Yesterday Sounds Tomorrow. Preservation at CSC

What is it about?

The Centro di Sonologia Computazionale was funded in 1979 at Padova University. The initial research and works in the field of musical informatics date to the beginning of the ’70s. The institute was first located at the CCA – Centro di Calcolo di Ateneo (the university computing centre). Activites were based on the collaboration between engineers, musicians, academic (the Dep. of Electronic and Informatics and the computing centre) and musical institutions. The centre was officially funded in 1979 with the acronym CSC (Centro di Sonologia Computazionale). The CSC quickly became one of the most important centres in the Seventies and Eighties globally recognised. In 1976, James Dashow produced Effetti Collaterali for A clarinet and synthesized tape, and Teresa Rampazzi realised the work With the light pen. From then on, over 70 works were realized: among them works by Claudio Ambrosini, Guido Baggiani, Giorgio Battistelli, David Behrman, Anselmo Cananzi, Joel Chadabe, Aldo Clementi, Wolfango Dalla Vecchia, James Dashow, Agostino Di Scipio, Roberto Doati, Franco Donatoni, Mauro Graziani, Hubert Howe jr, Richard Karpen, Jonathan Impett, Albert Mayr, John Melby, Wolfgang Motz, Luigi Nono, Corrado Pasquotti, Teresa Rampazzi, Fausto Razzi, Salvatore Sciarrino, Marco Stroppa, and Richard Teitelbaum. This article contains a brief historical overview of the centre showing the research undertaken within the centre, and technological and musical outputs. Section 2 of the article presents the status of preservation following a scheme which goes from general projects (cataloguing, re-recording), passing through the description of some material realised at the centre (musical pieces, software for performance) and finally describes specific research or projects in audio, software and instrument preservation and/or restoration (at the time of the article writing, in 2001). Section 3 is a consideration of the role of the CSC in the history of electronic music centres.

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Why is it important?

The CSC has quickly become one of the most important centres in the Seventies and Eighties globally recognised. This is the first essay ever dedicated to the history of the centre and the preservation of its works and instruments.

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