Author of Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory (2016), Joseph Straus has gifted post-tonal pedagogues with this compendium that complements many of the concepts and analyses in his popular textbook. This text is unique in its assemblage of self-contained analytical vignettes, brought to life through multimedia. This last element-multimedia integration-makes the text particularly appropriate for use in the classroom. Those who engage this text without pedagogical intentions but, rather, for the pleasure of analysis itself will find Strausâs work enriching. He has placed great care into both selecting previously underappreciated works that provide opportunities for compelling interpretative arguments and reexamining familiar works through a fresh lens. There is something for everyoneâfrom the novice post-tonal instructor to the experienced analyst-to enjoy.
Joseph N. Straus is Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, where he has taught since 1985. After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale in 1981, he taught briefly at the University of Wisconsin and, in addition to his work at CUNY, has since held visiting positions at the University of Chicago, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and NYU. During that time, he has written numerous articles and scholarly monographs on a variety of topics in modernist music. In recent years, he has also written a series of articles and books that engage disability as a cultural practice. He was President of the Society for Music Theory in the late 1990s.