The Making of a Multimedia Rhapsody for Helmholtz
* Presenting author
Abstract:
This paper performs an analysis of Hermann Helmholtz’s work, extracting instrumental, esthetical, theoretical, physical and physiological information, in order to compose a musical piece and exhibition dedicated to his bicentennial. Helmholtz’s main music-related book “On the Sensations of Tone”, is the prime source of a multimedia rhapsody, still under construction, that combines instruments and devices employed by Helmholtz to elucidate the various phenomena, such as consonance, dissonance, beats, combinational tones, the structure of natural and cultural scales and temperaments, sound illusions, synthesis of vowels, investigation of timbre, among others. The essay presents a historical panorama on the music theory in Europe – from the medieval Guido d'Arezzo and Franco of Cologne to the contemporaries of Helmholtz, Guido Adler, and Carl Stumpf. With the help of the biographical data available, we will try to gather and extrapolate the sounding and musical universe of Helmholtz, in addition to relevant facts of his personal and academic life, comprising important moments of the musical, cultural and political world. A complete framework of theoretical and practical elements will be finally generated, serving as inspirational material for the Multimedia Rhapsody for Helmholtz, and also for the education and debate on Helmholtz's legacy in music and science.