Project Description
Resounding Dissonance: A Global History of Early Atonal Thought
In my book project, I reevaluate music’s pre-World War II avant-garde, revealing an integrated intellectual network spanning Russia, North America, and Latin America. In the early twentieth century, I show, the composers Henry Cowell, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, and Julián Carrillo produced a collective upheaval in musical thought, well outside Central Europe, where Arnold Schoenberg famously explored atonality. By taking a transnational approach, I destabilize conceptions of the pre-war avant-garde’s intellectual locus in Austria and Germany, in favour of a rich and heterogenous global network.
Research Classification
- Music interpretation
Research Interests
- history of music theory
- twentieth century music
- atonal music analysis
- global intellectual history
Research Methodology
- archival research
- music analysis
Faculty
Faculty of Arts