Can Musical Machines Be Expressive? Views from the Enlightenment and Today

Abstract

How can music produced by automated technologies be expressive? Transitive theories of expression dominated 18th-century ideas of automated music, and many contemporary designers of robotic instruments adhere to this idea, increasing sonic nuance to make their instruments seem closer to expressive human performers. A listener-centered understanding of expression—an “intransitive” perspective—allows us to reconcile automatic instruments’ capacity for expressivity, even without human performers. The expressive potential of these instruments is best understood as a product of their mechanical nature—their idiomatic movements and sounds, which remain distinct from human-operated instruments. This paper explores two case studies in the history of “expressive” automated instruments: Diderot and Engramelle’s cylinder-driven instruments from 18th century France and contemporary musical robotics.