Organs of the Soul
Sonic Networks in Eighteenth-Century Paris
Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden
Organs of the Soul tunes your ears to how auditioning subjects heard voices, sound, & music in #c18 Paris.
Play Project
Abstract
Organs of the Soul is published through Scalar. To explore this project, click on the "Play Project" button above.
This interactive multimedia project historically and culturally situates hearing and listening in eighteenth-century Paris by re-imagining how we might present sonic artifacts to better understand auditioning subjects within pre-recording technology soundscapes. Through multiple pathways and thematic tags, the project simulates how Parisians would have interacted with the web of sonic knowledge that existed in eighteenth-century Paris. The project culls resources from across academic digital initiatives as well as popular, public platforms. This blend of sources puts into question stereotypical distinctions made between academic and public, scholarly and popular. Enjoy exploring Organs of the Soul through a choose-your-own-adventure format. And consider what constitutes your own unique auditory subjectivity.
About the Contributor
Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at Duke University, where she is completing a dissertation on French musicians who re-imagined their profession by negotiating Enlightenment philosophies of music with lived experiences of the French Revolution. Her research pursues sound as politics from the eighteenth century to the present and has appeared in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture and Eighteenth-Century Music, among others. Rebecca earned an M.A. in musicology from Duke University and B.A.s phi beta kappa in history and international studies from Penn State's Schreyer Honors College.