Theory, Analysis and Meaning in Music

There have been far-reaching changes in the way that music theorists and analysts view their discipline. Without seeking to impose an explicit redefinition of either analysis or theory, the contributors explore the limits of both. Essays on the language of analysis and theory combine with studies of works by Debussy, Schoenberg, Birtwistle and Boulez.

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There have been far-reaching changes in the way music theorists and analysts view the nature of their disciplines. Encounters with structuralist and post-structuralist critical theory, and with linguistics and cognitive sciences, have brought the theory and analysis of music into the orbit of important developments in intellectual history. This book presents the work of a group of scholars who, without seeking to impose an explicit redefinition of either theory or analysis, explore the limits of both in this context. Essays on the languages of analysis and theory, and on practical issues such as decidability, ambiguity and metaphor, combine with studies of works by Debussy, Schoenberg, Birtwistle and Boulez, together making a major contribution to an important debate in the growth of musicology.