More than 150 years before the term acoustic ecology was coined in the 1970s, Alexander von Humboldt was already invested in this field of study by taking in the tropical environment, relying not only on his eyesight, but also on his acute sense of hearing. After spending years on Humboldt’s path, composer Ricardo Lorenz offers a perspective on the naturalist that bridges musical creativity and sound as text. Part talk, part conversation, the presentation lays down the fundamentals of acoustic ecology and applies its terminology to Alexander von Humboldt’s iconic book Personal Narrative of a Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New World. Lorenz highlights the purposeful use of auditory impressions in Humboldt’s narrative style, suggesting that these function as sound vignettes essential to achieving an overall unified impression of nature.
Differentiating Humboldt’s writings from those of other contemporary authors who used sound as a literary device, the presentation shows how the Prussian naturalist pursuit an immersive experience by crafting passages that amount to soundscapes.
Following a brief presentation, Lorenz will engage in a conversation with long-term academy project “Traveling Humboldt – Science on the Move” Director Ottmar Ette focusing on the role sound plays in Humboldt’s writings. They will also discuss how collaborations with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Venezuelan sound artist Alonso Toro led the composer to a deeper immersion into the sound universe of Humboldt and to recreating some of his soundscapes using sound and A.I. technologies.
Ricardo Lorenz, Professor of Composition, Michigan State University, is a "Traveling Humboldt – Science on the Move" visiting scholar at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Science and Humanities.
An event organized by the long-term academy project “Traveling Humboldt – Science on the Move” of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.