The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

Some Considerations on the Interpretation of Multipart Music on Early Sound Documents
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Phonograph, was put under test, in the field and in the studio. In the following years researchers were invited to
carry with them the recording equipment when embarking on field research. Particularly within the Academy,
all participants of expeditions were asked to take along the Archiv-Phonograph and to make sound recordings.
Thus, the recording equipment, technically supervised, was lent out and in return the sound recordings were
incorporated into the archive’s stocks, with the researchers providing the documentation. Most of the former
researchers were anthropologists, ethnologists or linguists (but not ethnomusicologists) who, more or less by
chance or also out of their interest, also recorded music, even multipart music.
In 1999, the historical collections of the Phonogrammarchiv (recordings from 1899-1950, ca. 4000
recordings), were included by UNESCO in the world register of the “Memory of the World” Programme.
Moreover, the project of publishing the “Complete Historical Collections 1899-1950” was started in 1999;
until now 12 series have been released. In the course of this project every attempt is made to meet the
standards of modern re-recording (the use of high quality equipment, centring of the disc, careful choice
of styli). Generally, the speed indicated in the documentation is chosen for replay; only if the speed seems
to be evidently incorrect it is corrected aurally to a more plausible value. Short overloads and impulsive
noises are removed in order to raise the signal level and thus make the signal intelligible to the user. As a
matter of principle, no further signal processing is undertaken, mainly not to “touch” the signal itself and
therefore not to modify its “sound”. Besides these technical prerequisites the audio CD is accompanied by
an exhaustive booklet including comments explaining the historical setting, (biographical) information about
the researchers and their research goals and a characterisation of the sound documents in their position in a
broader cultural context. In terms of a commented source edition the original documentation (“protocols”) is
available as picture files on a data CD.
Examples
For this study various examples have been chosen in respect of the context and the technical challenge
(focussing on the recording situation, the skills of the so-called “phonographers” – either researchers or
technicians). Each example was made in a distinct recording situation, shaped by the different abilities of the
researchers or the involved technicians, and by various stages of professionalism of the performers. Finally, the
needs of archival preservation (making nickel-plated copper negatives out of which copies were made), the rerecording
technique and distinct enhancement as well influence the sound examples as they are available today.
1. Rudolf Pöch, expedition to Papua New Guinea 1904-1906
It was during his expedition to PNG that Pöch for the first time took recording equipment with him.
Having studied medicine but then becoming very interested in anthropology and ethnology, Pöch devoted
his work to persons of short stature who in his mind represented an “archaic physical and cultural condition
of mankind” (Voget, 1975: 353; Niles, 2000: 26). As was typical of his time, he was fascinated by a lot
of subjects, such as archaeology, ethnography, anthropology, geology and biology besides languages and
music making. During his field research he made 94 sound recordings. From today’s point of view one could
characterise Pöch’s collection as a documentation of what happened around him.
We owe the first recordings of multipart singing to R. Pöch; he is also called a pioneer in “modern” field research because
he took with him a photo and a film camera besides the recording equipment. In the course of choral singing he experimented
successfully when he enlarged the horn. Maybe his achievement boosted the other researchers’ activities, and thus recordings
with more than one performer were made time and again.