Allen Forte

Allen Forte (born December 23, 1926) is a music theorist and musicologist. He was born in Portland, Oregon and fought in the Navy at the close of World War II before moving to the East Coast. He is now Battell Professor of Music, Emeritus at Yale University. Forte is arguably best known for his book "The Structure of Atonal Music", in which he extrapolates from the serial theory of Milton Babbitt, proposing a musical "set theory" of pitch-class-set analysis analogous to mathematical set theory with the avowed intention of providing a method for the analysis of pre-serial atonal music. The musicologist Richard Taruskin and the composer and music theorist George Perle are among the most vocal critics of this method. Forte has published analyses of the works of Webern and Alban Berg and has written about Schenkerian analysis and American popular song. Now in retirement, he is travelling, giving lectures and seminars. He is married to pianist Madeleine Forte.

Bibliography

*(1962) "Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice".
*(1973) "The Structure of Atonal Music".
*(1982) "Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis" (with Steven E. Gilbert).
*(1995) "The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era 1924-1950". Princeton: Princeton University Press.
*(1998) "The Atonal Music of Anton Webern".

External links

* [http://www.allenforte.com/ AllenForte.com]
* [http://music.fsu.edu/library Florida State University Music Library] Follow the "Print Resources" link on the left to get to the special collections and then proceed to the Allen Forte Theory Treatise Collection page.
* [http://forte.music.unt.edu/ The Allen Forte Archives at the University of North Texas] Unpublished papers, notes, and sketches available for viewing and download through the Center for Schenkerian Studies at UNT.