Abstract

This essay highlights the close bond between two crucial aspects of Stumpf’s research on music: his concept of tonal fusion and his pioneering contribution to the foundations of ethnomusicology. It is claimed that the key to Stumpf’s take on musical phenomena lies in his opposition to naturalism. Our musical world, in Stumpf’s view, arises on the basis of certain features – e.g. tonal fusion – of our perceptual system (broadly construed), and yet develops differently and autonomously within each cultural context. Before becoming dispersed in the Thirties, Stumpf’s heritage in the field of ethnomusicology was taken up by his pupil and friend Erich Hornbostel.