Christoph Neidh枚fer
Associate Professor, Area Coordinator (Music Theory)
Christoph Neidh枚fer is Associate Professor in the Department of Music Research at 海角社区, Schulich School of Music. He studied at the Musikhochschule Basel, where he earned diplomas in composition, music theory, and piano performance, and at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in music theory with a dissertation on the early serial music of Igor Stravinsky.
Neidh枚fer鈥檚 research focuses on the analysis of music from the twentieth and twenty-first century from music-theoretical and historical perspectives. Much of his work is informed by archival sources that document the compositional processes, which he examines in their aesthetic, political, and cultural contexts. Neidh枚fer鈥檚 research has been supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Paul Sacher Foundation Basel, as well as by a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Neidh枚fer served on the composition faculty (2000) and theory faculty (2012, 2014) at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music, where he co-taught the colloquium 鈥淎esthetics, Analysis & Theory鈥� with Ulrich Mosch and Yuval Shaked. Neidh枚fer was twice a Fellow at the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory (Transformational Theory; Schoenberg). As a composer, he was awarded first prize at the Besan莽on Orchestral Composition Competition (1994) and the Akiyoshidai Composition Award (1997), and as a duo pianist with Anton Vishio he received the Kranichstein Music Prize Darmstadt (1994). Neidh枚fer has given guest lectures and workshops in North America, Europe, and Japan; recent engagements include the keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the West Coast Conference of Music Theory and Analysis (University of Utah, 2014), the 2nd Zurich Master Class for Music Theory (Zurich University of the Arts, 2015), a series of three lectures at the Universit脿 di Pavia (2016), and talks on colloquium series at the University of Pennsylvania (2016) and The Pennsylvania State University (2019). Together with Gianmario Borio and Pascal Decroupet, Neidh枚fer is currently coordinating the research project 鈥淣ew Concepts of Harmony in Musical Composition 1945-1975鈥� at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice.
For the Society for Music Theory Neidh枚fer has served as book reviews editor for Music Theory Spectrum, member-at-large on the Executive Board, member of the Publications Award Committee and Program Committee, and as local arrangements chair for the 2009 meeting in Montreal. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of 滨苍迟茅驳谤补濒 and Music Theory Spectrum, the advisory board of Archival Notes, and the Scientific Committee of the Centro Studi Luciano Berio. At 海角社区, he served as Chair of the Department of Music Research 2012-2015. Neidh枚fer teaches courses in 20th/21st-century theory and analysis, mathematical models for musical analysis, modal and tonal counterpoint, composition, as well as graduate seminars in music theory. Recent graduate seminar topics include 鈥淢usic and Political Engagement,鈥� 鈥淐hance and Indeterminacy in Music,鈥� 鈥淎nalyzing the Writings of Composers,鈥� and 鈥淭he Music-Analytical Writings of Adorno.鈥� In 2017 Neidh枚fer received the Schulich School of Music Teaching Award.
Textbook
Christoph Neidh枚fer and Peter Schubert, Baroque Counterpoint. Revised and Expanded Edition (Albany N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2023).
Journal articles
鈥淕esture through the Lens of Pluridimensional Serialism in the Music of Camillo Togni,鈥� Music Theory Online 30:2 (2024).
鈥淒irectionality in Twelve-Tone Composition,鈥� SMT-V 10:3 (2024) (videocast journal of the Society for Music Theory).
鈥淓xperiencing Time in Brian Cherney鈥檚 String Quartet No. 4 (1994),鈥� Intersections 37:1 (2017 [2019]), 119-42.
鈥淐haracter and Form by Way of Integral Serialism: An Analysis of Fantasia concertante (1957) by Camillo Togni,鈥� Archival Notes 3 (2018), 47-79.
Angela Ida De Benedictis and Christoph Neidh枚fer, 鈥淟uigi Dallapiccola, Massimo Mila, and the Journey of a Manuscript: An Analysis of Tre poemi (1949) in Context,鈥� Contemporary Music Review 36:5 (2017 [2018]), 440-81.
鈥淓nergetik und Form: Analytische Reflexionen 眉ber Rudolf Kelterborns Four Pieces for Four Players (2005)鈥� [Energetics and Form: Analytical Reflections on Four Pieces for Four Players (2005) by Rudolf Kelterborn], Dissonance 115 (2011), 18-31. Reprint in: Rudolf Kelterborn, Hier und Jetzt: Reflexionen und Gespr盲che zur kompositorischen Gestaltung, edited by Michael Kunkel (Friedberg: Pfau, 2016), 55-74.
鈥淚nside Luciano Berio鈥檚 Serialism,鈥� Music Analysis 28:2-3 (2009 [2011]), 301-48.
鈥淎tonalit盲t und transformational analysis: Zu einigen verborgenen (und nicht so verborgenen) Strukturen in Sch枚nberg鈥檚 Klavierst眉ck op. 11, 3鈥� [Atonality and Transformational Analysis: On Some Hidden (and Not So Hidden) Structures in Schoenberg鈥檚 Klavierst眉ck op. 11, no. 3], Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts f眉r Musikforschung Preu脽ischer Kulturbesitz 2008/2009, 53-73.
鈥淏runo Maderna鈥檚 Serial Arrays,鈥� Music Theory Online 13:1 (2007).
鈥淎 Theory of Harmony and Voice Leading for the Music of Olivier Messiaen,鈥� Music Theory Spectrum 27:1 (2005), 1-34.
鈥淏runo Madernas flexibler Materialbegriff 鈥� eine Analyse des Divertimento in due tempi (1953)鈥� [Bruno Maderna鈥檚 Flexible Notion of the Material 鈥� An Analysis of the Divertimento in due tempi (1953)], Musik & 脛sthetik 9:33 (2005), 30-47.
鈥淢usiktheorie als exakte Wissenschaft: Milton Babbitts Modell einer 鈥榮cientific method鈥� zur Formulierung musikalischer Konzepte鈥� [Music Theory as Exact Science: Milton Babbitt鈥檚 Model of a 鈥淪cientific Method鈥� for the Formulation of Musical Concepts], Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft f眉r Musiktheorie 2:2 (2005), 11-19.
鈥淭welve-Tone Theory,鈥� Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft f眉r Musiktheorie 2:2 (2005), 207-17.
鈥淪et Theory,鈥� Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft f眉r Musiktheorie 2:2 (2005), 219-27.
鈥溾�楤lues鈥� through the Serial Lens: Transformational Process in a Fragment by Bruno Maderna,鈥� Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung 18 (2005), 14-20.
鈥淎 Case of Cross-Fertilization: Serial and Non-Serial Counterpoint in Stravinsky鈥檚 Cantata (1951-52),鈥� Tijdschrift voor Muziektheorie 9:2 (2004), 87-104.
鈥淢ilton Babbitt 鈥� Composer and Theorist,鈥� Dissonanz (Neue Schweizerische Musikzeitschrift) 54 (1997), 4-11.
Book chapters
鈥溾�楲a r茅volution dans la continuit茅鈥�: The Presence of the Past in Bruno Maderna鈥檚 Creative Process (1948-1955),鈥� in Utopia, Innovation, Tradition: Bruno Maderna鈥檚 Cosmos, edited by Angela Ida De Benedictis (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2022), 357-79.
鈥淏erio Analyzes Webern: A Window into Luciano Berio鈥檚 鈥楶oetics of Analysis,鈥欌�� in Neue Perspektiven. Anton Webern und das Komponieren im 20. Jahrhundert (Webern-Studien, Beihefte der Anton Webern Gesamtausgabe, vol. 4), edited by Pietro Cavallotti, Simon Obert, and Rainer Schmusch (Vienna: Lafite, 2019), 195-229.
鈥�Improvvisazioni Concertanti No. 1 (1961) by Norma Beecroft: Serialism, Improvisatory Discourse, and the Musical Avant-garde,鈥� in Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers, edited by Laurel Parsons and Brenda Ravenscroft (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 33-66.
Christoph Neidh枚fer and Peter Schubert, 鈥淔orm and Serial Function in Trois Po猫mes de Pierre Reverdy op. 92 by Ren茅 Leibowitz,鈥� in Formal Functions in Perspective, edited by Julie Pedneault, Nathan Martin, and Steven Vande Moortele (Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press, 2015), 373-410.
鈥淢essiaen鈥檚 Counterpoint,鈥� in Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence and Reception, edited by Christopher Dingle and Robert Fallon (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), 77-110.
鈥淏erio at Work: Compositional Procedures in Circles, O King, Concerto for Two Pianos, Glossa, and Notturno,鈥� in Luciano Berio: Nuove Prospettive / New Perspectives, edited by Angela Ida De Benedictis (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2012), 195-233.
鈥淰ers un principe commun: Int茅gration de la hauteur et du rythme dans le Quartetto per archi in due tempi (1955)鈥� (trans. Delphine Iacono), in 脌 Bruno Maderna, vol. 2, edited by Genevi猫ve Mathon, Laurent Feneyrou, and Giordano Ferrari (Paris: Basalte, 2009), 323-58.
鈥淎nalyse und kompositorische Praxis: einige Betrachtungen鈥� [Analysis and Compositional Practice: Some Considerations], in Musiktheorie an ihren Grenzen: Neue und Alte Musik, edited by Angelika Moths, Markus Jans, John MacKeown, and Balz Tr眉mpy (Bern: Peter Lang, 2009), 127-40.
鈥淶eitgen枚ssische Musik und ihre Etikettierung: Einige Betrachtungen鈥� [Contemporary Music and its Labels: Some Considerations], in H枚rgeschichten: Neue Musik ganz sch枚n vielseitig, edited by Martin Sch眉ssler (Basel: Opinio Verlag, 2001), 183-200.
鈥淏eobachtungen zum Tempo bei John Cage vor 1950鈥� [Observations on Tempo in John Cage's Music before 1950], in Der Grad der Bewegung: Tempovorstellungen und 鈥搆onzepte in Komposition und Interpretation 1900-1950, edited by Jean-Jacques D眉nki, Anton Haefeli, and Regula Rapp (Bern: Peter Lang, 1998), 87-111.
Translation
Kurth, Ernst. Music Psychology. Translated by Daphne Tan and Christoph Neidh枚fer, edited by Daphne Tan. Classic European Studies in the Science of Music (London and New York: Routledge, 2022). Awarded Citation of Special Merit from the Society for Music Theory 2023.
Encyclopedia and handbook entries
鈥淧ost-Tonal Theory 1: Zw枚lftontheorie und Set Theory,鈥� in Handbuch Musikanalyse. Methode und Pluralit盲t, edited by Ariane Je脽ulat, Oliver Schwab-Felisch, Jan Philipp Sprick, and Christian Thorau (Stuttgart and Kassel: J. B. Metzler / B盲renreiter), forthcoming.
鈥�Agon,鈥� 鈥淐antata,鈥� 鈥�In Memoriam Dylan Thomas,鈥� 鈥�Movements,鈥� 鈥�Requiem Canticles,鈥� 鈥淪eptet,鈥� 鈥�Three Songs From William Shakespeare,鈥� in The Cambridge Stravinsky Encyclopedia, edited by Edward Campbell and Peter O鈥橦agan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).
鈥淶w枚lftontechnik,鈥� in Lexikon neue Musik, edited by J枚rn Peter Hiekel and Christian Utz (Stuttgart and Kassel: J. B. Metzler / B盲renreiter, 2016), 627-33.
Book reviews
Review of Theodor W. Adorno, Kranichsteiner Vorlesungen, edited by Klaus Reichert and Michael Schwarz (Suhrkamp, 2014), Music Theory Online 23:4 (2017).
Review of Joseph N. Straus, Stravinsky鈥檚 Late Music (Cambridge University Press 2001), Music Theory Spectrum 27:2 (2005), 336-53.
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