ULOGA MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE PIERREA SCHAEFFERA U KONSTRUKCIJI PROŠIRENOG POLJA MUZIKE / THE ROLE OF PIERRE SCHAEFFER'S MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EXPANDED FIELD OF MUSIC

Abstract

Pierre Schaeffer is one of the composers whose work has radically changed the course of art music in the 20th century. Technological, compositional-technical, and aesthetic innovations of his musique concrète offered a new paradigm of musical thinking in an age radically transformed by technology. Despite this, Schaeffer’s contribution as a composer has never been valued favourably. The major shortcoming attributed to him, which is the insufficient founding of his ideas in the historical musical discourse, can, nevertheless, be seen as an advantage. By moving away from the canonical ways of thinking in music, his opus has opened to the ideas of the most radical artistic practices of his time. Thus, Schaeffer joins a number of artists in the historical context who, unencumbered by the conventions of academic thought in music, have created new avantgarde paradigms. This paper seeks to position Schaeffer within the relationships that defined hisartistic identity and artistic solutions and to offer another argument for loosening the epistemological boundaries between music and other arts. This argument is even stronger in contemporary times, when the medium is no longer a determinant, and when interdisciplinary and intermedia musical practices have already been introduced into the expanded field of music.