Description

For undergraduate/graduate-level courses in Twentieth-Century Techniques, and Post-Tonal Theory and Analysis taken by music majors.

A primer—rather than a survey—this text offers exceptionally clear, simple explanations of basic theoretical concepts for the post-tonal music of the twentieth century. Emphasising hands-on contact with the music—through playing, singing, listening, and analysing—it provides six chapters on theory, each illustrated with musical examples and fully worked-out analyses, all drawn largely from the “classical” pre-war repertoire by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, Berg, and Webern.

Features

• Updated information on the most recent developments in post-tonal theory–Includes expanded or new coverage of the following topics: Transformational networks and graphs; contour theory; composing-out; atonal voice leading and pitch spaces; triadic post-tonality; inversional symmetry and inversional axes; interval cycles; and diatonic, whole-tone, octatonic, and hexatonic collections.
  • Reflects recent research and developments in the field.
• Added musical examples–Many post-1950, and many by American composers–Features Babbitt, Berio, Boulez, Cage, Carter, Cowell, Crawford, Crumb, Debussy, Feldman, Gubaidulina, Ligeti, Messiaen, Musgrave, Reich, Ruggles, Sessions, Stockhausen, Varese, Wolpe, and Wuorinen.
  • Illustrates theoretical concepts, and explores a much wider range of composers and musical styles than previously covered–i.e., triadic and neotonal styles.
• Exceptionally clear, simple explanation of complex ideas.
  • Makes basic information about the theory and analysis of twentieth century music accessible to undergraduate students.
• Three principal kinds of post-tonal music–Considers free atonal music, twelve-tone music, and neutonal music.
  • Familiarises students with the reasonably distinct theories that have grown up around each kind of music, allowing them to appreciate their pure forms and the considerable blurring of the boundaries that occur among them both musically and theoretically.
• Theory coupled with hands-on analyses–Follows each theory chapter with a pair of short analyses designed to apply the theoretical concepts in a meaningful musical context.
  • Takes a direct, hands-on approach to the works, encouraging students to play them, sing them, and experience them in an immediate way.
• Chapter-end exercises–Include exercises in theory, analysis, musicianship and ear-training, and composition.
  • Provides students with a full range of activities for applying concepts and for delving more deeply into the many aspects of theory.
• Discussions of transformational graphs and networks, inversional and transpositional symmetry, transpositional combination, contour, voice leading, and interval cycles.
  • Keeps students abreast of the most recent theoretical developments.
• A discussion of segmentation and the analytical process.
  • Gives students clear, explicit models for their own analytical work.
• The use of fixed-O notation for the analysis of twelve-tone music.
  • Permits students to make effective use of concepts for free atonal music in the analysis of twelve-tone music.
• A thorough discussion of the varieties of twelve-tone music–Includes Stravinsky's rotational arrays, Babbitt's trichordal arrays, Crawford's “triple passacaglia,” and Boulez's multiplication.
  • Gives students a sense of the range and diversity of twelve-tone music.
• Up-to-date bibliographies.

New to this Edition

• Updated information on the most recent developments in post-tonal theory—Includes expanded or new coverage of the following topics: Transformational networks and graphs; contour theory; composing-out; atonal voice leading and pitch spaces; triadic post-tonality; inversional symmetry and inversional axes; interval cycles; and diatonic, whole-tone, octatonic, and hexatonic collections.
  • Reflects recent research and developments in the field.
• Added musical examples—Many post-1950, and many by American composers—Features Babbitt, Berio, Boulez, Cage, Carter, Cowell, Crawford, Crumb, Debussy, Feldman, Gubaidulina, Ligeti, Messiaen, Musgrave, Reich, Ruggles, Sessions, Stockhausen, Varese, Wolpe, and Wuorinen.
  • Illustrates theoretical concepts, and explores a much wider range of composers and musical styles than previously covered—i.e., triadic and neotonal styles.

Table of Contents

1. Basic Concepts and Definitions.

 

2. Pitch-Class Sets.

 

 

5. Basic Twelve-Tone Operations.