The basic principles of progression and the means by which tonality is established in Bartók's music remain problematical to many theorists. Elliott Antokoletz here demonstrates that the remarkable continuity of style in Bartók's evolution is founded upon an all-encompassing system of pitch relations in which one can draw together the diverse pitch formations in his music under one unified set of principles.

Elliott Antokoletz is Professor of Musicology at the University of Texas, Austin. In 1981 he received the Béla Bartók Memorial Plaque and Diploma from the Hungarian government.

"An outstanding contribution to Bartók scholarship, the most perceptive and sophisticated study of Bartók's work yet published and one that raises the analysis of this music to an entirely new level."—Douglas Jarman, Music and Letters

"Recommended to all with a concern and enthusiasm for twentieth-century music. . . . The author is to be commended for a thoughtful and rigorous effort that will serve as a useful guide for many years to come."—Pieter C. van den Toorn, Music Theory Spectrum