PI has researched the following major fields:
- printed source material available on discourses of materialism from 1840s to 1880s
- the phenomenon of ultrasonics, their material existence and perception
- the role of phrenology in music education, theories of the creative process, and material / mechanical cognition.
- a ground-breaking study of a fragmentary manuscript by Franz Liszt, ostensibly as a case study in the gap between tactile sonic object and sensation, but which
had unexpected results (see below)
- 19th-century texts in comparative anatomy in their relation to listening and discourses of ‘hearing differently’
- empirical methods for recreating historical train sounds prior to sound recording
Alongside over thirty peer-reviewed chapters and articles, three monographs were published:
[1] E. Gillin, _Sound Authorities_ (Chicago University Press, 2021)
[2] M. Kromhout, _The Logic of Filtering_ (Oxford University Press, 2021)
[3] E. Gillin, _The Victorian Palace of Science_ (Cambridge University Press, 2017)
Collectively, these explored: the role of sound within the natural sciences in Great Britain; the mathematical dimension of sounds, in its intersection with human physiology; attempts by physicists, musicians and instrument makers to hear beyond 20,000Hz between 1860-90, and genealogies with transhumanist discourses; the role of phrenology in Anglo-German theories of music pedagogy; acoustic simulations of train sounds prior to sound recording; reciprocal relations between mechanical players pianos and human bodies.
Two edited collections resulted:
[1] _Nineteenth-Century Opera and the Scientific Imagination_: 14 chapters offering path-breaking research on studies of stage machinery, sound and hypnotism, auditory prosthesis, and medical studies of hearing loss.
[2] _Acoustics of Empire: Sound, Media & Power in the Long 19th Century_: 12 chapters drawing together work in sound studies, 19th-century studies and postcolonial studies to raise new questions about the forms and circulation of cultural, technological and military power as manifest in and through sound.
The project has been proactive in fostering interactions between scholars through international conferences:
• ‘After Idealism’ (Cambridge, 2017). A special issue of _19th-Century Music_, published selected papers from this event.
• ‘Acoustics of Empire’, Cambridge / Berlin / Harvard (2018). These three cumulative events resulted in an edited volume with OUP.
• ‘Sensing the Sonic: Histories of Hearing Differently,’ (Cambridge, 2018). With talks from leading figures in sound studies, all talks were uploaded to the project site.
And co-organised events:
• ‘Music and the body Between Revolutions’ (31 March 2017), with Columbia Society of Fellows
• ‘The Audible Spectrum: Sound Studies, Cultures of Listening and Sound Art’ (7-9 June 2018), with Université Paris 8 and Philharmonie de Paris.
Unexpected outcomes:
The PI's research into the agency of sonic objects (specifically the gap between a tactile sonic objects and auditory sensation), resulted in the discovery that a manuscript deemed fragmentary and illegible in fact contained the full, continuous draft of the first act of an Italian opera by Franz Liszt.
The result was an international success story with major international exposure. The PI produced the first critical edition of the music (Neue Liszt Ausgabe), and orchestrated it according to Liszt’s cues and instructions in the manuscript to create a performing edition (Schott Music). This work resulted in the recovery of an entirely unknown opera by a major composer not known for opera. It ‘changes music history’ (The Times). The world premiere took place in Weimar with an international cast of singers on 19 August 2018. Since then the opera’s performances, in Germany, Italy, Austrian, America, and Serbia, have garnered worldwide attention, reaching c. 789 million people:
https://www.cam.ac.uk/Lisztopera(opens in new window) The research has been disseminated extensively via media (CD, online research documentary, trailers), news coverage, and concert performances.
