科学美国人60秒 SSS 计算机证实贝多芬的影响力

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

Beethoven is a giant of classical music. And the most influential¹, too—at least, when it comes to piano compositions. That's according to a study in the journal EPJ Data Science.

If you're wondering how data analysis could determine something as intangible as cultural influence, it's worth remembering this:

"The great thing about music: it's the most mathematical of the art forms we actually can deal with. Because a lot of it is symbolic²; it's temporal. So we have symbols. The music is written in symbols that are connected in time."

Juyong Park is a theoretical physicist³ by training and associate professor of culture technology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Park and his colleagues collected 900 piano compositions by 19 composers spanning the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, from 1700 to 1910.

(CLIP: Musical montage)

Then they used that mathematical quality to their advantage by dividing each composition into what they called "code words," a group of simultaneously⁴ played notes—in other words, a chord.

(CLIP: Code word sample)

They then compared each chord to the chord or note that came after it...

(CLIP: Code word transition sample)

...which allowed them to determine how creative composers were at coming up with novel transitions.

The composer with top marks for novelty? Rachmaninoff.

(CLIP: Rachmaninoff sample)

But when the researchers looked at those chord transitions across all 19 composers, it was Beethoven who was most heavily borrowed from—meaning, at least among the composers in this analysis, his influence loomed⁵ the largest.

Their study comes with a couple caveats⁶. Again, the researchers only considered piano compositions in this work—not orchestral works. And by only studying chord transitions, their conclusions wouldn't capture artists who were influential in other ways.

"It's well understood that Mozart's contribution to music comes from the musical forms that he devised. That was not very well captured by our mathematical modeling."

As for Park, the results convinced him he has some listening to do.

"Of course I do. I like Rachmaninoff's music but I have to confess, I have listened to Beethoven way more than Rachmaninoff. So after this work came out, I ended up buying his whole complete collection from Amazon, I'm waiting for this collection to arrive."

Seems that Park turned a minor⁷ interest into a major commitment—in a key way.

(CLIP: Rachmaninoff sample)

For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

1 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

2 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

3 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

4 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

5 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 caveats   

警告

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
• As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。 来自互联网

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。