Tonality

Dmitri Tymoczko is a composer and music theorist who teaches at Princeton University. Widely recognized as one of the world's leading music theorists, his music has been performed all over the world.

• Preface and Acknowledgements1. Implicit musical knowledge1. Gesualdo's trick2. The quadruple hierarchy3. Philosophy4. Statistics5. Schema6. OutlinePrelude: transposition along a collection2. Rock logic1. A melodic principle2. A harmonic principle3. A first chord-loop family4. Two more families5. Shepard-tone passacaglias6. Minor triads and other trichords7. A fourth family8. Other modalities9. Function and retrofunction10. Continuity or reinvention?Prelude: the Tinctoris transform3. Line and configuration1. The imperfect system2. Voice exchanges3. Other intervals4. The circle of diatonic triads5. Voice exchanges and multiple chord types6. Four-voice triadic counterpoint7. Counterpoint within the chord8. Seventh chords9. Harmony and counterpointPrelude: sequence and function4. Repetition1. Repetition reimagined2. Repeating contrapuntal patterns3. The geometry of two-voice sequences4. Three voices and the circle of triads5. Three voices arranged 2+1 6. Four voices7. Contrary-motion sequences8. Melodic sequences and near sequences9. Near sequences10. Sequences as reductional targetsPrelude: three varieties of analytical reduction5. Nonharmonic tones1. The first practice and the SNAP system2. Schoenberg's critique3. Monteverdi's "Ohimè"4. The standardized second practice5. A loophole6. After nonharmonicityPrelude: functional and scale-degree analysis6. The origins of functional harmony1. The logical structure of protofunctionality2. Similarities and differences3. Origin and meaning4. Harmony and polyphony5. The Pope Marcellus Kyrie6. A broader perspective7. "I Cannot Follow"Prelude: could the Martians understand our music?7. Functional progressions1. A theory of harmonic cycles2. A more principled view3. Rameau and Bach4. Functional melody, functional harmony5. Fauxbourdon and linear idioms6. Sequences7. Bach the dualistPrelude: chromatic or diatonic?8. Modulation1. Two models of key distance2. Enharmonicism and loops in scale space3. Minor keys4. Modulatory schemas5. Up and down the ladder6. Modal homogenization and scalar voice leading7. Generalized set theoryPrelude: hearing and hearing-as9. Melodic strategies1. Strategy and reduction2. Two models of the phrase3. Chopin and the Prime Directive4. An expanded vocabulary of melodic templates5. Simple harmonic hierarchy6. The four-part phrase7. Grouping, melody, harmony8. Beyond the phrase: hierarchy at the level of the piecePrelude: why Beethoven?10. Beethoven theorist1. Meet the Ludwig2. From schema to flow3. The Tempest4. The Fifth Symphony5. The "Pastorale" sonata, op. 286. Schubert's Quartettsatz7. The prelude to Lohengrin11. Conclusion12. Appendix 1: Fundamentals13. Appendix 2: Deriving the spiral diagrams14. Appendix 3: From sequence to transformation15. Appendix 4: Music theory and corpus analysisTerms and AbbreviationsBibliography

Tonality: An Owner's Manual is Dmitri Tymoczko's dazzling answer to the controversial quest for a transhistorical definition of tonality. By disentangling what composers do from what theorists say, Tymoczko presents a fascinating exposition of common compositional principles that animate Western music from Renaissance polyphony to jazz, rock, and contemporary triadic idioms.