A music theoretical history of two continents. German and European roots and (re)reception of Pitch-Class Set Theory

Abstract

Pitch-class set theory was developed on the American continent in the 1940s by composers and music theorists such as Milton Babbitt (1916‒2011), Allen Forte (1926‒2014), and others.  Since the 1970s, this discipline, which is located between music and mathematics, can be regarded as more and more established and institutionalised throughout the Anglo-American world. In contrast, it is often strongly rejected in large parts of the European and especially the German discourse, which can be seen as one of the many devastating aspects of the division of the international research community following the Second World War. This study attempts to trace the historical causes of the ambivalent reception of pitch-class set theory world-wide, partly on the basis of exclusive sources, such as an e-mail correspondence with Allen Forte. It discusses the paradoxical situation that it is precisely in German and French music theory of the 19th century (and in some cases even further back) that predecessor models of this music theoretical system can be found in the history of ideas. Only recently, depoliticised and in the context of the ever stronger and more natural international networking of specialist discourse in the German-speaking world and other parts of Europe, has it become possible to consider pitch-class set theory as a meaningful analysis tool for post-tonal Western music and to apply it accordingly, on the one hand, as well as to individualise and further develop it, on the other. In times of internationalisation, globalisation, and digitalisation, this form of re-reception holds the potential to expand pitch-class set theory into a transcultural music-analytical tool that can also gain strength beyond its previous musical boundaries and areas of application.