Jean-Jacques Nattiez
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound." Musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez summarizes the relativist, post-modern viewpoint: "The border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus ... By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be.""--Sholem Stein |
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Jean-Jacques Nattiez (born December 30, 1945, Amiens, France) is a musical semiologist or semiotician and professor of musicology at the Université de Montréal. He studied semiology with Georges Mounin and Jean Molino and music semiology (doctoral) with Nicolas Ruwet.
He is a noted specialist on the writings of the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.
In 1990, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2001, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.