A Theory of Harmony by Ernst Levy

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A Theory of Harmony by Ernst Levy

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Summary

The classic work on Levy’s theory of negative harmony.

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A Theory of Harmony by Ernst Levy

Ernst Levy was a visionary Swiss pianist, composer, and teacher who developed an approach to music theory that has come to be known as "negative harmony." Levy's theories have had a wide influence, from young British performer/composer Jacob Collier to jazz musicians like Steve Coleman. His posthumous text, A Theory of Harmony, summarizes his innovative ideas. A Theory of Harmony is a highly original explanation of the harmonic language of the modern era, illuminating the approaches of diverse styles of music. By breaking through age-old conceptions, Levy was able to reorient the way we experience musical harmony. British composer/music pedagogue Paul Wilkinson has written a new introduction that offers multiple points of entry to Levy’s work to make this text more accessible for a new generation of students, performers, and theorists. He relates Levy's work to innovations in improvisation, jazz, twentieth-century classical music, and the theoretical writings of a wide range of musical mavericks, including Harry Partch, Hugo Riemann, and David Lewin. Wilkinson shows how A Theory of Harmony continues to inspire original musical expression across multiple musical genres.
"Ernest Levy's idea [was that] any chord in any key, has a reflection, a polar opposite … based on rotating every single note around the axis of the key center" — Jacob Collier

"The extreme symmetry that Levy is dealing with … reminds me of some of the work I’ve done as well as elements of Bartók's work, Henry Threadgill's work, W.A. Mathieu, Howard Boatwright, Schwaller de Lubicz, and ancient Egypt, Pythagoras, Plato, and the work of the ancient Greeks, Babylonian ideas of reciprocity and the work of Umayalpuram Sivaraman and other related Vedic symmetrical ideas." — Steve Coleman
Ernst Levy (1895–1981) was a Swiss music theorist, composer, and conductor.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781438496337
ISBN 10 1438496338
Title A Theory of Harmony
Author Ernst Levy
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher State University of New York Press
Year published 2024-01-01
Number of pages 132
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable