Daniel Charles
Encyclopedia
Daniel Paul Charles was a French musician
, musicologist and philosopher, born on November 27, 1935 in Oran
(Algeria
) and deceased on August 21, 2008 in Antibes
(France
).
at the Paris Conservatory of Music (First Prize, 1956), he received the aggregation in philosophy in 1959 and a PhD under the direction of Mikel Dufrenne
in 1977.
After leading (late 1968) the Commission charged with establishing the status of professorship of music at the French Ministry of Education, he founded and lead for twenty years (1969-1989) the Department of Music of University of Paris VIII (Vincennes, and St. Denis). He was also responsible, from 1970 to 1980, for the teaching of general aesthetics at the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne). He decided to end his career by teaching philosophy at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis (1989-1999).
When he graduated from the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1956, he participated in the GRM under the leadership of Pierre Schaeffer
, and proposed to set into electronic music Stéphane Mallarmé
's "Coup de dé" in Darmstadt
, a project which caught the attention of Karlheinz Stockhausen
. But his lack of enthusiasm toward the "solfège des bruits" of Schaeffer led him to focus instead on John Cage
, whom he met in 1958. He contributed then to present Cage's music and philosophy in France: Pour les oiseaux (co-signed with Cage), published first in French (Paris, Belfond, 1976) became a classic book. It was later published in English: For the Birds.
Daniel Charles has been invited by many universities, especially across the Atlantic, but as well in Japan, the Philippines, Honolulu..., and has published many articles, several books, five of which translated into German and two Japanese.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, musicologist and philosopher, born on November 27, 1935 in Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
(Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
) and deceased on August 21, 2008 in Antibes
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
).
Biography
He was a student of Olivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
at the Paris Conservatory of Music (First Prize, 1956), he received the aggregation in philosophy in 1959 and a PhD under the direction of Mikel Dufrenne
Mikel Dufrenne
Mikel Dufrenne was a French philosopher and aesthetician. He is known as an author of existentialism, and is particularly noted for the work The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience .He encountered the work of Karl Jaspers while a prisoner of war, in a camp with Paul...
in 1977.
After leading (late 1968) the Commission charged with establishing the status of professorship of music at the French Ministry of Education, he founded and lead for twenty years (1969-1989) the Department of Music of University of Paris VIII (Vincennes, and St. Denis). He was also responsible, from 1970 to 1980, for the teaching of general aesthetics at the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne). He decided to end his career by teaching philosophy at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis (1989-1999).
When he graduated from the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1956, he participated in the GRM under the leadership of Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician of the 20th century. His innovative work in both the sciences —particularly communications and acoustics— and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end...
, and proposed to set into electronic music Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
's "Coup de dé" in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, a project which caught the attention of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
. But his lack of enthusiasm toward the "solfège des bruits" of Schaeffer led him to focus instead on John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, whom he met in 1958. He contributed then to present Cage's music and philosophy in France: Pour les oiseaux (co-signed with Cage), published first in French (Paris, Belfond, 1976) became a classic book. It was later published in English: For the Birds.
Daniel Charles has been invited by many universities, especially across the Atlantic, but as well in Japan, the Philippines, Honolulu..., and has published many articles, several books, five of which translated into German and two Japanese.
Main Publications
- Pour les Oiseaux (Entretiens avec John Cage), Paris, Pierre Belfond, 1976 / L'Herne, 2002. translated in English, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.
- Le Temps de la voix, Paris, J.-P. Delarge, 1978 / Hermann, 2011.
- Gloses sur Cage, Paris, U.G.E., Coll. 10/18, 1978 / Desclée de Brouwer, 2002.
- John Cage oder Musik ist los, Berlin, Merve Verlag, 1984.
- Poetik der Gleichzeitigkeit, Bern, Benteli Verlag, 1987.
- Zeitspielräume, Berlin, Merve Verlag, 1989.
- Musketaquid, Musik und Transzendentalismus, Berlin, Merve, 1994.
- Musiques nomades, Paris, Kimé, 1998.
- La fiction de la postmodernité selon l'esprit de la musique, Paris, P.U.F., 2001.
Direction of magazines
6 special issues of Revue d'Esthétique (from 1968 to 1998), among them: "John Cage" Number 13-14-15 (1989) (Toulouse, Privat / Paris, J.-M. Place).Articles
More than 200 articles published in several magazines (Revue musicale, Analyse musicale, VH 101, Traverses, Corps écrit, Exercices de la patience, Le Temps de la réflexion, Etc. Montréal, Parachute, Discourse, The Musical Quarterly, The World and I, Alpha-beta, Il Verri, Synteesi, Musik-Konzepte, etc.), in collective books, and several encyclopedias, prefaces, LPs and CDs booklets, etc.Translations (from English)
- Abraham A. Moles, Experimental Music ("Les Musiques expérimentales", Zürich, Cercle d'Art, 1966)
- Alfred North WhiteheadAlfred North WhiteheadAlfred North Whitehead, OM FRS was an English mathematician who became a philosopher. He wrote on algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education...
, Process and Reality ("Procès et réalité", Paris, Gallimard, 1996 - in collaboration with C.R.H.I., C.N.R.S. and University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis). - John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Je n'ai jamais écouté aucun son sans l'aimer: le seul problème avec les sons, c'est la musique (La Souterraine, Ed. Pierre Courtaud, Coll. La Main courante, 1994).