Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory. 4th ed.
By Joseph
N. Straus. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.
416 p. ISBN 978-0-939-38883-8 (Hardcover).
Reviewed by: Roxane Prevost, University of Ottawa1
Joseph N. Straus’s Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory
has long been an essential text for anyone interested
in studying post-tonal theory. First published in 1990,
it is a standard textbook in North American
universities, my own institution included, and provides
the basic tools to analyze atonal music, post-tonal
repertoire with tonal roots, and serial music. This
fourth edition does not only reprise the essential
content from previous editions, supplemented by new
material, but it has also been beautifully reformatted
and reorganized with music analysis as a primary focus.
As with previous editions, Straus introduces basic concepts of set-class theory, contour relations,
interval cycles, voice leading, triadic post-tonality, centricity, referential collections, and serialism.
The most dramatic change is found in the layout, with the material presented in a format that is
more accessible to students than in previous editions. Straus includes a box at the beginning of each
chapter with an outline of the main material. The discussion is supported by various musical
examples, followed by summary boxes at the end of each section. The material has been organized
more efficiently into subsections, allowing students to make connections more easily between
different elements.
In relation to actual content, Straus has reorganized the material and provided additional figures to
better present concepts. The first three chapters (“Basic Concepts of Pitch and Interval,” “Pitch-
Class Sets,” and “Some Additional Properties and Relationships”) preserve most of the material
from the third edition, but composing-out, voice leading, and set-class space (previously atonal
pitch space) have been moved from the third to the fourth chapter. In essence, the fourth chapter
from the third edition has been divided into two chapters (in the 4th edition). The new fourth
chapter, “Motive, Voice Leading, and Harmony,” contains new sections on maximally even set
classes and contextual inversion, as well as combination cycles. All of these concepts are prevalent
in the current scholarly literature on post-tonal analysis and provide the student with the tools
needed to undertake research in this field. In chapter 5 (“Centricity and Referential Pitch
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Collections”), Straus adds new labels for the diatonic collections (DIA with the number of sharps or
flats) to align with the other scales, making it easier to reference these collections. The new chapter
6 (“Basic Concepts of twelve-Tone Music”), duplicates most of the material of chapter 5 from the
third edition and preserves most of the material from the old chapter 6 (“More Twelve-Tone
Topics”) by including it as a subsection (“Varieties of Twelve-Tone Music”). Straus omits only the
subsection on Boulez and multiplication. The material is presented in an accessible manner with
numerous musical examples, exercises, sample analyses, and guided analyses. The layout of the
prose, musical examples, diagrams, and figures is stunning.
There are, however, a few other issues to consider. First, this new edition is expensive (the
hardcover lists for US$106), partly due to the numerous copyrighted examples. Although solutions
to the exercises are available for the instructor via the publisher’s website, it is time consuming to
find recordings of so many short excerpts, some with few available recordings. For the most part,
the sequencing of the material follows a sound pedagogical approach, building on previous
material. Some sequencing concerns, which perhaps can never be resolved, do surface. For
example, the labels for R (retrograde) and RI (retrograde inversion) are not discussed until chapter 6
on twelve-tone music. Would it be more useful to introduce these labels for CSEGs (128) later when
students are familiar with these operations? Would contextual inversion be better placed in chapter
5 with the discussion on centricity? I suspect that changing the sequencing would most likely create
other issues.
As the book covers so much territory, one may find a number of inconsistencies when using it in the
classroom. For example, it would be useful to add one example of the complement for the interval
classes and mention the anomaly with the tritone, for example 1-16 (13). On page 16, a more direct
link between the information as scoreboard fashion for interval classes with the information in the
interval-class vector would benefit the discussion. Example 2-1 (44) is missing measure numbers.
There is an inconsistency with the term “trichord,” which is identified as a “three-member set” on
page 68, but is used previously, such as on page 63, and is finally defined on page 69 in the last
paragraph of section 2.8. On page 249, Straus flags the “first” point, but the student is left
wondering what is “second.” On page 257, it is not clear what the properties of the hexatonic
collection are, only that it is transpositionally and inversionally symmetrical. On page 318, Straus
asserts that “any tetrachord that excludes interval 4 can act as a generator.” This comment stands
out because he has explained concepts so clearly and meticulously throughout the book; the
student is left wondering why this is the case with tetrachords. I also question the need for a
discussion of set-class space in this textbook. Finally, I understand the need to preserve some
concepts used by other composers, such as Webern and derivation, Schoenberg and hexachordal
combinatoriality, and Stravinksy and rotational arrays, but wonder why Crawford Seeger and
multilevel rotation was included, while Boulez and multiplication was removed for the new edition.
Even with the minor concerns outlined above, Straus’s textbook offers the best “primer” for post-
tonal analysis. My students responded very positively to the new edition, many commenting on its
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accessibility and beautiful layout. The model analyses, which are new to this edition, serve as a
great pedagogical tool outside of the classroom. This textbook is an extraordinary resource not only
to learn the basics of post-tonal analysis, but also to get a general sense of some of the current
research in the field of music theory. Moreover, it provides varied repertoire by several composers
of different styles, making it a relevant tool for anyone analyzing post-tonal music. I highly
recommend it.
Roxane Prevost
University of Ottawa
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