By the foundation of the German-speaking Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH) in 2000 in Berlin, the German music theory entered a new chapter of sharing ideas and methods. The first congress of the GMTH in Dresden 2001 was an enthusiastic event, which was supposed to be the first time having discussions on music theory in Germany since 1933. Today's theorists and researchers do not focus very often on the last decades of German music theory, especially the time between the end of the Nazi period and 2000. In the main lecture of Dresden congress, Ludwig Holtmeier (2003/05) exposed several features of music theory between 1933 and 1945 as well as influences on theory in both succeeding German states. In this context, a focus is on teaching methods in music universities and on well-known German-speaking theories of the 19th and 20th century such as by Riemann, Schenker and Kurth.

The proposed contribution now wants to examine a specific moment of Western German music theory in the 1960s and 1970s, so the political change from National Socialism to the New Left plays an important role. Especially the situation at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart at about 1970 seems to be a turning point in history, also having a congress on music theory in 1971 as well as other media. The lecture wants to point out parallels between the two congresses of 1971 and 2001, the motivation to reform music theory and the influence of politics on music theory, in previous and also in current times. Moreover, the presentation will give some criticism of contemporary ways of analysis considering the date of its beginning. Did the historically inspired analysis really start at about 2000? Which facets of music theory have not survived the test of time while being radically new in the 1970s? By reconstructing the theoretical discourse, the lecture wants to give a closer look into recent (Western) German manners of explaining musical structures.

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Holtmeier, Ludwig (2003/05), „Von der Musiktheorie zum Tonsatz: zur Geschichte eines geschichtslosen Faches“, in: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie 1–2/1/1, Hildesheim: Olms, 11–34.

Kutschke, Beate / Barley Norton (Hg.) (2013), Music and protest in 1968, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rummenhöller, Peter / Friedrich Christoph Reininghaus / Jürgen Habakuk Traber (ed.) (1972), Bericht über den 1. Internationalen Kongreß für Musiktheorie Stuttgart 1971, Stuttgart: Ichthys.

Schröder, Gesine (2020), „Musiktheorie und musiktheoretischer Unterricht in der SBZ und der frühen DDR“, in: Wolfgang Jacobi – eine neue „Münchner Schule“ aus Vorpommern? Zum 125. Geburtstag des Komponisten und Hochschullehrers, ed. by Birger Petersen, München: Allitera.