This translation of Musique au singulier (2001) from the French identifies what is common to music of all times and cultures. The author, François-Bernard Mâche is a composer and internationally renowned musicologist. He addresses the question of universals in music and demonstrates how musical play is a poetic and natural game that already takes shape in the animal world. Mâche invites the reader to reconsider the traditional opposition between nature and culture and to reflect on experiencing such intense emotions when both listening to and manipulating sounds. This title appeals to students and researchers working in musicology.

Autorentext

Born April 4, 1935 into a family of musicians. Studies with Messiaen at Paris Conservatoire. Former student in classical literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Greek archaeology, Agrégation de Lettres classiques). member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 2002, where he occupies the chair left by Iannis Xenakis. Grand Prix National de la Musique (1988), the Grand Prix de la Musique Symphonique from SACEM (2002), Prix du Président de la République 2022. Officer of the Légion d'honneur. As a writer, his main books are Musique, mythe, nature ou les dauphins d'Arion (1983, third edition Aedes musicae 2015 ), which founded a new discipline named Zoömusicology; Italian and English translations (1992, 1993); Musique au singulier (2001, Odile Jacob) and F-B.Mâche, la musique, la nature, les oiseaux, entretiens avec Bruno Serrou, (Ina, Michel de Maule 2007). He taught at Middlebury College and Sarah Lawrence College in 1968 and classical French, Greek and Latin literature at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris from 1968-83. He then taught musicology at the Université de Strasbourg from 1983-93, and served as director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris from 1993-97. He has lectured widely, notably in China, U.S.A., Argentina, Mexico, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Israel, Venezuela, and elsewhere