David E. Cohen
Associate Professor
PhD, Brandeis University, 1993)
David E. Cohen came to Columbia in 2002, having previously taught at Harvard, Tufts, and Brandeis. His research focuses on the history of music theory from Greek antiquity through the present, with emphasis on interactions between music theory and philosophy (including aesthetics), science, and the other arts. His other interests include analysis, especially Schenkerian analysis of tonal music and various analytical approaches to pre-tonal music, and music-text relations in vocal music, especially Lieder and opera.
In 2003, Professor Cohen won the Outstanding Publication Award of the Society for Music Theory for his article "'The Imperfect Seeks Its Perfection': Harmonic Progression, Directed Motion, and Aristotelian Physics," Music Theory Spectrum 23/2 (Fall 2001).
He is currently working on a book about the metaphysical background and historical development of the music-theoretical concepts of consonance and dissonance.
Selected Publications:
"Notes, Scales, and Modes in the Earlier Middle Ages," in The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
"The 'Gift of Nature': Musical 'Instinct' and Music Cognition in Rameau," in Music Theory and Natural Order (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
"'The Imperfect Seeks Its Perfection': Harmonic Progression, Directed Motion, and Aristotelian Physics," in Music Theory Spectrum 23/2 (Fall 2001).
"Metaphysics, Ideology, Discipline: Consonance, Dissonance, and the Foundations of Western Polyphony," Theoria 7 (1993).
Graduate Courses Taught:
G6333: Proseminar in Music Theory (Fall 2002)
G6300: Introduction to the History of Theory (Spring 2004)
Seminars on all periods of the history of theory (at Harvard, 1995-2002)
Graduate / Undergraduate Courses Taught:
G6305/V3305: Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis/Theories of Heinrich Schenker (Fall 2003)
Undergraduate Courses Taught:
V2318-2319: Diatonic Harmony/Counterpoint I-II (2002-03, 2003-04)
W1123: Masterpieces of Western Music (Spring 2003)
Second-Year Tonal Theory for Music Majors (at Harvard, 1995-2002)
