Introduction

Generalized Interval Systems / Simply Transitive Group Actions

Duality

Transformational Theory: Overview Presentation

Thomas M. Fiore

[Link]

January 9, 2011
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Music Theory in the words of David Lewin

“THEORY, then, attempts to describe the ways in which, given a
certain body of literature, composers and listeners appear to have
accepted sound as conceptually structured, categorically prior to
one specific piece. E.g. one supposes that when Beethoven wrote,
say, the Eroica, he had “in his ear” a “sound-universe” comprising
his apperceptions of such abstractions as triad, scale, key, tonic,
dominant, metric stress, etc. When he was composing the work,
sounds did not present themselves to his imagination solely within
the context of the piece itself, but also in the context of the
sound-universe, as a general “way of hearing.” Likewise, his
listeners heard the work (as do we) not only in its own context, but
also against this general background. ... it is with the structure of
such general sound-universes that theory is concerned”
Lewin, David. “Behind the Beyond: A Response to Edward T.
Cone.” Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 2: 59-69. 1969.
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Mathematical Music Theory

Mathematical Music Theory uses mathematics as a language to do

Music Theory.

But not only that, Mathematical Music Theory has theorems

about musical objects.

Mathematics also provides inspiration for new theorems in

Mathematical Music Theory.
For example, see work of Noll–Clampitt–Domı́nguez inspired by
algebraic combinatorics of words.
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Introduction

Mathematical music theory uses modern mathematical structures

to
1 analyze works of music (describe and explain them),
2 study, characterize, and reconstruct musical objects such as
the consonant triad, the diatonic scale, the Ionian mode, the
consonance/dissonance dichotomy...
3 compose
4 ...
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Levels of Musical Reality, Hugo Riemann

There is a distinction between three levels of musical reality.

Physical level: a tone is a pressure wave moving through a

medium, “Ton”

Psychological level: a tone is our experience of sound,

“Tonempfindung”

Intellectual level: a tone is a position in a tonal system,

described in a syntactical meta-language, “Tonvorstellung”.
Mathematical music theory belongs to this realm.
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Work of Mazzola and Collaborators

Mazzola, Guerino. Gruppen und Kategorien in der Musik.

Entwurf einer mathematischen Musiktheorie. Research and
Exposition in Mathematics, 10. Heldermann Verlag, Berlin,
1985.
Mazzola, Guerino. The topos of music. Geometric logic of
concepts, theory, and performance. In collaboration with
Stefan Göller and Stefan Müller. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel,
2002.
Noll, Thomas, Morphologische Grundlagen der
abendländischen Harmonik in: Moisei Boroda (ed.),
Musikometrika 7, Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1997.
These developed a mathematical meta-language for music theory,
investigated concrete music-theoretical questions, analyzed works
of music, and did compositional experiments (Noll 2005).
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Lewin’s Transformational Theory

Lewin, David. Generalized Musical Intervals and

Transformations, Yale University Press, 1987.
Lewin, David. Musical Form and Transformation: 4 Analytic
Essays, Yale University Press, 1993.
Transformational analysis asks: which transformations are
idiomatic for a given work of music?

Lewin introduced generalized interval systems to analyze works of

music. The operations of Hugo Riemann were a point of
departure. Mathematically, a generalized interval system is a
simply transitive group action.
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Musical Transformations

Examples of musical transformations:

Transposition
Inversion
Retrograde
Enchaining
Rhythmic shifts
Chord inversion: root, first inversion, second inversion
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II. Generalized Interval Systems

and
Simply Transitive Group Actions
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Generalized Interval Systems

Example
Consider: Set Z12 , Interval Group (Z12 , +),
Interval Function int : Z12 × Z12 → (Z12 , +) (into group),
int(s, t) := t − s.
1 Additivity: int(2, 5) + int(5, 7) = int(2, 7).
Proof:
int(2, 5) + int(5, 7) = (5 − 2) + (7 − 5) = 7 − 2 = int(2, 7)
2 For given pitch class 2, and given interval 3, there exists a
unique pitch class above 2 by interval 3, that is int(2, t) = 3.
Proof of existence: t = 5 fits the bill.
Proof of uniqueness: if int(2, t) = int(2, t ′ ), then
t − 2 = t ′ − 2 so that t = t ′ .
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Example: Subject of Hindemith, Ludus Tonalis, Fugue in E

Subject:

h2, 11, 4, 9i h0, 9, 2, 7i h10, 7, 0, 5i h8, 5, 10, 3i

Same interval content in each cell: -3, -7, +5, with respect to
musical space Z12 , interval group (Z12 , +), and interval function
int(s, t) := t − s.
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Generalized Interval Systems

Definition (Lewin)
A generalized interval system consists of a set S of musical
elements, a mathematical group IVLS which consists of the
intervals of the generalized interval system, and an interval
function int : S × S → IVLS such that:
1 For all r , s, t ∈ S, we have int(r , s)int(s, t) = int(r , t),
2 For every s ∈ S and every i ∈ IVLS, there exists a unique
t ∈ S such that int(s, t) = i .

Example
(Z12 , (Z12 , +), int) where int(s, t) := t − s as above.
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Generalized Interval Systems: Why?

“The point of invoking any generalized interval system is that its

consistency serves as a warrant that something coherent can be
heard and/or said in the intervallic or transformational terms that
the generalized interval system presumes, assuming that the
generalized interval system is well-grounded in musical reality.”

Quote from page 327 of David Clampitt. “Alternative

Interpretations of Some Measures from Parsifal.” Journal of Music
Theory 42/2 (1998):321-334.
Note: for transformations of GIS see next slide, for illustration see
upcoming Grail example
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Transpositions in (Z12, (Z12, +), int), Hindemith,

Fugue in E
The function Ti : Z12 → Z12 defined by Ti (s) = s + i is called
transposition by i. Example: See Fiore-Satyendra, MTO, 2005.

HIJK
ONML
P0
T−2
HIJK
/ONML
P10
T−2
HIJK
/ONML
P8
T−2
HIJK
/ONML
P6

HIJK
ONML
p11
T2
HIJK
/ONML
p1
T2
/HIJK
ONML
p3
T2
OHIJK
/ NML
p5
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Generalized Interval Systems=Simply Transitive Group

Actions

Example
Consider (Z12 , (Z12 , +), int).
s + i is the unique element satisfying int(s, s + i ) = i .
Thus, transposition Ti is uniquely defined by int(s, Ti (s)) = i .
{Ti }i ∈Z12 acts simply transitively on the musical set Z12 .

Definition (Lewin)
Suppose (S, IVLS, int) is a GIS. Ti : S → S is transposition by the
interval i ∈ IVLS, defined by int(s, Ti (s)) = i .

The transpositions form a group called SIMP which acts simply

transitively on the musical space S.
GIS’s are the same thing as simply transitive group actions
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A non-Abelian Example from Wagner’s Parsifal

(See Cohn and Clampitt)
“Grail” Theme

<8,0,3> <0,8,5> <1,5,8> <5,1,10> <8,0,3>

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A non-Abelian Example from Wagner’s Parsifal

(See Cohn and Clampitt)
S is the set of chords {G , g , E ♭, e♭, B, b}.
SIMP ∼ = Sym(3) is the following group in cycle notation.
Id = () LP = (E ♭ G B)(e♭ b g )
P = (E ♭ e♭)(G g )(B b) PL = (E ♭ B G )(e♭ g b)
L = (E ♭ g )(G b)(B e♭) PLP = (E ♭ b)(G e♭)(B g )
Action is simply transitive by inspection.
Maximally smooth cycle:
P /g  L P L P L
G / E♭  / e♭  /B /b /G


Perceptual basis of GIS: how the triadic constituents move.

PLP L PLP
Grail theme: E ♭ io /bo /G o /5 e♭ (conj=modulation)

P
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III. Duality in the Sense of Lewin

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COMM-SIMP Duality

Definition (Lewin)
Suppose (S, IVLS, int) is a generalized interval system. A function
f : S → S is called interval preserving if int(f (s), f (t)) = int(s, t)
for all s, t ∈ S. We denote the group of bijective interval
preserving functions by COMM.

Example
For (Z12 , (Z12 , +), int), the interval preserving functions are the
transpositions. (typical for Abelian case)
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COMM-SIMP Duality

Theorem (Lewin)
1 Let (S, IVLS, int) be a generalized interval system. Then
COMM is the group of bijective functions S → S which
commute with the transposition group SIMP. In symbols,
C (SIMP) = COMM.
2 The group COMM acts simply transitively on S, and hence
determines a generalized interval system called the dual to
(S, IVLS, int). The transposition group of the dual is COMM.
3 The group SIMP is the group of interval preserving bijections
for the dual, and hence C (COMM) = SIMP.
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COMM and SIMP in Parsifal Example

S is the set of chords {G , g , E ♭, e♭, B, b}.
COMM ∼ = Sym(3) is the following group in cycle notation.
T0 = () I1 = (E ♭ e♭)(G b)(B g )
T4 = (E ♭ G B)(e♭ g b) I5 = (B b)(G e♭)(E ♭ g )
T8 = (E ♭ B G )(e♭ b g ) I9 = (G g )(E ♭ b)(B e♭)
Action is simply transitive by inspection.
Maximally smooth cycle:
I9 I5 I1 I9 I5 I1
G
 /g  / E♭  / e♭  /B /b /G

Perceptual basis of GIS: which pitch classes are exchanged.

I9 I5 I1
Grail theme: E ♭ oi /bo /G o /5 e♭

I1
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IV. Summary
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Summary

Mathematical music theorists use mathematics to analyze

works of music, study musical objects, and compose...
Transformational analysis asks: which transformations are
idiomatic for a work of music?
Generalized interval systems are one of the main tools in
transformational theory.
Generalized interval systems = Simply transitive group actions
= torsors
COMM-SIMP Duality is same as
simply transitive groups actions which centralize each other