Music of James Tenney

Robert Wannamaker is Associate Dean for Academic and Special Projects in the School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts. He is a composer, improviser, music theorist, mathematician, and educator.

"A welcome contribution to the literature of modern music. . . . Highly recommended." --Choice "An astonishing book, a virtual encyclopedia of James Tenney that threatens to leave no remaining scope for further scholarly work on his music. It answered many questions I've long had about Tenney's music, and has already acted as a spur to my own work. The amount of information one could currently find on Tenney's work would comprise only a small fraction of what is included here."--Kyle Gann, author of The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician "Wannamaker's essential, extraordinary work on the music of James Tenney is a brilliantly detailed and exhaustively researched addition to our comprehensive understanding of Tenney's music and compositional ideas, and to our conception of music of the second half of the twentieth century."--Larry Polansky, Emeritus Strauss Professor of Music, Dartmouth College

• Preface xiConventions and Abbreviations xv1. Introduction 11.1. A Summary Chronology 31.2. Aesthetic and Methodological Bases: Music in Sound 102. Early Works and Influences (1934–59) 182.1. Stan Brakhage and Interim (1952) 192.2. Manhattan and Meeting Carolee Schneemann 212.3. Lionel Nowak, Carl Ruggles, and Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata 232.4. Seeds (1956/1961) 253. Tape Music and “Meta/-Hodos” (1959–61) 313.1. Lejaren Hiller and Harry Partch 313.2. The University of Illinois Electronic Music Studio 323.3. Collage #1 (“Blue Suede”) (1961) 343.4. “Meta/-Hodos” (1961) 414. Computer Music and Ergodicity (1961–64) 484.1. Edgard Var se, D’Arcy Thompson, and “Growth to Form” 514.2. John Cage, Variety, and Ergodicity 544.3. Max Mathews and MUSIC 594.4. The Acoustic Correlates of Timbre 624.5. Algorithmic Composition 634.6. Analog #1 (Noise Study) (1961) 684.7. Phases (1963) 765. Performance and the Social (1964–68) 835.1. Downtown in the 1960s 835.2. Tone Roads and an American Experimental Tradition 865.3. Fluxus and Friends 895.4. Carolee Schneemann, Antonin Artaud, Wilhelm Reich 935.5. Choreogram (1964) 975.6. Fabric for Che (1967) 1016. Process and Continuity (1969–71) 1106.1. Gradual Processes 1126.2. For Ann (rising) (1969) 1186.3. Postal Pieces (1965–71) 1247. Interlude: Harmonic Theory 1357.1. The Meaning of Harmony 1377.2. The Harmonic Series 1407.3. Interval Tolerance and “The Language of Ratios” 1447.4. A History of Consonance and Dissonance 1477.5. Roughness and Beating (CDC-5) 1487.6. Toneness and Harmonicity (CDC-2) 1497.7. Harmonic Space (CDC-1) 1557.8. Harmonic Measures and Their Applications 1658. Canons and the Harmonic Series (1972–79) 1698.1. The Harmonic-Series Music 1708.2. Clang (1972) 1728.3. Spectral CANON for CONLON Nancarrow (1974) 1768.4. Harmonium #1 (1976) 1838.5. Three Indigenous Songs (1979) 1899. Harmonic Spaces (1980–85) 1939.1. The Harmonic-Space Music 1939.2. Harmonium #3 (1980) 1959.3. Bridge (1984) 1999.4. Koan for String Quartet (1984) 21610. Transition and Tradition (1986–94) 22410.1. Critical Band (1988) 22510.2. Flocking (1993) 23111. Spectra and Diaphony (1994–2006) 23711.1. Dissonant Counterpoint and Statistical Feedback 23711.2. In a Large, . . . (1994–95) 24111.3. Diaphonic Study (1997) 24611.4. Arbor Vitae (2006) 25012. A Tradition of Experimentation 259Appendix A. Acoustics, Sensation, and Logarithmic Models 261Appendix B. Spectrographic Analysis 265Notes 271References 301Index 315