This article introduces the history and aesthetics of feedback-based music, from early practitioners to more advanced methods and state-of-the-art works based on adaptation. Some of the most relevant techniques developed over almost six decades of investigations in the area of recursive systems for electronic music are discussed to show the variety and richness that a single specialised domain can have, providing examples of how scientific and philosophical principles can be translated into music. The historical context is key to understanding the evolution of the field: feedback-based music arose during the same years in which cybernetics, together with other disciplines, were experiencing a profound transformation. I will provide an overview of how such disciplines changed, highlighting the connections between seemingly distant areas such as philosophy, biology and engineering, and the fact that the development of feedback-based music appears to have followed somewhat closely the evolution of systems thinking. Finally, the article explores questions of musical aesthetics and music theory related to the use of complex autonomous systems in live performance through observations on the author’s creative practice.

本文介绍了基于反馈的音乐的历史和美学，从早期的实践者到更先进的方法和基于改编的最先进的作品。讨论了电子音乐递归系统领域近六十年研究中开发的一些最相关的技术，以展示单个专业领域可以拥有的多样性和丰富性，并提供了如何将科学和哲学原理转化为科学和哲学原理的示例。音乐。历史背景是理解该领域演变的关键：基于反馈的音乐出现在控制论与其他学科一起经历深刻变革的同一年。我将概述这些学科是如何变化的，强调哲学、生物学和工程学等看似遥远的领域之间的联系，以及基于反馈的音乐的发展似乎在某种程度上密切关注系统思维的演变这一事实。最后，文章通过对作者创作实践的观察，探讨了与现场表演中复杂自治系统的使用相关的音乐美学和音乐理论问题。