robert hasegawa
associate professor of music theory, william dawson scholar
schulich school of music of mcgill university
555, rue sherbrooke ouest
montréal (québec) h3a 1e3
robert.hasegawa@mcgill.ca
publications
Books
The Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies.
Edited volume with co-editors Julie Delisle, Jason Noble, and Moe Touizrar. Under contract with Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2025.
Book chapters
“Timbre and Orchestration in Two Works by Rebecca Saunders for Soloist and Ensemble.”
Forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies, Oxford University Press (2025).
“Toru Takemitsu’s Itinerant for solo flute.”
Forthcoming in Modeling Musical Analysis, ed. Kimberly Loeffert and John Peterson, Oxford University Press (2024). PDF
“Creating with Constraints.”
In The Oxford Handbook of the Creative Process in Music, ed. Nicolas Donin (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022). PDF
“Timbre as Harmony—Harmony as Timbre.”
In The Oxford Handbook of Timbre, ed. Emily Dolan and Alexander Rehding (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021). PDF
“Constraint Systems in Brian Ferneyhough’s Third String Quartet.”
In Text and Beyond: The Process of Music Composition from the 19th to the 20th Century, ed. Jonathan Goldman (Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni, 2016), 271–88. Ad Parnassum Studies, general editor Luca Lévi Sala, 8. PDF
“L’intonation juste, un renouveau esthétique et théorique.” (“Just intonation: An aesthetic and theoretical renewal.”)
In Théories de la composition musicale au XXe siècle, ed. Nicolas Donin and Laurent Feneyrou (Lyon: Symétrie, 2013), 1499–1531. Translated by Gilles Rico. PDF(EN)
“Coherence and Incoherence in Xenakis’s Embellie.”
In Xenakis Matters, ed. Sharon Kanach (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2012), 231–43. PDF
Journal special issues—refereed
Twenty-First-Century Composers on Poetics and Politics. Issue co-editor (with Paul Bazin): Les voies de la pansonoriteé : La microtonalité d’hier à aujourd’hui. Issue editor: The Music of James Tenney. Journal articles—refereed “Introduction: Sciarrino’s Novel Forms.” “Composing with Hybrid Microtonalities.” Paul Bazin and Robert Hasegawa. “Introduction. Les voies de la pansonorité.” Cecilia Taher, Robert Hasegawa, and Stephen McAdams. “Effects of musical context on the recognition of musical motives during listening.” “Clashing Harmonic Systems in Haas’s Blumenstück and in vain.” “New Approaches to Tonal Theory.” “Gegenstrebige Harmonik in the Music of Hans Zender.” “Gérard Grisey and the ‘Nature’ of Harmony.” “Tone Representation and Just Intervals in Contemporary Music.” Journal articles—non-refereed “Introduction: ‘Sound for the Sake of Perceptual Insight’.” “Aux États-Unis, des voies parallèles au spectralisme.” (“Parallels to Spectralism in the United States.”) Encyclopedia entries “Pascale Criton: Parcours de l’oeuvre.” “James Tenney: Parcours de l’oeuvre.” “James Tenney” and “Just Intonation.” “Harry Partch: Parcours de l’oeuvre.” “Georg Friedrich Haas: Parcours de l’oeuvre.” “Atonality, §4: Theoretical issues.” Co-authored with David Headlam. Reviews Review of Christian Utz, Musical Composition in the Context of Globalization: New Perspectives on Music History of the 20th and 21st Century. Review of Un siècle d’écrits réflexifs sur la composition musicale : Anthologie d’auto-analyses de Janáček à nos jours, ed. Nicolas Donin. “Explorations of Equal-Tempered Microtonality.” Conference report: Spectralisms 2019. Review of James Tenney, From Scratch: Writings in Music Theory, ed. Larry Polansky, Lauren Pratt, Robert Wannamaker, and Michael Winter. Review of György Ligeti: Of foreign lands and strange sounds, ed. Louise Duchesneau and Wolfgang Marx. Translations “Scelsi, de-composer,” translation of an article by Tristan Murail. “Scelsi and L’Itinéraire: The Exploration of Sound,” translation of an article by Tristan Murail. Other publications CD notes: Tristan Murail, Portulan. CD notes: Joshua Fineberg, Sonic Fictions.
“Just Intervals and Tone Representation in Contemporary Music.” CD notes: Joshua Fineberg, Empreintes, Veils, and Shards.
Special issue of Twentieth-Century Music with co-editors Marie-Hélène Benoit-Otis and Luis Velasco-Pufleau. Under review (June 2024).
Special issue of Circuit : musiques contemporaines 29/2 (September 2019). www.erudit.org/en/journals/circuit/2019-v29-n2-circuit04806/
Special issue of Contemporary Music Review 27/1 (February 2008). www.tandfonline.com/toc/gcmr20/27/1
Music Theory Online 29/4 (2023). https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.23.29.4/mto.23.29.4.hasegawa.html
Živá hudba: Review for the Study of Music and Dance 11 (2021), 112–126. ziva-hudba.info/hybrid-microtonalities/
Circuit : musiques contemporaines 29/2 (September 2019), 7–10. id.erudit.org/iderudit/1062563ar
Music Perception 36/1 (September 2018), 77–97. doi.org/10.1525/mp.2018.36.1.77
Music Theory Spectrum 37/2 (Fall 2015), 204–23. Received the Society for Music Theory’s Emerging Scholar Award, 2016. PDF, doi.org/10.1093/mts/mtv014
Review-article on Steven Rings, Tonality and Transformation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) and Dmitri Tymoczko, A Geometry of Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011). Music & Letters 93/4 (2013), 574–93. PDF, doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcs077
Perspectives of New Music 49/1–2 (2011), 207–34. PDF, doi.org/10.7757/persnewmusi.49.1.0207
Music Analysis 28/2–3 (2009), 349–70. PDF, doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00294.x
Contemporary Music Review 25/3 (June 2006), 263–81. PDF, doi.org/10.1080/07494460600726529
Contemporary Music Review 27/1 (February 2008), 1–5. PDF, doi.org/10.1080/07494460701671491
L’Etincelle: Le Journal de la création à l’IRCAM 1/1 (November 2006), 4–7. Translated by Jean-François Cornu. PDF(EN)
Article in IRCAM’s BRAHMS: base de documentation sur la musique contemporaine, forthcoming (2024).
Article in IRCAM’s BRAHMS: base de documentation sur la musique contemporaine, forthcoming (2024).
Subject entries in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, ed. Stephen Ross, 2016.
Article in IRCAM’s BRAHMS: base de documentation sur la musique contemporaine, 2015. Also contributed biography and worklist. Translated by Jean-Michel Magniez. PDF(EN), brahms.ircam.fr/harry-partch#parcours
Article in IRCAM’s BRAHMS: base de documentation sur la musique contemporaine, 2014 (updated 2021). Translated by Gilles Rico. PDF(EN), brahms.ircam.fr/georg-friedrich-haas#parcours
Grove Music Online, 2013. Also updated bibliographies for articles “Atonality” and “Twelve-Note Composition.”
Circuit : musiques contemporaines 32/1 (2022), 114–18. id.erudit.org/iderudit/1088790ar
Circuit : musiques contemporaines 31/1 (2021), 83–87. id.erudit.org/iderudit/1076407ar
Review-article on Julia Werntz, Steps to the Sea: Ear Training and Composing in a Minute Equal Temperament (Frog Peak Music, 2014) and Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony, edited by Noah Kaplan and translated by Rosalie Kaplan (Underwolf, 2017). Circuit : musiques contemporaines 29/2 (September 2019), 99–102. id.erudit.org/iderudit/1062570ar
Živá hudba 10 (2019), 189–192. ziva-hudba.info/conference-report-spectralisms-2019/
Computer Music Journal 40/3 (Fall 2016), 83–86. PDF, muse.jhu.edu/article/643665
Circuit : musiques contemporaines 23/2 (2013), 79–83. id.erudit.org/iderudit/1018451ar
Contemporary Music Review 24/2–3 (April/June 2005), 173–80. doi.org/10.1080/07494460500154822
Contemporary Music Review 24/2–3 (April/June 2005), 181–85. doi.org/10.1080/07494460500154830
Kairos, 2019. PDF
Divine Art/Métier, 2018. PDF
PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 2008. PDF
Mode Records, 2007. PDF
research presentations
Conference papers—refereed
“Compositional Resources of a Hybrid Seven-Note Microtonal Scale.” “Timbral Segmentation and Association in Works by Rebecca Saunders for Soloist and Ensemble.” “Documenting Composer-Performer Collaborations on Orchestrational Problem Solving.” “Response to Li, Utz, and Boyle.” “Compositional constraints and creative process in solo works by George Benjamin.” “Timbre, interference effects, and room acoustics in Pascale Criton’s Wander Steps.” “Open form and performance networks in Luciano Berio’s Laborintus II.” “Rhythm and repetition in Grisey’s Vortex Temporum.” “‘Production of Presence’ in Liza Lim’s Invisibility.” “Register, Root, and Voicing in Post-Tonal Harmony.” “Constraint Systems in Brian Ferneyhough’s Third String Quartet.” “Clashing Harmonic Systems in Haas’s Blumenstück and in vain.” “Strange Attractors: Chaotic Form in Tristan Murail’s Attracteurs étranges.” “‘Le vertige de la durée pure’: Time and Harmony in Gérard Grisey’s Vortex Temporum.” “An Acoustic Model for Chord Voicings in Post-Tonal Music.” “Gegenstrebige Harmonik in the Music of Hans Zender.” “Combination-Tone Harmony.” “Coherence and Incoherence in Xenakis’s Embellie.” “Gérard Grisey and the ‘Nature’ of Harmony.” “Interval as Ratio in Contemporary Music: James Tenney’s ‘Harmonic Space’.” Colloquia, symposia, and lectures—invited “Timbre and Orchestration in Two Works by Rebecca Saunders for Soloist and Ensemble.” “Georgia Spiropoulos’s Roll...n’Roll...n’Roll.” “Temperament in Contemporary Microtonal Music.” Workshop: Diversity and Inclusion in the Pedagogy of Contemporary Music Analysis. “Analysis Workshop: Georgia Spiropoulos’s Roll...n’Roll...n’Roll.” Panelist and co-organizer, “Diversity in Post-Tonal Theory Pedagogy.” “Compositional constraints and creative process in solo works by George Benjamin.” “Composing with Hybrid Microtonalities.” “Three pillars of ACTOR: Analytical/Creative.” Analysis/Performance Workshop on Pascale Criton’s Wander Steps (2017–18) for two microtonal accordions. “Demystifying Contemporary Music.” “Composing with Constraints.” Melbourne Music Analysis Summer School. “Echo and Transformation in New Music.” “Intersections between harmony and timbre in contemporary music.” “Hybridizing musical genres and practices.” “Timbre as Harmony—Harmony as Timbre.” “Temperament in Contemporary Microtonal Music.” “Temperament and the corps sonore: Rameau’s theories and recent compositional practice.” “Mathematics and Music Theory.” Organization of conferences and colloquia Spatialization, Orchestration, Perception:
IRCAM Forum Workshops hors les murs International Conference on Mixed Music Pedagogy 2018 (ICOMMP-2018) Gérard Grisey, the Spectral Moment, and Its Legacy selected compositions Kogarashi Variations (2021) for cello and piano Ajax is all about attack 2 (2019) for alto saxophone and percussion Spiral (2008) for solo violin and ensemble Chaconne for James Tenney (2007) for octet it is our tribe's custom to beguile (2003) for flute, bass clarinet, violin and cello
Cantilena (2004) for solo cello Ajax is all about attack (2003) for soprano saxophone and percussion Due Corde (2002) for two retuned pianos in 19-tone equal temperament
the clear architecture of the nerves (2000) for horn with piano resonator
Prelude and Fantasy (2000) for string quartet
updated 3 June 2024
Presentation at Microtonal Village (New York, 19–22 September 2024).
Presentation at the biennial meeting of IMSEA: International Musicological Society, East Asia (Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea, 21 October 2022).
Presentation at the Nova Contemporary Music Meeting 2021: Music Performance as Creation with co-authors Yuval Adler and Joshua Rosner (Lisbon, 7 May 2021).
Presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, special session: “Salvatore Sciarrino's Novel Forms: Organic Ideals and Multilinear Temporalities” (Minneapolis/online, 8 November 2020).
Presentation at the conference “Tracking the Creative Process in Music”s (Nova University FCSH, Lisbon, 10 October 2019).
Presentation in panel “Interdisciplinary Studies in Orchestration and Timbre: The ACTOR Project” (special session), Society for Music Perception and Cognition Annual Meeting 2019 (New York, 5 August 2019).
Presentation at the 20th Congress of the International Musicological Society (Tokyo, 23 March 2017). Recipient of a Paper Presentation Grant from McGill’s Office of the Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations).
Presentation at the conference “Gérard Grisey, the spectral moment, and its legacy” (Montreal, 21 October 2014), the annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory (St. Louis, 30 October 2015), and the NOVA Contemporary Music Meeting (Lisbon, 22 November 2018).
Presentation at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society (Milwaukee, 9 November 2014).
Invited lecture at the University of Chicago (22 November 2013), the Eastman School of Music (6 December 2013), and the University of Toronto (17 February 2022). Presentation at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State (New York University, 6 April 2014).
Presentation at the conference “Tracking the Creative Process in Music” (McGill and Université de Montréal, 10 October 2013). Revised version published in Text and Beyond: The Process of Music Composition from the 19th to the 20th Century (see under Book chapters).
Presentation at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State (Stony Brook University, 6 April 2013) and at Composition in the Twenty-First Century (Trinity College Dublin, 6 March 2014). Recipient of a Paper Presentation Grant from McGill’s Office of the Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations). Revised version published in Music Theory Spectrum (see under Journal articles—refereed).
Presentation at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State (Hunter College, 31 March 2012).
Presentation at “Inharmonic/(X)enharmonic: A Conference and Concert Celebrating Microtonal Music” (Columbia University, New York, 17 December 2011 and the annual meeting of the New England Conference of Music Theorists (Connecticut College, 20 April 2012).
Poster presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (Eastman School of Music, 11 August 2011).
Presentation at the annual meetings of the Music Theory Society of New York State (University at Buffalo, 9 April 2011) and the New England Conference of Music Theorists (Brandeis University, 15 April 2011). Revised version published in Perspectives of New Music (see under Journal articles—refereed).
Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Society of Music Theory and American Musicological Society (Indianapolis, 5 November 2010).
Presentation at the conference “Xenakis: Arts/Sciences” (McGill University, 1 October 2010). Revised version published in Xenakis Matters (see under Book chapters).
Presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory (Baltimore, 17 November 2007). Recipient of the Music Analysis 25th Anniversary Competition Award. Revised version published in Music Analysis (see under Journal articles—refereed).
Presentation at the annual meeting of the New England Conference of Music Theorists (Tufts University, 24 March 2007).
Invited lecture, Oxford Seminar in Music Theory and Analysis (Oxford University Faculty of Music and online, 14 May 2024).
Invited workshop presentation at Instruments, Interfaces, Infrastructures: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Musical Media (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 11–13 May 2023).
Invited keynote presentation at Institut mikrointervalové hudby 2023 / MicroFest Prague 2023 (HAMU, Prague, 29 April 2023).
Invited presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Analysis of Post-1945 Music Interest Group (online, 4 November 2021).
Invited presentation at the conference “Dialogues: Performance and Analysis” (University of Toronto, 8 October 2021).
Invited presentation at Eastman School of Music Theory Colloquium (online, 19 February 2021).
Invited presentations at Eastman School of Music Theory Colloquium (11 December 2020) and at Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea, 17 October 2022).
Invited keynote presentation at Institut mikrointervalové hudby 2020 / MicroFest Prague 2020, October 2020. Online event hosted by the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (16 October 2020). Presentation for McGill Association of Student Composers (Montreal, 12 November 2020).
Invited presentation with Stephen McAdams and Philippe Esling at “L’orchestration et le projet ACTOR,” (Institut de Coordination Acoustique/Musique [IRCAM], Paris, 22 June 2019). https://medias.ircam.fr/xb3e554.
With Fanny Vicens and Jean-Etienne Sotty (Duo XAMP) and Pascale Criton. Spectralisms 2019 (IRCAM, Paris, 13 June 2019).
Keynote addresses at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of New York State (The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY, 6 April 2019) and at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic (online, 29 July 2022). Also presented at the research centre CITAR (Centro de Investigação em Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes), Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto, 28 November 2018).
Lecture presented at CITAR (Centro de Investigação em Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes), Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto, 26 November 2018).
Lecture series (seven 90-minute talks) on transformational theory and spectral music (University of Melbourne/Medley Hall, 20–24 November 2017).
Presentation on George Benjamin’s Shadowlines with live performers (Zhenni Lee and Christopher Goddard) for the Schulich School of Music’s Research Alive! series (McGill University, 1 February 2017). YouTube
Presentation at the Interdisciplinary Workshop on Timbre (Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin, 13 January 2017).
Roundtable chair, CIRMMT workshop “John Zorn: At the Crossroads of Musical Genres” (McGill University, 22 January 2016).
Keynote address at “Fostering New Music and Its Audiences: The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition 30th Anniversary Conference” (University of Louisville, 6–7 March 2015) and presentations at the Radcliffe Institute exploratory workshop “Making Sense of Timbre” (Harvard University, 14–15 May 2015) and for the Korean Society for Music Theory (Yonsei University, 19 October 2022). Revised version in The Oxford Handbook of Timbre (see under Book chapters).
Presentation at Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival (University of Pittsburgh, 27 February 2015).
Presentation at “Le Savant et le praticien: Théoriser la composition de Rameau à nos jours,” conference organized by IRCAM and the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (IRCAM, Paris, 14 November 2014).
Presentation at Rochester Institute of Technology, Summer Mathematics Institute (1 July 2010).
Montreal/online, 4–6 and 11–12 February 2021. Funded by a SSHRC Connection Grant.
Montreal, 9–19 November 2018. Funded by a SSHRC Connection Grant.
McGill University and Université de Montréal, 19–21 October 2014. Funded by a SSHRC Connection Grant.
Performed by Duo Kogarashi (Sahara von Hattenberger, cello and Mayu Funaba, piano). Featured in A Short Film in Three Parts by director Huei Lin. YouTube
Performed by the Arête Duo (Douglas O’Connor and Jacob Harpster), Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, Washington, DC, 25 August 2019. PDF score, YouTube
Performed by Gabriela Diaz and the White Rabbit Ensemble with Eric Hewitt, conductor. PDF score, SoundCloud
Performed by the White Rabbit Ensemble with Eric Hewitt, conductor. PDF score, SoundCloud
Performed by Susan Gall, William Kirkley, Ben Schwartz and Sue-Ying Koang with Stephen Drury, conductor. PDF score, SoundCloud
Performed by Frances-Marie Uitti. PDF score, SoundCloud
Performed by the Yesaroun' Duo (Eric Hewitt and Sam Solomon). PDF score, SoundCloud
Performed by Stephen Drury and Yukiko Takagi. PDF score, SoundCloud
Performed by Daniel Costello, Institut mikrointervalové hudby 2020 / MicroFest Prague 2020, 16–17 October 2020. PDF score, YouTube
Performed by James Somerville (principal horn, Boston Symphony Orchestra), Harvard Musical Association, 19 February 2021. YouTube
Performed by Ben Russell, Adda Kridler, Wendy Richman and Ben Schwartz. PDF score, SoundCloud
all content © Robert Hasegawa
robert.hasegawa@mcgill.ca