The origin of musical instruments : an ethnological introduction to the history of instrumental music

Author(s)
Bibliographic Information

The origin of musical instruments : an ethnological introduction to the history of instrumental music

by André Schaeffner ; edited and translated by Rachelle Taylor, Ariadne Lih, Emelyn Lih

(Classic European studies in the science of music)

Routledge, 2020

  • : hbk

Other Title

Origine des instruments de musique : introduction ethnologique à l'histoire de la musique instrumentale

Search this Book/Journal
Note

Originally published by Payot in 1936

Includes bibliographical reference (p. [328] -362) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The work of French musicologist, ethnologist, curator, and critic Andre Schaeffner (1895 - 1980) grew naturally out of his first organological studies of the history of Western classical instruments in the late 1920s and came to be encapsulated in his monumental and wide-ranging Origine des instruments de musique, the fruit of labour in Paris and in the field between 1931 and 1936. Almost 80 years after its first publication, the scientific relevance and influence of Schaeffner's primary hypothesis - that the origins of music can be traced to the human body through gesture, dance, and the movements involved in the use of musical instruments and their ancestor tools - remains pertinent in fields which have returned to informed speculative and empirical research on the origins of music. This first English edition is accompanied by editorial footnotes and introductory texts, and the influence of Schaeffner's thought on several generations of musicologists makes his work an essential piece of reading for ethnomusicologists, music psychologists, organologists and musicologists interested in the history of their field. Schaeffner's text is an intellectual link between the studies of Hornbostel and Sachs and the contrasting research of later generations, notably figures with which he had direct contact, such as John Blacking and Simha Arom. More than a simple field guide and system of classification, the Origin of Musical Instruments is also a profound reflection on the nature and origins of music and musical activity, as well as the place of that activity in human society.

Table of Contents

Editors' and Translators' Notes Rachelle Taylor, Ariadne Lih, Emelyn Lih Prefatory Remarks Jean-Jacques Nattiez Preface to the Original Edition Andre Schaeffner 1 Origins of Musical Instruments in the Human Body 2 From Dance Jingles to Castanets 3 From Stamping Tubes to Xylophones 4 The Organology of Theater 5 Working and Playing 6 Religion and Magic 7 Solid Bodies: Rigid, Flexible, or Tensioned 8 A Genealogy of String Instruments 9 Air Instruments 10 Instruments, the Evolution of Music, and the History of Civilization

by "Nielsen BookData"

Related Books: 1-1 of 1
Details
  • NCID
    BC03901304
  • ISBN
    • 9781472463999
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Original Language Code
    fre
  • Place of Publication
    London
  • Pages/Volumes
    xlvi, 372 p., xxxii p. of plates
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
Page Top