A History of the Spectrum

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-49
Author(s):  
Victor Lazzarini

This chapter traces the history of spectral audio, from Ancient Greece to the 20th century. Looking first at the first studies of ratios and pitch and the establishment of the early musical scale systems, then through the development of musical instruments, the chapter discusses the most important achievements in musical acoustics that led to the modern concept of the spectrum. It discusses the ideas put forward by Classical Physics, which culminated in the work of Fourier. The seminal discoveries and ideas proposed by Helmholtz are covered in some detail and the chapter closes with an overview of acoustics and audio engineering in the 20th century, and the development of electronic and computer music.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (16) ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Wróblewska

The keyboard instrument MNP I 49 from the Museum of Musical Instruments in Poznań has not been a subject of detailed academic studies yet, but there have been mentions of it in various types of publications throughout the years. The item is currently placed in the exhibition hall devoted to the art of the Baroque era in the Museum of Applied Arts in Poznań. It is a unique historical item in the Polish collection due to a very scarce number of harpsichords preserved in Poland. This situation is mainly a result of two world wars in the 20th century. Due to not enough available sources, the exact time of the creation of the instrument and the name of its builder were impossible to determine. The aim of the present article was to compile and arrange previous knowledge about the historical item MNP I 49. The work lists source materials and publications in which the instrument was mentioned, such as documents from the National Archive in Poznań, Raczyński Library in Poznań and National Museum Archive in Poznań. Based on the available source materials, the author was able to determine that the harpsichord appeared at the Skórzewski family’s palace in Czerniejewo before 1855.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Frid

Current advancements in music technology enable the creation of customized Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs). This paper presents a systematic review of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) in inclusive music practice. History of research concerned with facilitating inclusion in music-making is outlined, and current state of developments and trends in the field are discussed. Although the use of music technology in music therapy contexts has attracted more attention in recent years, the topic has been relatively unexplored in Computer Music literature. This review investigates a total of 113 publications focusing on ADMIs. Based on the 83 instruments in this dataset, ten control interface types were identified: tangible controllers, touchless controllers, Brain–Computer Music Interfaces (BCMIs), adapted instruments, wearable controllers or prosthetic devices, mouth-operated controllers, audio controllers, gaze controllers, touchscreen controllers and mouse-controlled interfaces. The majority of the AMDIs were tangible or physical controllers. Although the haptic modality could potentially play an important role in musical interaction for many user groups, relatively few of the ADMIs (14.5%) incorporated vibrotactile feedback. Aspects judged to be important for successful ADMI design were instrument adaptability and customization, user participation, iterative prototyping, and interdisciplinary development teams.


Manuskripta ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Ilham Nurwansah

Abstract: Until the early 20th century, the Sundanese region was considered to have no musical history, even though such information contained, among others, the Old Sundanese script. Not many researches on the history of Sundanese music have used Old Sundanese textual sources. This paper discusses aspects of instrumental music found in Old Sundanese texts including terms used to refer to music and the types of musical instruments used. The sources used are Old Sundanese texts from the pre-Islamic period between the 15th and 17th centuries AD. Several Old Sundanese musical instruments are still known and used today with or without changes. Others are no longer known. Old Sundanese musical instruments are played alone or in groups, either on a stage or a parade. Its function is to accompany entertainment and also to accompany the ritual process. The basic material for the body of the musical instrument used is generally bronze metal and wood, including bamboo. --- Abstrak: Hingga awal abad ke-20 wilayah Sunda dianggap tidak memiliki sejarah musik, padahal informasi demikian antara lain terdapat dalam naskah Sunda Kuna. Penelitian sejarah musik Sunda pun tampaknya belum banyak yang menggunakan sumber tekstual Sunda Kuna. Tulisan ini membahas aspek-aspek musik instrumental yang terdapat pada teks-teks Sunda Kuna mencakup istilah yang digunakan untuk menyebut musik dan jenis-jenis alat musik yang digunakan. Sumber-sumber yang digunakan yaitu teks Sunda Kuna dari masa pra-Islam antara abad ke-15 sampai abad ke-17 M. Beberapa instrumen musik Sunda Kuna masih dikenal dan digunakan hingga sekarang dengan atau tanpa perubahan. Sebagian lainnya sudah tidak dikenal. Instrumen musik Sunda kuna ada yang dimainkan sendiri maupun berkelompok, baik pada sebuah panggung maupun parade. Fungsinya untuk mengiringi hiburan dan juga mengiringi proses ritual. Bahan dasar badan alat musik yang digunakan umumnya berupa logam perunggu dan kayu-kayuan, termasuk bambu. Keywords: Old Sundanese, music, instrumental. Kata Kunci: Sunda Kuna, musik, instrumental.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Kahn

This article investigates the increasingly prevalent discourse of ‘live cinema’ as the name of a concrete practice and conceptual aspiration within contemporary media aesthetics. The author argues that this oxymoronic conjunction encapsulates certain fundamental questions recurring throughout the history of 20th-century art in its increasingly important intersection with both media technology and performance. Contrasting contemporary digital ‘interfaces’ with classical musical instruments, he asks how traditional forms of embodiment and virtuosity have been transformed within contemporary audiovisual performance. Finally, he explores ideas of speed and the cut from Sergei Eisenstein’s film theory to explore Abigail Child’s 1983 film Mutiny as a work that, while not itself ‘Live Cinema’, sheds important light on what such a future aesthetic might conceivably entail.


2018 ◽  
pp. 663-678
Author(s):  
Yuri E. Kondakov ◽  

The article gives the first extensive review of the multivolume ‘Hermetic Library.’ It is stored in the Research Division of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library. This collection includes translations from European authors from Ancient Greece to the 18th century. Some manuscripts of the ‘Hermetic Library’ collection were believed by the Order of the Golden and Pink Cross to belong to the legendary Rosicrucians. The Order of the Golden and Pink Cross emerged in the 18th century within the Masonic movement. Until early 19th century the Order, mostly focused on alchemy, developed as a branch of Freemasonry. In 1782 the Order of the Golden and Pink Cross opened its subdivision in Russia. Having survived a number of prohibitions, the organization of Russian Rosicrucians continued until early 20th century. The ‘Hermetic Library’ is the largest literary heritage of Russian Rosicrucians. The ‘Hermetic Library’ was started by educator and book publisher N. I. Novikov in early 19th century. It was Europe’s largest collection of alchemical and Rosicrucian works of the time. The library was to be kept secret and be used for education of the Order members. Two collections of the library fell into hands of different groups of Rosicrucians. The Moscow collection was kept in Arsenyev's family. The Petersburg collection passed from hand to hand; in late 19th century it was put up for sale. Only after 1917 the two collections of the ‘Hermetic Library’ were acquired by libraries of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The study of the St. Petersburg collection shows that it was copied and translated by several Rosicrucians. After Novikov’s death in 1818, two different groups continued the library, and volumes following the 30th differ in content and design. Novikov’s library included manuscripts on the development of alchemy from Ancient Egypt and to 18th century Europe. They included the most important Rosicrucian works. 35 volumes of the St. Petersburg collection include 191 works. The volumes were compiled to insure consistent training of the Order adepts. The article analyses the St. Petersburg collection of the ‘Hermetic library.’ Within the frameworks of an article it is impossible to review the contents every volume. It offers a summary of the history of writing and storage of the library until the 20th century and an overview of the volumes’ design and layout, which allows to judge the overall design of the library. It also compares the St. Petersburg collection and the Moscow one.


2018 ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
M. М. Rohozha

The paper deals with socio-cultural factors, terminological collisions and modi of the idea of responsibility in the West European socio-cultural space. Main attention is paid to shaping of the idea of responsibility in socio-cultural circumstances of the mid of the 20th – the beginning of the 21st centuries. The first part of the paper outlines the preliminary history of the modern concept of responsibility, peculiarities of the problem in Aristotle’s "The Nicomachean Ethics" are observed as well as the idea of accountability (imputatio) in ethics of P. Abelard in modi of moral guilt and offense. It is mentioned that in Pre-modern culture idea of responsibility is developed in the context of the freedom of human action, one’s capability to keep an answer for one’s actions and to admit guilt. It is specified that in philosophy of Modernity the notion imputatio is represented in I. Kant’s philosophy. Although Kant did not put the problem of accountability as the cornstone of his philosophy, he had defined conditions for possibility of agent’s accountability in such a way that his ideas are at the background of the main conceptions of responsibility of the 20th century. Further in the paper development of the problem around the term Verantwortung (responsibility) is observed. In particular, M. Weber’s ethics of responsibility (in comparison to ethics of conviction) is analyzed. The paper pays attention to the of H. Arendt’s conception of lost generations, and grounds of the problem of responsibility actualization in the sense of life search of these generations are analyzed. The first part of the paper is finished by the analysis of the conception of guilt and responsibility by K. Jaspers who applied to the problem in the context of comprehension of the axiological space of postwar Germany.


2004 ◽  
pp. 142-157
Author(s):  
M. Voeikov ◽  
S. Dzarasov

The paper written in the light of 125th birth anniversary of L. Trotsky analyzes the life and ideas of one of the most prominent figures in the Russian history of the 20th century. He was one of the leaders of the Russian revolution in its Bolshevik period, worked with V. Lenin and played a significant role in the Civil War. Rejected by the party bureaucracy L. Trotsky led uncompromising struggle against Stalinism, defending his own understanding of the revolutionary ideals. The authors try to explain these events in historical perspective, avoiding biases of both Stalinism and anticommunism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (11) ◽  

The authors present an outline of the development of thyroid surgery from the ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century, when the definitive surgical technique have been developed and the physiologic and pathopfysiologic consequences of thyroid resections have been described. The key representatives, as well as the contribution of the most influential czech surgeons are mentioned.


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