musique concrète===
By 1949 Schaeffer's compositional work was known publicly as ''musique concrète''.<ref name="Palombini-1993-p14"/> Schaeffer stated: "when I proposed the term 'musique concrète,' I intended&nbsp;… to point out an opposition with the way musical work usually goes. Instead of notating musical ideas on paper with the symbols of solfege and entrusting their realization to well-known instruments, the question was to collect concrete sounds, wherever they came from, and to abstract the musical values they were potentially containing".<ref>{{harvp|Reydellet|1996|p=10}}</ref> According to [[Pierre Henry]], "musique concrète was not a study of timbre, it is focused on envelopes, forms. It must be presented by means of non-traditional characteristics, you see&nbsp;… one might say that the origin of this music is also found in the interest in 'plastifying' music, of rendering it plastic like sculpture…musique concrète, in my opinion&nbsp;… led to a manner of composing, indeed, a new mental framework of composing".<ref>{{harvp|James|1981|p=79}}</ref> Schaeffer had developed an aesthetic that was centred upon the use of sound as a primary [[music composition|compositional]] resource. The aesthetic also emphasised the importance of play (''jeu'') in the practice of sound based composition. Schaeffer's use of the word ''jeu'', from the verb ''jouer'', carries the same double meaning as the English verb ''to play'': 'to enjoy oneself by interacting with one's surroundings', as well as 'to operate a musical instrument'.<ref>{{harvp|Dack|2002}}</ref> During this early development of music concrete, Schaeffer continued participation in his Club d’Essai. Prior to their collaboration on Timbres-Durées (1952), Schaeffer’s acquaintance and serialist composer, Olivier Messiaen, periodically participated in broadcasts, round tables, and critiques surrounding musique concrète.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A History of "Timbres-durées": Understanding Olivier Messiaen's role in Pierre Schaeffer's studio |url=https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details?uri=/00351601/v96i0001/117_ahouomripss.xml |journal=Revue de Musicologie |volume=96 |issue=1 |page=118}}</ref>

===Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète===
By 1951 the work of Schaeffer, composer-[[percussionist]] Pierre Henry, and sound engineer Jacques Poullin had received official recognition and the Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète, Club d 'Essai de la [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française]] was established at RTF in Paris, the ancestor of the [[ORTF]].<ref>{{harvp|Lange|2009|p=173}}</ref> At RTF the GRMC established the first purpose-built [[electroacoustic music]] studio. It quickly attracted many who either were or were later to become notable composers, including [[Olivier Messiaen]], [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Jean Barraqué]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[Edgard Varèse]], [[Iannis Xenakis]], [[Michel Philippot]], and [[Arthur Honegger]]. Compositional "output from 1951 to 1953 comprised ''Étude I'' (1951) and ''Étude II'' (1951) by Boulez, ''Timbres-durées'' (1952) by Messiaen, ''[[Konkrete Etüde|Étude aux mille collants]]'' (1952) by Stockhausen, ''Le microphone bien tempéré'' (1952) and ''La voile d'Orphée'' (1953) by Henry, ''Étude I'' (1953) by Philippot, ''Étude'' (1953) by Barraqué, the mixed pieces ''Toute la lyre'' (1951) and ''Orphée 53'' (1953) by Schaeffer/Henry, and the film music ''Masquerage'' (1952) by Schaeffer and ''Astrologie'' (1953) by Henry. In 1954 Varèse and Honegger visited to work on the tape parts of ''[[Déserts]]'' and ''La rivière endormie''".<ref name="Palombini-1999">{{harvp|Palombini|1999}}</ref>

In the early and mid 1950s Schaeffer's commitments to RTF included official missions that often required extended absences from the studios. This led him to invest Philippe Arthuys with responsibility for the GRMC in his absence, with Pierre Henry operating as Director of Works. Pierre Henry's composing talent developed greatly during this period at the GRMC and he worked with [[experimental film]]makers such as Max de Haas, [[Jean Grémillon]], Enrico Fulchignoni, and [[Jean Rouch]] and with [[choreography|choreographers]] including Dick Sanders and Maurice Béjart.<ref name="Gayou-2007a-p206">{{harvp|Gayou|2007a|p=206}}</ref> Schaeffer returned to run the group at the end of 1957, and immediately stated his disapproval of the direction the GRMC had taken. A proposal was then made to "renew completely the spirit, the methods and the personnel of the Group, with a view to undertake research and to offer a much needed welcome to young composers".<ref name="Gayou-2007a-p207">{{harvp|Gayou|2007a|p=207}}</ref>

===Groupe de Recherches Musicales===
Following the emergence of differences within the GRMC, Pierre Henry, Philippe Arthuys, and several of their colleagues, resigned in April 1958. Schaeffer created a new collective, called '''''Groupe de Recherches Musicales''''' (GRM) and set about recruiting new members including [[Luc Ferrari]], [[Beatriz Ferreyra]], [[François-Bernard Mâche]], [[Iannis Xenakis]], [[Bernard Parmegiani]], and [[Mireille Chamass-Kyrou]]. Later arrivals included [[Ivo Malec]], Philippe Carson, Romuald Vandelle, Edgardo Canton and [[François Bayle]].<ref name="Gayou-2007a-p207"/>

GRM was one of several theoretical and experimental groups working under the umbrella of the Schaeffer-led Service de la Recherche at ORTF (1960–1974). Together with the GRM, three other groups existed: the Groupe de Recherches Image GRI, the Groupe de Recherches Technologiques GRT and the Groupe de Recherches {{not typo|Langage}} which became the Groupe d'Etudes Critiques.<ref name="Gayou-2007a-p207"/> Communication was the one theme that unified the various groups, all of which were devoted to production and creation. In terms of the question "who says what to whom?" Schaeffer added "how?", thereby creating a platform for research into audiovisual communication and mass media, audible phenomena and music in general (including non-Western musics).<ref>{{harvp|Schaeffer|Reibel|1967|p=9}}</ref> At the GRM the theoretical teaching remained based on practice and could be summed up in the catch phrase ''do and listen''.<ref name="Gayou-2007a-p207"/>

Schaeffer kept up a practice established with the GRMC of delegating the functions (though not the title) of Group Director to colleagues. Since 1961 GRM has had six Group Directors: Michel Philippot (1960–1961), Luc Ferrari (1962–1963), Bernard Baschet and François Vercken (1964–1966). From the beginning of 1966, François Bayle took over the direction for the duration of thirty-one years, to 1997. He was then replaced by Daniel Teruggi.<ref name=Gayou-2007a-p206/>

===Traité des objets musicaux===
The group continued to refine Schaeffer's ideas and strengthened the concept of ''[[acousmatic music|musique acousmatique]]''.<ref>{{harvp|Peignot|1960|pp=111–123}}</ref> Schaeffer had borrowed the term [[acousmatic sound|acousmatic]] from [[Pythagoras]] and defined it as: "''Acousmatic, [[adjective]]: referring to a sound that one hears without seeing the causes behind it''".<ref>{{harvp|Schaeffer|1966|p=91}}</ref> In 1966 Schaeffer published the book ''Traité des objets musicaux'' (Treatise on Musical Objects) which represented the culmination of some 20 years of research in the field of ''musique concrète''. In conjunction with this publication, a set of sound recordings was produced, entitled ''Le solfège de l'objet sonore'' (Music Theory of the Acoustic Object), to provide examples of concepts dealt with in the treatise.