The Philosophy of Carl Stumpfs Theory of Tonal Fusion

Mark Yeary University of California, Santa Barbara

Background
Carl Stumpfs research in music perception reflects a philosophical emphasis on the mental aspects of musical experience. Where Hermann von Helmholtz dealt with the perception of tone, based in the physiology of hearing, Stumpf examined the apperception of tone, the mental acts of attending to and referring to tonal phenomena. Dissatisfied with how Helmholtzs theory of beats reconciled with his own musical experience, Stumpf looked to the listeners apperception of tones for the basis of musical consonance, proposing a theory of tonal fusion as its basis: consonant tones tend to fuse, resulting in a tonal integrity (Einheitlichkeit) that is distinct from the simple assembly of its components. However, Stumpf was unable to develop this theory into a full-fledged explanation of consonance and dissonance, and by the mid -twentieth century his theory of fusion was seen as a footnote in the search for an approach that would fully reconcile psychoacoustics with music theory.

Aim
Stumpfs research incorporates the philosophical concepts of Franz Brentano as well as the empirical psychoacoustics of Helmholtz; the aim of this paper is to historicize Stumpfs work within an era that made fewer distinctions between the two fields than is done today, providing an appropriate context for the interpretation of his work.

Main Contribution
I will examine Stumpfs role in the development of these philosophical aspects of music perception, focusing on the legacy and influence of his theories in twentieth-century research in music perception. Specifically, I will discuss recent work that directly or indirectly refers to Stumpfs theory of tonal fusion, pointing out the philosophical aspect of his work that is often filtered out in modern research, and I will argue that it is precisely this filtered-out philosophical grounding that makes Stumpfs research relevant.

Implications
Stumpfs philosophical approach to music perception compares favorably with recent work in the field of cognitive philosophy, with scholars such as Antonio Damasio, Mark Turner, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson looking to traditional philosophy to provide the frame for their empirical research. These authors are representative of a shift in cognitive science away from strong A.I. toward a more holistic approach to cognition, similar to Stumpfs motivation to introduce the mind of the listener in the study of acoustics. Through a historical a ppreciation of Stumpfs work, we can find points of comparison and possible directions for further research in cognitive philosophy, specifically where music perception is concerned.

ISBN 1-876346-50-7 2004 ICMPC

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