Voice and Sound in Diderot

Scholars across literary and music studies have found the French Enlightenment to be a formative moment for thinking about the production, meanings and powers of voice and sound. However, the disputes between Rameau and Rousseau and the canon of critical theory have largely overshadowed Diderot’s discussions and theorizations of the voice. In this virtual conference, participants will discuss how histories and theorizations of voice might be different when we take Diderot’s thought into fuller account. Given that Denis Diderot discussed, theorized and described the voice across a variety of works and genres: literary, musical, philosophical and scientific, we have brought together participants from multiple disciplines who will address the complex operations of voice and sound in Diderot’s writings and the globally networked world in which he produced them.

Please join our virtual conference.

Time: Friday, April 14 from 12 to 3:30 pm EST and Monday, April 17 from 12 to 2pm EST.

Where: See details below.

Session 1: Friday Apr 14, 12pm-1pm Eastern (6pm-7pm in France); Discussion in French

https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/98747747123?pwd=c1VRTGwva2JJNXUxMWd0a2EzZ0xkdz09

Meeting ID: 987 4774 7123

Passcode: 676078

·      Clara de Courson, Écoutes réduites et mirages d’oreille : formes de l’audition acousmatique chez Diderot (Ziqian Xiao)

·      Ziqian Xiao, La Voix textuelle ou quand l’écrit parle à haute voix chez Diderot (Clara de Courson)

 Session 2: Friday Apr 14, 1:30-3:30pm Eastern; Discussion in English

https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/95331626240?pwd=YVNyTlhHdFRQNlA3c0FmRGorbTdxQT09

Meeting ID: 953 3162 6240

Passcode: 664794

·      Nathan Martin, Music-Theoretical Metaphorics in Diderot’s Lettre sur les sourds et muets (Deirdre Loughridge & Scott Sanders)

·      Beverly Jerold, Diderot alias Bemetzrieder and the Music Temperament Fray (Nathan Martin)

·      Hedy Law, Not Dancing the Vile Pantomime: The Figuring of the Sociable Philosophe in Le Neveu de Rameau (Ellen Welch)

·      Ellen Welch, Diderot’s Seductive Voices, Between Sensibility and Rhetoric (Hedy Law)

 Session 3: Monday April 17, 12-2pm Eastern; Discussion in English

https://dartmouth.zoom.us/j/99634926948?pwd=RitURmw2RWJVaFlHQ3M5NklUVDQwUT09

Meeting ID: 996 3492 6948

Passcode: 471608

·      Downing Thomas, Voice, Music, and Sound in Le Neveu de Rameau (Rebecca Cypess)

·      Rebecca Cypess, A Woman in the Labyrinth: Angélique Diderot as Composer (Downing Thomas)

·      Edward Halley Barnet, Vibration, Sound, and the Mind: Diderot’s Vibratory Materialism (Mara Lane)

·      Mara Lane, Diderot à part, or Listening in Le Paradoxe sur le comédien (Edward Halley Barnet)