Cacophony is a haphazard, harmony-free combination of sounds, usually prompting the listener to frown and plug his ears immediately.
Meaning of the word
The origin of the word is ancient Greek. The root - φωνή is translated as “sound” and participates in the creation of many lexemes related to sound characteristics: a megaphone, gramophone, tape recorder, telephone, phonogram, phoneme, music library and so on. The root κακός in the Russian translation means "bad."
The meaning of the word cacophony confirms the synonymous series in which it is located: dissonance, discord, disharmony. Any sounds that cut the hearing are perceived by the human ear as cacophony. This is the crazy choir of March cats, and the sounds of instruments tuned before the performance or concert, and the urban dissonance of noises, and the dissonant strings of other poetic verses. The word opposite in meaning to this lexeme is the term “euphonia”, which means harmony.
Musical dissonance
Cacophony is the concept most associated with music. In contemporary avant-garde art, a random pile of sounds is sometimes used on purpose, with a certain ideological and aesthetic purpose. Back in 1936, Shostakovich's “conceptualist”, domestic critics angrily condemned the intricate sound organization of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, calling it a welter instead of music. The works of the American pianist Henry Cowell, who was distinguished by his own peculiar style, contain musical sounds that are characterized by dissonant sound. The same can be said of composer John Cage, famous for inventing the so-called “prepared piano”. Before the concert, the musician prepared the instrument, placing small objects between his strings - coins, pieces of paper, paper clips, pins. As a result, the sound acquired unusual colors and timbre. Cage’s technique of composing music was based on the principle of chance. The method of chance was perfected by his followers - the German Stockhausen and the Frenchman Boulez.
"Metal" group
Heavy metal fans will be happy to tell you that Cacophony is also a famous American band whose musical compositions are a bizarre mix of Japanese, Arabic and new European tunes. Over the three years of its existence (1986-1989), the group released two high-quality albums in the style of thrash metal and neoclassical metal.
In other areas
The noun “cacophony” is applicable to other spheres of human activity. In style, they say so about an ugly and unjustified combination of sounds in speech. Psychiatry holds this term in arms when it refers to such nervous disorders in which the patient perceives audible sounds as chaotic noise. Metaphorically, the word “cacophony” refers to disagreement and lack of agreement between people. Sometimes they determine the inconsistency and inconsistency of the thought process, feelings and desires of the individual. Then they talk about the cacophony of the mind. Cacophony in art and architecture can be called bizarre and piercing combinations of forms, lines and colors, unusual for the perception of a person brought up on traditional cultural samples.
Speak correctly
Often you can hear such a thing as "cacophony of sounds." It is incorrect, because it contains a tautology: in the noun “cacophony”, as we have seen, the meaning of the word “sound” already exists, thus, the above expression means “dissonance of sounds”. Let's use words and concepts correctly so that cacophony never arises in our thoughts and statements.