François Bernard Mâche and zoomusicology: a gigantic heritage

Abstract

The present article sketches an introductory portrait of zoomusicology, with a particular stress on François-Bernard Mâche’s monumental role in its birth and evolution. The aim is to reflect upon the state of the art of the discipline, over thirty years after Musique, Mythe, Nature, and about ten years after the paradigm took off, and it is by now an increasingly-relevant area of musicological (and interdisciplinary) inquiry. Topics discussed shall be the following: 1) The impact of zoomusicology in the scientific world; 2) Definition of the field and related theoretical implications; 3) François-Bernard Mâche’s role in the process; 4) The intrinsic interdisciplinarity of the field as both a case for biological and humanistic inquiry; 5) The current state of the art of the field.