The Music Theory of Godfrey Winham

This text attempts to synthesize the various aspects of the theorist's thinking into a single coherent, if unfinished, endeavour. It concentrates in particular on Winham's attempts to define formally the basic terms of musical theory and his axiomatic phenomonology of pitch.

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Serves as an introduction to the work of Godfrey Winham, an influential figure in American music theory circles in the 1960s. Little published in his lifetime, Winham left behind, at his premature death in 1974, a massive collection of notes: correspondence, unfinished articles and sketches for books. These notes were transcribed and deposited in the Special Collections of Firestone Library at Princeton University. They cover a range of subjects, from exercises in analytical logic, to thoughts on the construction of a formally consistent music theory, studies of particular pieces and an epistemological reconception of Schenker's analysis. This text attempts to synthesize the various aspects of the theorist's thinking into a single coherent, if unfinished, endeavour. It concentrates in particular on Winham's attempts to define formally the basic terms of musical theory, his axiomatic phenomonology of pitch, and his consideration of the reciprocal relationship between theory and analysis.