Editing Musique concrète (section)

===Beginnings===
{{see also|Electroacoustic music|Tape music}}
In 1928 music critic André Cœuroy wrote in his book ''Panorama of Contemporary Music'' that "perhaps the time is not far off when a composer will be able to represent through recording, music specifically composed for the [[Phonograph|gramophone]]".<ref>{{harvp|Cœuroy|1928|p=162}}</ref> In the same period the American composer [[Henry Cowell]], in referring to the projects of [[Nikolai Lopatnikoff]], believed that "there was a wide field open for the composition of music for phonographic discs". This sentiment was echoed further in 1930 by [[Igor Stravinsky]], when he stated in the revue ''Kultur und Schallplatte'' that "there will be a greater interest in creating music in a way that will be peculiar to the gramophone record". The following year, 1931, [[Boris de Schlözer|Boris de Schloezer]] also expressed the opinion that one could write for the gramophone or for the [[Radio|wireless]] just as one can for the piano or the violin.<ref>{{harvp|Battier|2007|p=190}}</ref> Shortly after, German art theorist [[Rudolf Arnheim]] discussed the effects of microphonic recording in an essay entitled "Radio", published in 1936. In it the idea of a creative role for the recording medium was introduced and Arnheim stated that: "The rediscovery of the musicality of sound in noise and in language, and the reunification of music, noise and language in order to obtain a unity of material: that is one of the chief artistic tasks of radio".<ref>{{harvp|Battier|2007|p=193}}</ref>

Possible antecedents to musique concrète have been noted; [[Walter Ruttmann]]'s film ''Wochend'' (''Weekend'') (1930), a work of "blind cinema" without visuals,{{sfn|Kim-Cohen|2009|p=10}} introduced recordings of environmental sound, to represent the urban soundscape of [[Berlin]], two decades before musique concrète was formalised.{{sfn|Kim-Cohen|2009|p=10}}{{sfn|Roads|2015|p=248}} Ruttmann's soundtrack has been retrospectively called ''musique concrète''.{{sfn|Goehr|2008|p=329}} According to Seth Kim-Cohen the piece was the first to "organise 'concrete' sounds into a formal, artistic composition."{{sfn|Kim-Cohen|2009|p=10}} Composer [[Irwin Bazelon]] referred to a sound collage in the film ''[[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' (1931), during the first transformation scene, as "pre-musique concrète".{{sfn|Lerner|2009|p=56}} [[Ottorino Respighi]]'s ''[[Pines of Rome]]'' (1924) calls for a phonograph recording of [[Bird vocalization|birdsong]] to be played during the third movement.{{sfn|Rehding|Dolan|2021|p={{page needed|date=March 2024}}}}