The Oxford Handbook of Timbre (Oxford Handbooks)

Despite its importance as a central feature of musical sounds, timbre has rarely stood in the limelight. First defined in the eighteenth century, denigrated during the nineteenth, the concept of timbre came into its own during the twentieth century and its fascination with synthesizers and electronic music-or so the story goes. But in fact, timbre cuts across all the boundaries that make up musical thought-combining scientific and artistic approaches to music, material and philosophical aspects, and historical and theoretical perspectives. Timbre challenges us to fundamentally reorganize the way we think about music. The twenty-five essays that make up this collection offer a variety of engagements with music from the perspective of timbre. The boundaries are set as broad as possible: from ancient Homeric sounds to contemporary sound installations, from birdsong to cochlear implants, from Tuvan overtone singing to the tv show The Voice , from violin mutes to Moog synthesizers. What unifies the essays across this vast diversity is the material starting point of the sounding object. This focus on the listening experience is radical departure from the musical work that has traditionally dominated musical discourse since its academic inception in late-nineteenth-century Europe. Timbre remains a slippery concept that has continuously demanded more, be it more precise vocabulary, a more systematic theory, or more rigorous analysis. Rooted in the psychology of listening, timbre consistently resists pinning complete down. This collection of essays provides an invitation for further engagement with the range of fascinating questions that timbre opens up. About the Editors 6 Contents 8 List of Contributors 12 Acknowledgments 14 About the Companion Website 16 INTRODUCTION 18 1. Timbre: Alternative Histories and Possible Futures for the Study of Music • Emily I. Dolan and Alexander Rehding 20 PART I: PHILOSOPHIES 38 2. The Matter of Timbre: Listening, Genealogy, Sound • Daniel Villegas Vélez 40 3. Deconstruction and Timbre • Naomi Waltham-Smith 70 4. Timbrality: The Vibrant Aesthetics of Tone Color • Isabella van Elferen 86 5. Qur’an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation • Peter McMurray 110 6.1. Translations: Adorno and Dahlhaus • Thomas Patteson 138 6.2. The Function of Timbre in Music (1966) • Theodor W. Adorno 142 6.3. On the Theory of Instrumentation (1985) • Carl Dahlhaus 188 PART II: HISTORIES AND CULTURES 198 7. Ethereal Timbres • Emily I. Dolan and Thomas Patteson 200 8. Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva • Theodore Levin and Valentina Süzükei 222 9. Tracing Timbre in Ancient Greece • Naomi Weiss 246 10. Early Modern Voices • Bettina Varwig 266 11. Timbre Before Timbre: Listening to the Effects of Organ Stops, Violin Mutes, and Piano Pedals ca. 1650–1800 • Deirdre Loughridge 286 12. Schoenberg as Sound Student: Pierrot’s Klang • Joseph Auner 308 13. Futurist Timbres: Listening Failure in Milan, 1909–1914 • Gavin Williams 338 PART III: TECHNOLOGIES 362 14. Timbral Thievery: Synthesizers and Sonic Materiality • Jonathan De Souza 364 15. Timbre/Techne • Alexander Rehding 398 16. Technology and Timbre: Features of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789–1914) • Elizabeth Bradley Strauchen-Scherer 422 17. Don’t Choose the Nightingale: Timbre, Index, and Birdsong in Respighi’s Pini di Roma • Arman Schwartz 450 18. The Naturalization of Timbre: Two Case Studies • Alexandra Hui 482 19. Music for Cochlear Implants • Stefan Helmreich 502 PART IV: PERCEPTION AND ANALYSIS 512 20. Perceptual Processes in Orchestration • Meghan Goodchild and Stephen McAdams 514 21. Timbre as Harmony—Harmony as Timbre • Robert Hasegawa 542 22. Timbre and Polyphony in Balinese Gamelan • Michael Tenzer 570 23. Describing Sound: The Cognitive Linguistics of Timbre • Zachary Wallmark and Roger A. Kendall 596 24. Timbre, Komplexeindruck, and Modernity: Klangfarbe as a Catalyst of Psychological Research in Carl Stumpf, 1890–1926 • Sebastian Klotz 626 25. Pitch vs. Timbre • Daniel K. S. Walden 658 26. “Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?”: Racialized Timbre as Narrative Arc • Nina Sun Eidsheim and Schuyler Whelden 694 Index 718 Pathways & Trajectories : A Guide to the Organization and Use of This Book -- Ethereal Timbres / Emily Dolan and Thomas Patteson -- Deconstruction and Timbre / Naomi Waltham-Smith -- Timbrality : The Vibrant Aesthetics of Tone Color / Isabella van Elferen -- Qur'an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation / Peter McMurray -- The Matter of Timbre : Listening, Genealogy, Sound / Daniel Villegas Vélez -- Translations / Gage Averill -- 'Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?' : Racialized Timbre as Narrative Arc / Nina Sun Eidsheim and Schuyler Whelden -- Music for Cochlear Implants / Stefan Helmreich -- Schoenberg as Sound Student : Pierrot's Klang / Joseph Auner -- Pitch vs. Timbre / Daniel Walden -- Tracing Timbre in Ancient Greece / Naomi Weiss -- Early Modern Voices / Bettina Varwig -- Timbre Before Timbre : Listening to the Effects of Organ Stops, Violin Mutes and Piano Pedals c. 1650-1800 / Deirdre Loughridge -- Futurist Timbres : Listening Failure in Milan / Gavin Williams -- Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva / Theodore Levin and Valentina Süzükei -- Timbral Thievery : Synthesizers and Sonic Materiality / Jonathan De Souza -- Timbre/Techne / Alexander Rehding -- Complex Impression and Klangfarbe : Timbre as a Catalyst of Carl Stumpf's Psychological Research / Sebastian Klotz -- Don't Choose the Nightingale : Timbre, Index, and Birdsong in Respighi's "Pini di Roma" / Arman Schwartz -- The Naturalization of Timbre : Two Case Studies / Alexandra Hui -- Perceptual Processes in Orchestration / Meghan Goodchild and Stephen McAdams -- Timbre as Harmony-Harmony as Timbre / Robert Hasegawa -- Timbre and Polyphony in Balinese Gamelan / Michael Tenzer -- Describing Sound : the Cognitive Linguistics of Timbre / Zachary Wallmark and Roger A. Kendall -- Technology and Timbre : Features of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789-1914) / Elizabeth Bradley Strauchen-Scherer Pathways et Trajectories : A Guide to the Organization and Use of This Book -- Ethereal Timbres / Emily Dolan and Thomas Patteson -- Deconstruction and Timbre / Naomi Waltham-Smith -- Timbrality : The Vibrant Aesthetics of Tone Color / Isabella van Elferen -- Qur'an Alphabetics and the Timbre of Recitation / Peter McMurray -- The Matter of Timbre : Listening, Genealogy, Sound / Daniel Villegas Vélez -- Translations / Gage Averill -- 'Where Were You When You Found Out Singer Bobby Caldwell Was White?' : Racialized Timbre as Narrative Arc / Nina Sun Eidsheim and Schuyler Whelden -- Music for Cochlear Implants / Stefan Helmreich -- Schoenberg as Sound Student : Pierrot's Klang / Joseph Auner -- Pitch vs. Timbre / Daniel Walden -- Tracing Timbre in Ancient Greece / Naomi Weiss -- Early Modern Voices / Bettina Varwig -- Timbre Before Timbre : Listening to the Effects of Organ Stops, Violin Mutes and Piano Pedals c. 1650-1800 / Deirdre Loughridge -- Futurist Timbres : Listening Failure in Milan / Gavin Williams -- Timbre-Centered Listening in the Soundscape of Tuva / Theodore Levin and Valentina Süzükei -- Timbral Thievery : Synthesizers and Sonic Materiality / Jonathan De Souza -- Timbre/Techne / Alexander Rehding -- Complex Impression and Klangfarbe : Timbre as a Catalyst of Carl Stumpf's Psychological Research / Sebastian Klotz -- Don't Choose the Nightingale : Timbre, Index, and Birdsong in Respighi's "Pini di Roma" / Arman Schwartz -- The Naturalization of Timbre : Two Case Studies / Alexandra Hui -- Perceptual Processes in Orchestration / Meghan Goodchild and Stephen McAdams -- Timbre as Harmony-Harmony as Timbre / Robert Hasegawa -- Timbre and Polyphony in Balinese Gamelan / Michael Tenzer -- Describing Sound : the Cognitive Linguistics of Timbre / Zachary Wallmark and Roger A. Kendall -- Technology and Timbre : Features of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789-1914) / Elizabeth Bradley Strauchen-Scherer This Handbook Is Currently In Development, With Individual Articles Publishing Online In Advance Of Print Publication. At This Time, We Cannot Add Information About Unpublished Articles In This Handbook, However The Table Of Contents Will Continue To Grow As Additional Articles Pass Through The Review Process And Are Added To The Site. Please Note That The Online Publication Date For This Handbook Is The Date That The First Article In The Title Was Published Online. With essays covering an array of topics including ancient Homeric texts, contemporary sound installations, violin mutes, birdsong, and cochlear implants, this volume reveals the richness of what it means to think and talk about timbre and the materiality of the experience of sound