The Bergsonian Duration and the Extrinsic Referentiality of Sound Objects in Acousmatic Music: Toward the Aesthetic and Sociological Aspects of Musical Material

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the temporal and spatial impacts of sound objects’ extrinsic referentiality in acousmatic music. The concepts of sound object, according to Pierre Schaeffer, and of extrinsic referentiality, based on Roman Jakobson and Jean-Jacques Nattiez, will be presented, then the subject will be analysed through the scope of the concept of durée, proposed by Henri Bergson. Afterwards it will be put forth that the use of sound objects with a relevant referential content constitutes a case of allegory, according to Walter Benjamin’s definition. Finally it will be shown that extrinsically referential sound objets make it possible for the world’s temporality and spatiality to be treated as material, in Thedor Adorno’s terms. Therefore we will be able to propose aesthetic consequences of the use, in acousmatic music, of materials collected from the world. It will be concluded that those sound objects tend to cause a dialectical relationship between the perception of time and space in the world, and the perception of those elements in a work of art.