Helmholtz's book

As far as I know, the edition of Helmholtz's book
"On the Sensations of Tone" which is ordinarily
available these days (at least it's the one I have)
is put out by Dover.

>From the copyright page:
> "This Dover edition, first published in 1954,
> is an unabridged and unaltered republication
> of the second (1885) edition of the Ellis translation
> of _Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen_..."

There are extensive appendices by Ellis,
and these are invaluable in themselves as
tabulations of historical intonations.

This book was the catalyst which started
Partch on his way to his future development
as a just-intonation composer, theorist and
instrument-builder. From Partch's "Genesis
of a Music", 2nd edition, p. vii:

> "In 1919, as I recall, I had virtually given up on
> both music schools and private teachers, and
> had begun to ransack public libraries, doing
> suggested exercises and writing music free
> from the infantilisms and inanities of professors
> as I had experienced them.
>
> When I was twenty-one I finally found, in a
> library, the key for which I had been searching
> the Helmholtz-Ellis work, _On the Sensations
> of Tone_. Under this new impetus, doubts
> and ideas achieved some small resolution,
> and I began to take wing."

It influenced many other harmonically
inventive composers in a similar fashion
-- I believe among these were Debussy and
Ben Johnston. It's well worth the cost.

By the way, the full title of the book is "On the
Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis
for the Theory of Music", and most of it is
an explanation of Helmholtz's scientific
experiments on sounds and hearing, and
their results. Notice the emphasis this places
on the subject (the listener) -- reminiscent of
my quoting Meyer the other day about music
theory having to do not only with acoustics
but also with nervous tissue.

A very interesting book about the history of
tonality in European music, which emphasizes
a subjective interpretation of tonal concepts,
is _Tonality in Western Culture: A Critical and
Historical Perspective_ by Richard Norton
[Pennsylvania State University Press, 1984].

Joseph L. Monzo
monz@juno.com
4940 Rubicam St., Philadelphia, PA 19144-1809, USA
phone 215 849 6723

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This came to me re: trautonium so I forward it for your collective
examination. Additionally, Josip Slavensky of the former Yugoslavia
composed for microtonal trautonium and we presented this 2 movement work
in 1989 in an arrangement at the Yamaha Communication Center in NYC as
part of an AFMM concert. Slavensky's piece is called "Music For
Natur-Tone System."

Johnny Reinhard
Director
American Festival of Microtonal Music
318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW
New York, New York 10021 USA
(212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495
reinhard@idt.net
http://www.echonyc.com/~jhhl/AFMM

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 15:23:42 -0400
From: Paul Moor <100722.1351@compuserve.com>
To: AMSlist
Subject: Re: Avant-garde, electronic music, homosexuality

Subject: Avant-garde, Electronic Music, Homosexuality
Date: 16-Apr-98 at 19:57
From: dick langston, INTERNET:relangst@artsci.wustl.edu

>I am currently writing a conference paper (i.e., pre-dissertation
>work) on a German film released in 1957 in which electronic music,
>especially the Mixtur-Trautonium, plays an integral part. To be
>exact, the film, directed by one of the Third Reich's premiere
>film directors, equates avant-garde, electronic music of the 50s
>(i.e., the Trautonium a la Sala) with homosexuality, such that the
>narrative almosts suggests that this music causes
>homosexuality. . . .

The Deutsche Welle recently telecast a half-hour film about
Paul Hindemith's pupil Oskar Sala and his trailblazing Trautonium
- which he named in honor of an even earlier pioneer of electronic
music.

The current telephone book contains this:

Sala, Oskar - Leistikowstr. 5, [D-14050 Berlin] - (4930) 304-
4552.

Good luck!

Paul Moor (Berlin)
100722.1351@compuserve.com

M. Nail wrote:
>
>If the instrument you're referring to is the same as Oskar Sala's Studio
>Trautonium, I have a copy of his Five Improvisations on Magnetic Tape
>(which is the only record I've ever seen featuring the instrument). I
>don't think it's been released on CD.

There was recently an article about Sala and the Trautonium (and the
Mixturtrautonium) in Wire magazine. I think they mentioned that there was a
recently released CD of his work. I will see if I can find the details.

-- Pat Missin.