Event Detail

Alex Stalarow, "Collecting and Manipulating International Sound Sources in Pierre Schaeffer’s Postwar Radiophonic Art"

This paper explores the myriad sound recordings that comprise Pierre Schaeffer’s Une Heure du monde, a six-part radio drama produced for the 1946 Paris Peace Conference. Acquired from near and far at institutions including the sound archives at the Musée de l’Homme and the sound databases of Radio Delhi, the recordings that enliven Une Heure du monde work to facilitate cultural exchange and reframe French identity within the structures of postwar cultural internationalism. Exploring these recordings—their collection, manipulation, and montage—locates the early manifestations of Schaeffer’s work within the context of a postwar international radio. Further, this paper reveals how some of the program’s dramatic, sonic, and process-based experiments shaped Schaeffer’s later projects, particularly those of global scope. 

Please click on the image on the left for Alex Stalarow's biography.

Alexander Stalarow obtained his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California, Davis in 2017 is currently a Professor of Music History and Literature at the San Francisco Conservatory. His work on Pierre Schaeffer’s early career in radiophonic art and its impact on the multidisciplinary figure’s musique concrète project has been supported by grants including a Chateaubriand Fellowship and an AMS 50 Dissertation Fellowship.