Joseph Schillinger (1895-1943) Composer, Theorist, Mathematician And Teacher

Joseph Schillinger, composer, theorist, mathematician and teacher was born on 1 September

1895 in Kharkiv, Ukraine and died in New York 23 March 1943.

In New York, Schillinger flourished, becoming famous as the advisor to many of America's leading popular musicians and concert music composers including George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Oscar Levant, Tommy Dorsey and Henry Cowell.

The Schillinger System of Musical Composition, is a method of musical composition based on mathematical processes. It comprises theories of rhythm, harmony, melody, counterpoint, form, and semantics (emotional meaning, as in movie music).

What interests me in the Schillinger (1895-1943) method is his logical and systematical approach to music theory.

With Schillinger, musical harmony, voice leading, rhythmical arrangement, but also melody and other components of music have got a systematic and comprehensive explanation.

This explanation led to practical methods for composing

Joseph Schillinger, composer, theorist, mathematician and teacher was born on 1 September 1895 in Ukraine and died in New York 23 March 1943.

Schillinger came from this background, dedicated to creating truly professional musicians, having been a student of the St Petersburg Imperial Conservatory of Music. Unlike his more famous contemporaries, Schillinger was a natural teacher and communicated his musical knowledge in the form of a precise written theory, using mathematical expressions to describe art, architecture, design and (most insistently, and with most detail and success) music.

In New York, Schillinger flourished, becoming famous as the advisor to many of America's leading popular musicians and concert music composers including George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Oscar Levant, Tommy Dorsey and Henry Cowell.

The Schillinger System of Musical Composition, is a method of musical composition based on mathematical processes. It comprises theories of rhythm, harmony, melody, counterpoint, form, and semantics (emotional meaning, as in movie music).

Of course, Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), among few others, did write a music theory book based on the scientific knowledge of his time. Seen from our day, Rameau's book of musical harmony, attempting to explain Harmony rules with the theory of resonance is erroneous and incomplete, yet it was an noteworthy attempt, adhering to the enlightenment trend and Cartesian philosophy. During the following centuries, Music Theory was taught empirically and trial-and-error was the main method students used to learn voice leading, counterpoint etc.

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) in his "The Craft of Music Composition" (1937) is rather pedantic and reactionary specially when compared with Arnold Schoenberg's (1874-1951) "The Style and Idea" (1950) and even "Harmonielehre (Theory of Harmony)" (1910).

The so-called "universality" of Western music, closely knitted with "cultural imperialism" and ultra-nationalistic views which were trendy in his time is seen all through Hindemith's book. His theories of consonance-dissonance-(harmonic)resolution and melodic elaboration "rules", presented as "universal rules" are all based on Western-music conventions and conflicts with many non-Western musical traditions. Schoenberg's books, on the other hand, beautifully explain tonal grammar. It is interesting to note that the "atonality"s founder's books all deal, mainly with the tonality. It makes me think that the man who ended the tonal era of music is the one who knew the tonal music best!

Joseph Schillinger is rather unique here because his system is not establishing any particular style of composing, it explains things. Furthermore, one plus with the Russian master compared to other composers and theorists is his immense knowledge of extra-European musical traditions. That enabled him to set theories and explanations which are genuinely universal.

by: Mehmet Okonsar

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