Les instruments de musique comme vecteurs d’imaginaire. L’exemple des Structures sonores Lasry-Baschet
In the early 1950s, the Baschet brothers embarked on an acoustic and organological exploration that would lead them to the creation of objects that were simultaneously sculptures and musical instruments. The promotion of the sounds produced by these instruments was positioned in direct opposition to...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
| Published: |
Université Gustave Eiffel
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | ReS Futurae |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/resf/14056 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | In the early 1950s, the Baschet brothers embarked on an acoustic and organological exploration that would lead them to the creation of objects that were simultaneously sculptures and musical instruments. The promotion of the sounds produced by these instruments was positioned in direct opposition to the field of electronic lutherie, which had emerged as early as the 1920s. These new instruments deliberately cultivated their acoustic and aesthetic distinctiveness, and were thus referred to as “Non-electronic Instruments.” In contrast to electronic devices, these acoustic structures appeared to open up infinite possibilities and were championed by certain proponents of fantastic realism. Thus, while electronic sounds had come to represent, from the 1930s and even more so in the 1950s, the sonic identity of aliens or robots, what, then, can be said of the acoustic sounds produced by these sonic structures? And what can we learn from the acoustic instruments created by the Baschet brothers? Through which networks did these instruments circulate, allowing them to become images or symbols of fictional worlds, or to assert their humanity in the face of supposedly dehumanizing electronic devices? We will address these questions by first analyzing the power that musical instruments possess, from a material and organological perspective, to serve as sources of the imagination, from Antiquity to the twentieth century. We will then examine how the unique timbre of the Baschet brothers’ acoustic instruments may have played a role in the imaginary worlds they evoked, acting as sources of meaning and symbolic force. Finally, we will consider the context in which these instruments emerged, in order to understand how the particular circumstances of the mid-twentieth century may have contributed to associating the Baschet brothers’ instruments with fictional universes. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2264-6949 |