[Smt-talk] Symmetry and Musical Aesthetics

[Richmond Browne]

   From Richmond Browne. 12/13/10
>  
>  Re symmetry
>  
>  I just put together a serious reply to all on this
> 
>  
>  If anyone gets my draft, please send it back to me.
> Otherwise, I will re-write it in a more metamerical
> mode.
>  
>  --------------------------------------------
>  
>  Scott Gleason <scottmg2010 at gmail.com> wrote:  Hi,
>  
>  I'm thinking the best writing in this area is by
> Martin Scherzinger and Neville Hoad, "A/Symmetrical
> Reading of Inversion in Fin-de-Siecle Music, Musicology,
> and Sexology," in *Queering the Canon: Defying Sights
> in German Literature and Culture* ed. Christoph Lorey
> and John L. Plews (Columbia SC: Camden House, 1998),
> 36-72.  See also Martin Scherzinger and Neville Hoad,
> "Anton Webern and the Concept of Symmetrical Inversion:
> A Reconsideration on the Terrain of Gender," *Repercussions*
> 6 (1997): 63-147.
>  
>  Fascinating stuff. Enjoy.
>  
>  Scott Gleason
>  Adjunct Instructor, Fordham University
>  PhD candidate, Columbia University
>  
>  
>  >   
>  
>  Dear colleagues,
>  
>  An upper-level undergraduate student at our liberal
> arts and sciences
>  university is embarking on a long-term interdisciplinary
> study of the
>  relationship between symmetry and beauty.  She is
> an accomplished violinist,
>  but is not a music major and has no post-tonal theory
> background as yet;
>  however, she is both well-versed and interested in
> calculus, statistics, and
>  other mathematical forms so could pick it up fairly
> easily. While there are
>  hundreds of scholarly articles on various kinds of
> compositional symmetry in
>  the music of Western composers to which I could refer
> her, I'm wondering if
>  anyone can recommend:
>  
>  1) a good historical overview of how symmetry has
> been used in Western
>  music, and/or
>  2) scholarly writing that addresses the *aesthetics*
> of musical symmetry
>  rather than (")simply(") the compositional mechanics
> of its usage in the
>  works of specific composers.
>  
>  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>  
>  Best wishes,
>  Laurel Parsons
>  
>  --
>  Laurel Parsons, Ph.D.
>  Co-ordinator, Humanities Division
>  Quest University Canada
>  3200 University Blvd.
>  Squamish, BC
>  VB8 0N8
>  laurel.parsons at questu.ca
>  www.questu.ca
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