In music theory and analysis, timbre-based studies, relatively new in comparison to approaches related to parameters like pitch and duration, use terminology that is far from standardized. While some works explicitly refer to “timbre” as a primary term and concept, others rely on related terms like “orchestration”, “sound”, “sound color”, “composite sound unit”, “texture”, often along with a range of analytical categories and subcategories. How is it possible to consider the diversity of terms related to the general concept of timbre, and the different systems and conceptions that underlie them, beyond apparent terminological differences? This paper focuses on the genesis of timbre-based theory and analysis through the examination of three pioneering works from the mid-1970s, a particularly fruitful period in North America for the development of new concepts and theoretical systems incorporating timbre aspects as an essential dimension: Erickson's Sound Structure in Music (1975), which gives the term “timbre” an essential role, Cogan and Escot's Sonic Design: The Nature of Sound and Music (1976), which bases its reflection on the expression “sound color”, and Berry's Structural Functions in Music (1976), which employs the term “texture” to refer to a primary musical and sound dimension.

This study is based on methods developed in relation to the field of timbre semantics: extraction of data such as terms and lexical fields related to the general concept of timbre, in order to examine their definitions (explicit or implicit), their recurrence patterns, and their relationships – in particular through the study of co-occurrences; statistics and the establishment of diagrams highlighting conceptual organizations and hierarchies. Of primary importance will also be the consideration of the musical repertoires (periods, genres, cultures) to which these terms and concepts relate, the analytical representations they give rise to, and their role within the general theoretical systems, namely in relation to other musical dimensions. This meta-analysis will also compare the use of theoretical and analytical terms and concepts pertaining to timbre in the three books, in order to highlight convergences and divergences, while contextualizing them within the scientific environment of the time.

Through this case study, this paper aims to outline an epistemology of North American timbre theory and analysis of the mid-1970s from a synchronic perspective, based on an articulation between qualitative and quantitative approaches applied to textual sources.

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