Abstract
DOI: http://doi.org/10.26333/sts.xxxviii1.10
This paper explores the semiotic and phenomenological dimensions of sound, positioning it as a modulating reality, rather than a fixed entity. Drawing from Henri Pousseur’s theory of generalized periodicity and Michel Butor’s intermedial poetics, we examine how electroacoustic music challenges conventional frameworks of composition and perception. Integrating Peircean semiotics, existential phenomenology, and cybernetics, we demonstrate how sound functions as a dynamic sign system that reshapes meaning through interaction and transformation. We introduce the concept of spectral semiotics as both an analytical and epistemological tool for understanding how sonic meaning emerges through the modulation of spectral qualities—frequency, timbre, and temporal flux—as experienced through focused, embodied listening. Special attention is given to 8 Études Paraboliques, which exemplifies sound as a recursive, self-organizing system of modulating relationships. We also draw on Votre Faust: Fantaisie variable genre Opéra—not for comprehensive analysis, but as an object of comparison in the Wittgensteinian sense—to illustrate how intermedial strategies and open forms reinforce the epistemological potential of sound. This perspective aligns with Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of listening as resonance, where sound is not merely received but co-constituted through perception. By foregrounding fluidity, impermanence, and intermediality, we propose that sound—both in music and literature—functions as a modulating reality that actively shapes experience, cognition, and the aesthetic imagination.
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