The Structure of Atonal Music

by Allen Forte

“For some years now, a group of American composers and theorists including Babbitt, Teitelbaum, Martino, and Lewin, have been elaborating mathematically based procedures for the analysis of pitch structures in atonal music. In this book, Allen Forte expands the results of their work into a comprehensive theoretical survey illustrated with examples from a wide range of composers.”― Times Higher Education Supplement
“An attempt to ‘provide a general theoretical framework’ for the description and analysis of musical pitch-structures that resist interpretation in terms of conventional tonal or 12-note serial systems…. Not the least achievement of this book may be to establish the limits for a positive meaning for atonality…. Forte always moves forward with elegant clarity, explaining even quite conventional terms and illustrating his points with directness and care.”― The Musical Times

Genres: Music, Mathematics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 1974

Reviews

[Jim MacKinnon]

In a revolutionary work of music theory, Allen Forte introduces his mathematically-based concept of pitch-class set theory as a means of analyzing atonal music, particularly the music of such composers as Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Stravinsky, and Bartók. Formalizing groups of pitch-class set classes, Forte moves on to describe how these set classes might relate to one another through such operations as transposition and inversion.  Finally, Forte applies his theory of pitch-class set relations to actual compositions.

[Joe]

A must for all interested in the workings of contemporary music. Technical, but then so are you. :)

[Arturo Perez]

I'm

[Joshua Clement]

All the useful information in this book could have been covered in about 5 pages.

[dale paul]

Mmm... Thank you.