La fabrique de l’harmonie. Le chef d’orchestre et l’imaginaire du pouvoir

Abstract

In this interview, the conductor, who stands at the intersection of several lines and several stories, will be considered as a figure of power. This interview deals with the conductor's authority : it will examine how it is exercised and performed while also exploring its limits and excesses. As an endlessly reflected image in a hall of mirrors and a source of multiple metaphors, the conductor also evokes the dictator, the military leader, the magnetizer, the priest, the machine, thus enabling us to explore a series of different fields and questions. What is a good conductor ? How are decisions made ? How may one's body become the source of one's authority ? What exactly does 'giving a tempo' consist in ? How does one harmonize a group of people ? We will be looking at some of the techniques and imaginary representations of power from the French Revolution to the contemporary period, that is to say from the emergence of the figure of the conductor to its most recent transformations. Esteban Buch is directeur d'études at the EHESS. He is currently director of the Centre de Recherches sur les Arts et les Langages (CRAL, EHESS/CNRS).Eric Michaud is directeur d'études at the EHESS.

Keywords

• orchestra conductor
• arts and politics
• history
• state of emergency
• animal magnetism
• score