A1 Journal article (refereed)
Audiovisual Associations in Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals : A Cross-Cultural Investigation on the Role of Timbre (2025)


Di Stefano, N., Ansani, A., Schiavio, A., Saarikallio, S., & Spence, C. (2025). Audiovisual Associations in Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals : A Cross-Cultural Investigation on the Role of Timbre. Empirical Studies of the Arts, Early online. https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241308810


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editorsDi Stefano, Nicola; Ansani, Alessandro; Schiavio, Andrea; Saarikallio, Suvi; Spence, Charles

Journal or seriesEmpirical Studies of the Arts

ISSN0276-2374

eISSN1541-4493

Publication year2025

Publication date17/01/2025

VolumeEarly online

PublisherSAGE Publications

Publication countryUnited States

Publication languageEnglish

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1177/02762374241308810

Publication open accessOpenly available

Publication channel open accessPartially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX)https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/100076


Abstract

Several studies have investigated crossmodal associations involving audiovisual stimuli. To date, however, far fewer studies have explored the relationship between musical timbre and visual features (e.g., soft/harsh timbres with blue/red colours). To fill this gap in the literature, 249 participants were invited to judge the match between different coloured images and musical excerpts. The images depicted seven characters from Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals”; the audio stimuli consisted of the music the composer created to represent each character. To test the effect of timbre and culture, the audio stimuli were presented either in the original orchestral version or in the piano transcription, while the participants were recruited from various countries, encompassing both Western and non-Western nationalities. The results demonstrate that timbre influences crossmodal associations between musical excerpts and drawings, while these associations remain consistent across cultures, languages, and levels of musical background.


Keywordsmusic researchtone coloraudiovisual communicationperformance of musicmusic psychologycluster analysis

Free keywordscrossmodal correspondences; cluster analysis; music perception; musical timbre


Contributing organizations


Related projects


Ministry reportingYes

VIRTA submission year2025

Preliminary JUFO rating2


Last updated on 2025-08-02 at 20:05