Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations 1st Edition

by David Lewin (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0199759941

ISBN-10: 0199759944

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David Lewin's Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations is recognized as the seminal work paving the way for current studies in mathematical and systematic approaches to music analysis. Lewin, one of the 20th century's most prominent figures in music theory, pushes the boundaries of
the study of pitch-structure beyond its conception as a static system for classifying and inter-relating chords and sets. Known by most music theorists as "GMIT", the book is by far the most significant contribution to the field of systematic music theory in the last half-century, generating the
framework for the "transformational theory" movement. Appearing almost twenty years after GMIT's initial publication, this Oxford University Press edition features a previously unpublished preface by David Lewin, as well as a foreword by Edward Gollin contextualizing the work's significance for the
current field of music theory.

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Editorial Reviews

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"Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations, David Lewin's masterpiece, has prompted a twenty-year efflorescence in the field of mathematical and systematic music theory. GMIT leads readers to the head of a series of distinct paths, suggests by example where each path leads, and leaves
readers to their own explorations. Many music theorists now spend their careers working out different aspects of the vision presented here; there is plenty and enough to go around."-Richard L. Cohn, Battell Professor of the Theory of Music, Yale University

"David Lewin's great gift was his ability to connect sophisticated mathematics to musical experience in ways that were deeply compelling, never losing sight of either the music, or the experience. Together these two volumes display both his theoretical brilliance and his sensitivity to the
individuality of musical works. Most significantly, they are imbued with his unflagging dedication to and abiding love for the acts of making and understanding music."--Andrew Mead, Professor of Music, University of Michigan

"Lewin was a revolutionary thinker, and GMIT is a revolutionary book."--Journal of the American Musicological Society

"David Lewin's work is among the most important on music theory in the twentieth century. Through some of the examples of practical applications, Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations was the inception and theoretical basis of the 'Neo-Riemannian' strand of tonal music theory. In
addition, its transformational network analysis paradigm has become part of every music theorist's standard repertory for analysis, and has since been extended by Lewin himself, Klumpenhouwer, Lambert, Stoecker, Headlam, Rahn, and Mazzola among many others. The analytical essays in Musical Form and
Transformations illustrate the new analytical paradigm Lewin introduced in Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. These seminal works on music theory are essential reading."-John Rahn, Professor of Music, University of Washington

"While David Lewin's thought had been animated for decades by some of these books' ideas---the complex significance of interval, the audibility of pitch-class inversional indices, the definition of directed motion more by context than convention---it was their concentrated presentation here that
enabled many readers to assimilate them as a 'theory.' The result was a shift in the discipline's conception of its methods, even its goals, to the point where imitation of the books (of their imitable aspects) could become a career path. In a renewed encounter with the originals, we are confronted
once more by Lewin's intellectual probity, his intense concern with every construction's relation to hearing (which need not mean anything so simple as that every construction is heard), his fastidious eschewal of hype. With these taken as exemplary, the field would change again."--Joseph Dubiel,
Professor of Music, Columbia University

"A book that has rightly earned its place as one of the most important and highly esteemed of its kind in the last half century or so...This OUP volume makes what truly is a revolutionary theory on the way music works (and not just contemporary music... Bach and Wagner people the opening pages in no
small way) available to us now. Put in the work to understand the admittedly often dense (but always lucidly set out) material which Lewin handles so deftly, and the rewards are huge. The technicalities of the book's production, indexing, footnoting, clarity of reproduction of the examples (musical
and mathematical), proofing and so on are all just as one would expect from OUP. Unreservedly recommended." --Classical.net

About the Author

Over his 42-year teaching career, David Lewin (1933-2003) taught composition, with an increasing focus on music theory, at the University of California at Berkeley, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Yale University, and finally at Harvard University. Among his music-theoretic writings
are many articles and books, including Musical Form and Transformation (Yale, 1993), which received an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, and Studies in Music with Text (posthumous, Oxford 2006). He was the recipient of honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, the New England Conservatory of
Music, and the Marc Bloch University, Strasbourg, France, for his work in music theory.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (November 16, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199759944
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199759941
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 6 x 0.66 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,494,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,750 in Music Theory (Books)
- #1,990 in Music (Books)

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Adam Luhring

The math was in-depth and could technically be applied to ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2017

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The math was in-depth and could technically be applied to intervals; however, the concepts didn't really provide any insight/worthwhile vocabulary for talking about music in the way various people talking about the book had made it sound they would. One example: The book boasted that its interval systems could even be applied to timbre. I had never really heard of timbre being studied theoretically (outside of a basic "this is what a spectrograph for this instrument is like" sense) and was intrigued. When I got to that section, though, it basically said you could alter timbres mathematically by, for instance, multiplying the strength of each harmonic by a particular value. That's true, but it's clearly not how timbre functions when we listen to music and doesn't give any intuition about how to build a system that does.

3 people found this helpful

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Dagfinn Koch

Mind and ear opener.

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2015

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Yes, it's complicated. It has a learning curve I didn't know existed; but for me as a professional composer, this is a mind an ear opener. It's worth it ten fold!

One person found this helpful

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Spencer Topel

One of the most important treatises on music since Rameau

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2003

I have studied this book, and continue to study it. This text has been a wealth of information for my own compositional work as well as my understanding of integrated serial technique. Milton Babbitt considers David Lewin a genius and Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations is proof of his statement. In addition to this comment he made recently after Mr. Lewin passed away, he mentioned that a fair portion of his writing remains unpublished. It is my hope that a wise publisher or institution will come along soon and see the value of this important theorist's work, and return the books that are out of print to the presses and publish as much of his remaining work as possible.

21 people found this helpful

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theta

Navel Gazing.

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2014

Music theory can profit quite a bit from objective mathematical analysis, but it's well to remember that music theory can never BE mathematics. At some point in the late twentieth-century certain music theorists began to pose as mathematicians and to spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to define rigorously the terms of a proposed mathematical analysis without ever getting to the mathematical analysis itself (to say nothing of the actual music). Lewin is even worse (or better, depending on your proclivities). His "generalization" is not even specific to notes or rhythms or instrumentation. Instead we have musing about mathematical group theory in the abstract. I wouldn't mind so much if his prose style were not so hideously pompous. In any case, I don't see how anything is to be gained.

4 people found this helpful

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Gene De Lisa

Horrible

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2014

"...is recognized as the seminal work ..." by whom? I'm going to have to drop you a letter grade for using passive voice.

This is a publish or perish tome. Music theory has jumped the shark with writings like this.

6 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

amazonwitch

Unreadable. Impractical. Brilliant, but disappointing.

Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2021

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I didn’t know much about this book when I ordered it, except that I had seen it cited and referenced in so many other academic music theory papers. At first glance I’m quite disappointed that it consists almost entirely of impenetrable technical definitions, lemmas and proofs. It’s not a pleasant at all, and not the challenging but accessible “beach reading” I was hoping for.

As a music theorist myself I will keep this book on my shelf and no doubt may refer to it from time to time. But as a book to read and enjoy? Definitely not.

Also, this book is really super advanced hyper-theoretical material. If you’re looking for something that will advance your understanding of music in any practical way, this ain’t it.

Jose Cargnelutti

Reviewed in Italy on June 21, 2019

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Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations 1st Edition

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