New compositional paths between Carter’s harmony and post-structuralism: a grammatological approach to the Harmony Book

This article attempts to link music theory to compositional practice from an innovative methodological standpoint. The original features of this approach can be found in the attempt to define a new paradigm in music composition. The author investigates if and how the harmony of Elliott Carter (1908–2012) — as systematised in his Harmony Book — can be the driver to explore novel compositional paths by testing the values of a “new humanistic” prospect through the decon- structionist approach. Carter’s harmonic world here assumes the role of a post-modern musical grammar (in the nature of a kind of “Renaissance studio”). At the same time, the research also attempts to innovate creatively by proposing a new compositional paradigm based on the ultimate results of poststructuralism, all within the framework of a transformational-generative approach.