MUSIC 7103

History of Theory

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2018-2019 Catalog.

This seminar investigates the history of fundamental concepts in music theory—pitch, pitch collections, consonance, dissonance, harmony—and their connections to mathematical, acoustical, and philosophical thought from Greek and Roman antiquity through Rameau. Focusing on competing theories of pitch organization and different strategies for schematizing and visualizing "pitch space" (tetrachords, interval species, affinitas, hexachords, octave periodicity, modality, transposition, and modulation), the seminar will also extend its reach into more contemporary theory by foregrounding historiographical issues in the reception of ancient and medieval theory.

When Offered Spring.

View Enrollment Information