PostFormalism

Fields, Kenneth

1999

International Computer Music Conference : 531-534.

Language: English

In this brief paper, the author discusses the influence of particular scientific paradigms - quantum mechanics, phenomenology, cybernetics, computationalism and self-organised systems - on musical epochs of the 20th century. He suggests that the dominant musical formalisms that have emerged can be exemplified through the composers Varèse, Schaeffer, Stockhausen, Xenakis and Cage.