David B. Lewin *58

David B. Lewin, a relatively unknown yet influential musical theorist and composer, died May 5, 2003, of heart disease in Cambridge, Mass. He was 69.

Lewin studied piano and composition from an early age, earned a degree in mathematics from Harvard, and won a prestigious fellowship to continue math studies at Princeton. At Princeton he switched fields to music theory and composition under the tutelage of Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. Babbitt considered Lewin a genius.

Music MFA in hand, Lewin used the higher mathematics of group theory, algebraic topology, and projective geometry to compose atonal chamber and computer music, including fugues based on series such as phone numbers.

He made his greatest impact, however, as an analyst of music. His innovative approach to the structure of music considered not only the "things" within a composition, but also the relationships among those things. In his transformational analysis, musical space took shape in intervals of "distance" (e.g., pitch) and also of "time" (e.g., rhythm). Such study of mathematical coherence in music proved inclusive, breaking down conventional boundaries between genres, periods, and styles. A consummate and dedicated teacher, Lewin influenced generations of students.

He is survived by his wife, June Knight, and one son.

The Graduate Alumni