The Treatise on Musical Objects is regarded as Pierre Schaeffer's most important work on music and its relationship with technology. Schaeffer expands his earlier research in musique concrète to suggest a methodology of working with sounds based on his experiences in radio broadcasting and the recording studio. Drawing on acoustics, physics, and physiology, but also on philosophy and the relationship between subject and object, Schaeffer's essay summarizes his theoretical and practical work in music composition. Translators Christine North and John Dack present an important book in the history of ideas in Europe that will resonate far beyond electroacoustic music.

The Treatise on Musical Objects and the GRM, by Daniel TeruggiTranslators' Introduction, by Christine NorthPierre Schaeffer's Treatise on Musical Objects and Music Theory, by John Dack Acknowledgments Preface Introductory Remarks: The Historical Situation of Music Book One. Making Music 1. The Instrumental Prerequisite 2. Playing an Instrument 3. Capturing Sounds 4. Acousmatics Book Two. Hearing 5. "What Can Be Heard" 6. The Four Listening Modes 7. Scientific Prejudice 8. The Hearing Intention Book Three. Correlations Between the Physical Signal and the Musical Object 9. Ambiguities in Musical Acoustics 10. Correlation between Spectra and Pitches 11. Threshold and Transients 12. Temporal Anamorphoses I: Timbres and Dynamics 13. Temporal Anamorphoses II: Timbre and Instrument 14. Time and Duration Book Four. Objects and Structures 15. Reduction to the Object 16. Perceptual Structures 17. Comparative Structures: Music and Language 18. The Conventional Musical System: Musicality and Sonority 19. Natural Sound Structures: Musicianly Listening 20. The Reduced Listening System: Musical Dualism 21. Musical Research Book Five. Morphology and Typology of Sound Objects 22. Morphology of Sound Objects 23. The Laboratory 24. Typology of Musical Objects (I): Classification Criteria 25. Typology of Musical Objects (II): Balanced and Redundant Objects 26. Typology of Musical Objects (III): Eccentric Sounds 27. Working at Our Instrument Book Six. Theory of Musical Objects 28. Musical Experience 29. Generalizing Music Theory 30. Theory of Homogenous Sounds: Criterion of Mass 31. Theory of Fixed Masses: Dynamic Criterion 32. Theory of Sustainment 33. Theory of Variations 34. Analysis of the Musical Object as It Generally Appears Book Seven. Music as a Discipline 35. Implementation 36. The Meaning of Music Penultimate Chapter: In the Search of Music Itself Postscript Index