Music Theory

Richard Dawkins's formulation of the meme concept in his 1976 classic The Selfish Gene has inspired three decades of work in what many see as the burgeoning science of memetics. This study is the first musicologically-orientated attempt systematically to apply the theory of memetics to music. In con..

This collection of essays offers a historical reappraisal of what musical modernism was, and what its potential for the present and future could be. It thus moves away from the binary oppositions that have beset twentieth-century music studies in the past, such as those between modernism and postmod..

This book examines the origin, content, and development of the musical thought of Heinrich Schenker and Arnold Schoenberg. One of the premises is that their inner musical lives are inseparable from their inner spiritual lives. Curiously, they start out in much the same musical-spiritual place, yet m..

Chopin's twenty-four Préludes remain as mysterious today as when they were newly published, raising questions about sources, compositional intention and aesthetic appeal. In this monograph, richly illustrated with musical examples, Anatole Leikin combines historical perspectives, hermeneutic and the..

Covering modal music from Gregorian chant through the seventeenth century, The Principles and Practice of Modal Counterpoint is a comprehensive textbook combining stylistic composition, theory and analysis, music history, and performance. By supplementing a modified species approach with a wealth of..

Covering modal music from Gregorian chant through the seventeenth century, The Principles and Practice of Modal Counterpoint is a comprehensive textbook combining stylistic composition, theory and analysis, music history, and performance. By supplementing a modified species approach with a wealth of..

In Thresholds, Marcel Cobussen rethinks the relationship between music and spirituality. The book presents an idea of spirituality in and through music that counters strategies of exclusion and mastering of alterity and connects it to wandering, erring, and roving. Cobussen regards spirituality as ..

Conferences, workshops and curricula are for the first time beginning to develop around the theme of 'world music theory', as students, teachers and researchers recognize the need for analytical concepts and methods applicable to a wider range of human musics. This book proposes a number of such con..

Conferences, workshops and curricula are for the first time beginning to develop around the theme of 'world music theory', as students, teachers and researchers recognize the need for analytical concepts and methods applicable to a wider range of human musics. This book proposes a number of such con..

Edvard Grieg was enchanted by what he styled the ‘dreamworld’ of harmony, a magical realm whose principles the composer felt remained a mystery even to himself, and he was not alone in that the complex nature of late-Romantic harmony has proved a source of debate up to the present day. Grieg’s later..

This textbook introduces a number of tools for analyzing a wide range of twentieth-century musical styles and genres. It provides a number of analytical, compositional, and written exercises. The aural skills supplement and online aural skills trainer on the companion website allow students to use t..

This textbook introduces a number of tools for analyzing a wide range of twentieth-century musical styles and genres. It provides a number of analytical, compositional, and written exercises. The aural skills supplement and online aural skills trainer on the companion website allow students to use t..