A Thousand Plateaus II, Two Forms of Segmentarities, Lecture 2, 8 March 1977

<p><em>The Deleuze Seminars</em> is a collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and English translations of, and supplemental materials from, the lectures French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gave during his career at the University of Paris 8.</p>

<p>Following publication of <em>Anti-Oedipus</em> in 1972, Deleuze continues to develop the proliferation of concepts that his collaboration with Guattari had yielded. Throughout the 1970s, Deleuze and Guattari’s interest in expanding these concepts continues, eventually producing the sequel, <em>A Thousand Plateaus</em>. In this group of lectures, Deleuze offers the multi-faceted focus of the semester’s work, mainly to distinguish two forms of segmentarity or two types of multiplicities, in seven different directions: 1) biographical, 2) organization, 3) centralization, 4) signification (<em>signifiance</em>), 5) sociability, 6) subjectivation, and 7) planification.</p>

<p>In session 2, 8 March 1977, Deleuze refers at length to Dominique Fernandez’s book, <em>La Rose des Tudor </em>(Paris: Julliard, 1976) to discuss the idea of music’s death occurring in 1830 (with Bellini’s and Rossini’s death, with the arrival of Verdi and Wagner). Deleuze first traces what is essential in music by distinguishing between expression and content (and not form and subject or object), drawing terminologically from Louis Hjelmslev (form of expression, form of content), and thus distinguishing two dimensions on the plane of consistency (plane of expression, plane of content). Deleuze proposes to consider music as a particular plane of consistency in terms of the particular understanding of expression and content. Deleuze also proposes his and Guattari’s concept of the “refrain” (<em>ritournelle</em>) as something fundamental for the birth of music and then proposes different ways the refrain emerges. Deleuze then translates Fernandez’s notion of movement beyond the differences of sexes with the musical voice, tracing some national shifts toward the voice’s deterritorialization. The musical process of deterritorialization, Deleuze argues, is inseparable from a becoming-woman, a becoming-child, even a becoming-molecular. Well ahead of the 1981-85 seminars, Deleuze turns toward the vocal problem at the start of speaking films, notably in the American comedy, and returning to music, Deleuze concludes by saying that true music occurs when the refrain is made to undergo a process of deterritorialization, citing Mozart and Alban Berg. Deleuze emphasizes convergent and divergent phenomena, such as inclusion of oriental music, citing Boulez in this regard, and then continues developing his perspectives on the abstract musical machine, distinguishing different types of concrete machines. Deleuze adjudicates something of a debate between Georges Comtesse and Richard Pinhas, pushing back against Comtesse’s additional assemblage of death or castration, since Deleuze (with Boulez) considers silence as a creative element within the musical machine. Unfortunately, the subsequent “long discussion on the death instinct”, indicated in a final WebDeleuze note, is omitted from the transcript.</p>

<p>No recording of this session is available currently. This dataset includes three files: a revised French transcription and new English translation in odt format, and the original French transcript from WebDeleuze. [WebDeleuze was founded by Richard Pinhas -- a student in Deleuze's seminars -- who, with the Deleuze family's support, developed transcripts and translations of many of the seminar.]</p>

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<p>Les Séminaires de Deleuze sont une collection d'enregistrements audio, de transcriptions et de traductions en anglais et de documents complémentaires des conférences que le philosophe français Gilles Deleuze a donné lors de sa carrière à l'Université de Paris 8.</p>

<p>Dans la séance 2, le 8 mars 1977, Deleuze se réfère longuement au livre de Dominique Fernandez, <em>La Rose des Tudor</em> (Paris : Julliard, 1976) pour parler de l’idée d’une mort de la musique survenue en 1830 (avec la mort de Bellini et de Rossini, avec l’arrivée de Verdi et de Wagner). Deleuze propose également son concept, développé avec Guattari, de la « ritournelle » comme quelque chose de fondamental pour la naissance de la musique, puis propose différentes manières dont la ritournelle émerge. Bien avant les séminaires de 1981-1985, Deleuze se penche sur le problème vocal au début des films parlants, notamment dans la comédie américaine, et revenant à la musique, Deleuze suggère que la vraie musique se produit lorsque la ritournelle est soumise à un processus de déterritorialisation, citant Mozart et Alban Berg. Deleuze tranche une sorte de débat entre Georges Comtesse et Richard Pinhas, en rejetant la possibilité d’un agencement supplémentaire de la mort ou de la castration suggérée par Comtesse, puisque Deleuze (avec Boulez) considère le silence comme un élément créatif au sein de la machine musicale. Malheureusement, la « longue discussion sur l’instinct de mort » qui suit, indiquée dans une dernière note de WebDeleuze, est omise de la transcription.</p>