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Pierre Schaeffer Bibliography
compiled by Carlos Palombini
(Title 1 of 10)



I. Pierre Schaeffer. 1967. La musique concrète. [Musique Concrète]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France [108 boulevard Saint-Germain, 75279 Paris, Cedex 06, tel. +33 1 46.34.12.01, fax +33 1 46.34.65.41; as from 1 November 2000: 6 avenue Reille, 75014 Paris, tel. +33 1 58.10.31.00; URL http://www.puf.com]. Collection "Que sais-je?", vol. 1287. 128 pp. Out of print.

Aided by Pierre Janin, in the first part Schaeffer recounts his experiments with sound, from musique concrète to recherche musicale. This is often done through quotation of and commentary on his own texts, which not seldom appear abridged and rephrased. Aided by David Rissin, Luc Ferrari and Edgardo Canton, in the second part Schaeffer comments on the works of composers he deems representative of the concrete demarche. The freshness and vigor of such early writings as "Verités premières" (1938), "Technique et esthétique des arts-relais" (1941), "Esthétique et technique des arts-relais" (1941), "Notes sur l'expression radiophonique" (1946) and "Introduction à la musique concrète" (1950) as well as the dilacerating contradictions of Traité des objets musicaux (1966) are absent from La musique concrète, whose whole enterprise seems to be one of generalization and institutionalization. The fact that this is as much a title by Schaeffer as it is a title on him constitutes the book's greatest strength, and its greatest weakness too. An updated version appeared in 1973.

Table of Contents
 
Introduction
5
 
First Part:  Itinerary from the Concrete to the Experimental
 
Chapter I The Concrete Adventure
9
Chapter II The Finds of 1948
18
Chapter III The Concrete Flash of Inspiration (1953--57)
25
Chapter IV Music Research
33
Chapter V Practical Work
42
Chapter VI The Musical Discipline
52
 
Second Part: Authors and Works
 
Chapter I Three Precursors: Varèse, Cage, Messiaen 
61
Chapter II Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry
68
Chapter III Boulez, Xenakis, Stockhausen
81
Chapter IV Three Foreign Schools
86
Chapter V America
93
Chapter VI The Paris School (1951--58)
100
Chapter VII The Paris School (1958--60)
104
Chapter VIII The Paris School (1960--67)
114
 
Short Bibliography
125
Short Discography
126
 
Table of Contents
128




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Posted 13 September 2001.
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