Boulez’s Répons and music as a model of the space between Two Cultures

Abstract:
I present the historical narratives that lead up to the conception of Boulez’s Répons in 1981 from the perspectives of scientific development as well as the cultural and intellectual atmosphere in France.

I place these narratives in the context of the concept of the ‘two cultures’ as introduced by C. P. Snow in his lecture in 1959: the sciences and the arts.

Exploring various psychological and philosophical approaches and relating them to both historical narratives, I build up a case for music as something that could be used as a tool to give more insight into the human brain and the artistic process.

Electronic music and the technology needed to realise it evolved parallel to each other, and IRCAM (where Répons was realised) was a social microcosm where interdisciplinary work was done and scientists and musicians learned about each other’s fields. I propose that interdisciplinary work of this kind, and of the kind that led to Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics in the 40s and 50s and structuralism in the 1960s, is useful for breaking barriers down between disciplines and maintaining communication between them. Including music in an interdisciplinary project would necessarily mean that the mysticism that surrounds it for many people would have to be somewhat broken down; which can only be a good thing for the development of the understanding of the mind.

I then propose a situation where Répons, and music in general, can be seen as a representative model of a possible bridge between the two cultures.

As a successful example of a work that was conceived in the modern world, but born into the post-modern one, Répons is the culmination of Boulez’s attempts to merge technology and instrumental music – representing the sciences and arts respectively.

Link to thesis pdf coming soon