Music and the Physics of Emotions: A Physicist’s view on Chopin’s Études

Massimo Blasone
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Salerno, Italy
& Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)

I propose the use of specific dynamical processes and, in a wider sense, ideas from Physics to model  the evolution in time of musical structures. We apply this approach to three Études by F. Chopin,  namely Op. 10 no. 1 & 3 and Op. 25 no. 1, obtaining an original description based on concepts of symmetry-breaking/restoration, quantum coherence and fractals which could be useful for musical interpretation. In this analysis, we take advantage of coloured musical scores obtained by implementing Scriabin’s colour code for sounds to musical notation.
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Bibliography
1. M. Blasone, La Fisica e la Matematica negli Studi di Chopin "Ithaca - Viaggio nella Scienza" (2021) 93
https://ithaca.unisalento.it/

2. M. Blasone, A Physicist’s view on Chopin’s Études, Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 226 (2017) 2715
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2017-70008-6