Stylistic information in pitch-class distributions

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines pitch-class distributions in a large body of tonal music from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries using the DFT on pitch-class sets. The DFT, applied over the pitch-class domain rather than a temporal domain, is able to isolate significant and salient qualities characteristic of tonal pitch-class distributions, such as diatonicity and triadicity. The data reveal distinct historical trends in tonal distributions, the most significant of these is a marked decrease in diatonicity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Comparing distributions for beginnings, endings, and whole pieces reveals a strong similarity between beginnings and whole pieces. Endings, by contrast, are more distinct in the properties of their distributions overall and show some historical trends not shared by beginnings and whole pieces, whose differences do not appear to interact with composer date.