Analyzing Comparisons: Hans Keller’s Theory of Musical Cognition (Nicky Swett, University of Cambridge)

Abstract

In the 1950s and 60s, the critic and broadcaster Hans Keller created a method of wordless music analysis. He would compose analytical interludes that wove between the movements of a particular piece or separate numbers on a concert program, which were designed to show how those diverse stretches of music hang together. In tandem with this project, he developed what he described as a theory of musical cognition, which posited a peculiar relationship between stylistic and formal background knowledge and the contrasting surfaces present in a given work or corpus.

His theory remained incomplete on his death in 1985, but by combining articles he did publish, fragments from his archive, and a close study of his wordless music analyses, it is possible to piece together his account of how musical expectations relate to meaning and communication. In this presentation, I outline that theory and compare it to the theory advanced by Leonard Meyer, whose perspectives on music psychology have had legacies in the fields of music theory, music psychology, and information theory. I show how Keller’s position offers a passionately humanistic tweak on the now-familiar idea that the predictions we make when listening are key to aesthetic and emotional meanings. I argue that his way of thinking about musical expectations is of particular value at a moment when advances in automated music analysis and composition have led to questions about which aspects of musical experience are or are not fundamentally computable.

Biography

Cellist, writer, and music researcher Nicky Swett recently finished a PhD on the wordless music analyses of Hans Keller in the Department of Music of the University of Cambridge, where he held a Gates Scholarship. His research interests include music cognition, analysis, transcription, and music education. He has served as a program annotator for many major concert organizations, including the BBC , the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He was the writer and host of Music@Menlo’s AudioNotes from 2022-24, and his new podcast, Words on Wordlessness, is available on Spotify and Apple Music.