Tonality and transformation

Abstract

This book employs transformational theory to illuminate the experience of tonal music. In addition to providing an accessible primer on transformational theory, the book introduces new theoretical constructs to model familiar tonal effects. Two effects are central: the infusion of sounding pitches with tonal qualities (or qualia) and the orientation of pitches toward a tonic. Tonal qualities are modeled via a Generalized Interval System (or GIS), while tonic directedness is modeled by oriented transformational networks. The arrows in such networks animate a special class of transformational action called tonal intention—the directing of the listener's awareness toward a tonal center. The book divides into two parts. Part I addresses theoretical and methodological issues, while Part II comprises four extended analytical chapters. The analytical chapters explore the E-major Fugue from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier; the aria “Un’aura amorosa” from Mozart's Così fan tutte; Brahms's A-major Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2; and the slow movement from Brahms's String Quintet, op. 111. Analytical vignettes are present throughout Part I as well, demonstrating the efficacy of the book's theoretical ideas in music from Bach to Mahler. The analyses place the book's novel technologies in dialogue with existing methods for tonal analysis, including Schenkerian theory and neo-Riemannian theory.