RevArsAvr: Backwards to the Future

Talk by Andrey Smirnov

00:00

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This lecture focuses on revolutionary Russian composer, theorist, and adventurer Arseny Avraamov, an early proponent of the mathematization of music and its’ restructuring according to principles derived from acoustical research. In 1916, one year before the Bolshevik coup, Avraamov published »Upcoming Science of Music and the New Era in the History of Music,« a manifesto-like article proposing the use of the language of mathematics to more easily and efficiently convey musical knowledge. His objective was to unite efforts of researchers and artists to produce a revolution in music theory and techniques based on the cross-connection of the arts and sciences. Among the subjects under consideration were new approaches to music theory, spectral-based musical composition, sound synthesis, polyrhythms, and future enrichment of a rhythm by means of combination of the Ancient Greek and modern principles. While in Soviet times the name of Arseny Araamov as well as his theoretical works were largely forgotten, in 1940 leading Russian composer Mikhail Gnesin asserted: »A. Avraamov should also be recognized as a founder of Soviet musical acoustics.« Indeed, most Russian musical inventions and developments (the Theremin, Graphical Sound, the Rhythmicon, ANS Synthesizer etc.) might be considered as direct or indirect consequences of Avraamov's manifesto.