Cacophony |
Music Terms

Cacophony |

Dictionary categories
terms and concepts

from the Greek kakos – bad and ponn – sound

Combinations of sounds that are perceived as meaningless, chaotic, chaotic and produce a repulsive, anti-aesthetic. impression on the listener. Cacophony is usually formed as a result of a random combination of sounds or dec. melodic excerpts (e.g. when setting up an orchestra). However, some representatives of modern. music avant-gardism deliberately uses elements of cacophony (“sound clusters” by G. Cowell and J. Cage, a heap of sounds by P. Boulez and K. Stockhausen, etc.).

The impression of cacophony can also arise due to the discrepancy between the musical experience of the listener and the structure of the music. Combinations of sounds, to-rye for a certain national. cultures and eras were meaningful and logical, they can be perceived by the listener of another country or other era as a cacophony (for example, the Yakut folk polyphony may seem like a cacophony to a listener brought up on the accordion of a tertian structure).

A. G. Yusfin

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