In his research, Rist examines the biography of the composer and theorist Joseph Schillinger (1895–1943), his Schillinger System of Musical Composition, and its influence on music in 1930s New York, particularly on incidental, dance, and film music. Conceived as a combinatorial system of composition, Schillinger’s work seeks to parameterize fundamental musical principles through mathematical conditions and combinatorial procedures, thereby opening up new perspectives for both the theory and practice of composition. Based on extensive archival research and analytical investigations, the dissertation critically reassesses the often glorified reception of Schillinger and aims to provide a music-historical and reception-historical contextualization of his work within the framework of American stage and film music of the 1930s.
We would like to congratulate Philipp Rist on successfully defending his dissertation at ABU.
