【音樂學研究討論② 】
講者：Hermann Gottschewski (東京大學比較文學/比較文化研究室教授)
講題：The Piano Roll as the Oldest Document of the Editing of Recorded Music
日期：3/20(五) 
時間：14:30開始
地點：普通教學館506教室


演講摘要：

Piano rolls were an important medium of musical production and reproduction in the early twentieth century. Reproducing piano rolls are especially significant because they preserve performances by major pianists and composers—among them pupils of Liszt and figures such as Saint-Saëns, Mahler, Reger, Debussy, and Scriabin—for whom few or no acoustic recordings exist. Introduced commercially in 1904 by the Freiburg-based company Welte,
reproducing systems captured the movements of keys, hammers, and pedals, storing them as perforations on paper rolls that triggered a pneumatic playback mechanism. The sound was thus generated anew on a real piano, not mechanically reproduced as in later audio recordings.
Previous research, including the author’s earlier work, has focused mainly on technical aspects and on the interpretations preserved on the rolls. Recent digitization projects, however, have reopened unresolved questions and enabled closer comparative study.
This new research reveals a largely overlooked phenomenon: different copies of what appears to be the same recording are often not identical. Systematic comparison shows that rolls were not only supervised before first release but were repeatedly revised and musically refined after publication. In some frequently sold titles, at least eight distinct versions over twenty-one years can be documented. These revisions illuminate both the technical challenges of playback and the evolving musical ideals guiding editors. Piano rolls thus emerge not only as records of performance and technology, but also as some of the earliest documents of the ongoing editing of recorded music.