La metafora del suono come être vivant e il suo ruolo nelle poetiche compositive contemporanee

This paper explores the relationship between music and nature by focusing on the metaphor of sound as être vivant. Coined by Émile Leipp, the metaphor had a deep and lasting influence on the theoretical and compositional horizon of spectral and post-spectral music. After contextualising the genesis of the metaphor, the author dwells on Gérard Grisey’s thought to show how his reflection on the dynamic, complex, and unstable nature of natural/acoustic sounds has prompted a strong redefinition of musical grammar, in which artifice and nature are increasingly connected. As well as opening up new scenarios in terms of soundspace articulation, Grisey’s technique of instrumental synthesis also conditioned many composers of the following generation. The last part of the article focuses on the analysis of Amok Koma by Fausto Romitelli, a composer who responded to the challenge of spectral thinking by inaugurating new ways of exploring acoustic space. In the analysed piece, and more generally in Romitelli’s poetics, the metaphor of sound as être vivant discloses its driving force and its deep relationship with the act of listening.