Regards sur la Tonalité - Perspectives on Tonality

Although the concept of tonality is frequently used in the theory and analysis of western music, it does not refer to an easily-grasped phenomenon. Hence this critical contribution to its knowledge. The present volume collects the views of sixteen musicologists who, for the most part, met at an international symposium held in Tours, France, at the “François Rabelais” University on November 26-28 2009.

The topic is deliberately set in a transhistorical dimension, from early-tonal polyphonies to works of the first half of the twentieth century, through works of nearly each period of the history of music. Contributors also discuss theories which date equally from the Middle Ages to contemporary times.

The first part of the book, Foundations and Application Fields, is about questioning either tonality as a phenomenon, or as a theoretical construction.

The second part coordinates theory and historical perspective. The third, Analytical Dimensions, collects diachronically-organized chapters which lead us up to Schoenberg’s late output.