TIMBRE SEMANTICS: THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND ANALYTICAL ASPECTS

Abstract

The article explores the semantics of musical timbre as a multidimensional phenomenon that, in contemporary musical thought, extends beyond the traditional understanding of it as solely an acoustic characteristic of sound. The rethinking of the semantic aspects of timbre is driven by the transformation of listening experience and the intensification of interdisciplinary research in the fields of psychoacoustics, semantics, and the phenomenology of musical perception. The aim of the article is to systematize the main theoretical approaches to interpreting timbral semantics based on a comparative analysis of the scientific positions of 20th–21st century composers and musicologists.The study employs structural, phenomenological, and comparative methods of analysis. The concepts of E. Varèse, P. Boulez, K. Saariaho, D. Smalley, I. van Elferen, S. Saitis, S. Weinzierl, H. Kosenko, M. Pashkovska, S. Liu, Zakarakis et al., and R. Pace are analyzed. Various approaches to understanding timbre as an acoustic, phenomenological, and cultural-historical phenomenon are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the paradoxical nature of timbre, which combines material and immaterial qualities, as well as to the investigation of the mechanisms of semantization of timbral phenomena.As a result of the research, it is proven that the semantics of timbre are formed at the intersection of objective acoustic parameters, subjective perception, and culturally conditioned meanings. According to I. van Elferen's concept, the only way to address timbre with critical precision is to embrace its paradoxes, which is what contemporary researchers do by integrating various methodological approaches in the study of timbral semantics. The semantics of timbre are considered a dynamic system that evolves in a historical and cultural context, where timbre acts as an active agent of meaning-making.