David Lewin - Theory

Theory

David Lewin's work in music theory was both influential and eclectic. Broadly, his writings can be divided into three overlapping groups: formal or mathematically-based theory, more interpretive writing on the interaction of music and text, and metatheoretical discussions on the methodology and purpose of contemporary music theory (e.g. Lewin 1986 and Lewin 1991).

The first group includes his innovations in transformational theory, as expressed in numerous articles and in his treatise Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. In this work, Lewin applied group theory to music, investigating the basic concepts, interval and transposition, and extending them beyond their traditional application to pitch. Based on a powerful metaphor of musical space, this theory can be applied to pitch, rhythm and metre, or even timbre. Moreover, it can be applied to both tonal and atonal repertories (Rings 2011, 2).

Lewin's writing on the relationship between text and music in song and opera involves composers from Mozart to Wagner to Schoenberg. In one interesting example, "Music Analysis as Stage Direction," he discusses how structural aspects of the music can suggest dramatic interpretations.

Important writings for the discipline of music theory include "Behind the Beyond" (1968–9), a response to Edward Cone, and "Music Theory, Phenomenology, and Modes of Perception" (1986).

While Lewin's rigorous formal theory may seem forbidding, his writing is marked by a sense of poetry and a critical awareness of disciplinary issues and cultural biases. He often makes clear which dense sections can be skipped by readers unfamiliar with mathematics, and connects his abstract theory to practical musical considerations, such as performance and music perception. For example, in Musical Form and Transformation: Four Analytic Essays, Lewin provides ear-training exercises to develop an ability to hear more difficult musical relationships. His work has influenced later theorists, such as Richard Cohn, Robert Morris, Henry Klumpenhouwer, John Clough, Brian Hyer, and Norman Carey and David Clampitt. Posthumously, in 2003, a symposium on David Lewin's theories was conducted at the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory.