Corpus Studies and ‘Close Listening’

This article provides a detailed response to Markus Neuwirth and Martin Rohrmeier's article ‘Wie wissenschaftlich muss Musiktheorie sein?’, published in the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie in 2016. I undertake to nuance their call for the wholesale adoption of machine‐assisted corpus‐based methods in music theory through a detailed appreciation of work‐specific analysis as is has been practiced in American music theory. The argument unfolds through three case studies: of David Lewin's 1982 analysis of Schubert's ‘Auf dem Flusse’; of Vasili Byros's more recent approach to the Eroica Symphony; and then of Lewin again, on Schubert's ‘Morgengruß’. By means of these examples, I probe where corpus‐based methods can enhance traditional approaches and what new avenues of research they make possible, but I also emphasise those aspects of work‐specific analysis that elude their grasp.