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. . . the twelve-tone system,
by virtue of its
influence and its widespread and varied application, would seem to have
passed the “pragmatic test.” I attribute this in large part to
the simple
and demonstrably realistic perceptual assumptions of the system: the capacity
to perceive pitch-class identity and non-identity, and interval-class identity
and non-identity (only in the memorative domain may it be said to make
demands which are new in degree), and to the finite group model which completely
characterizes this musical system. . . . From
the conjunction of these
two sets of characteristics (the perceptual and the formal) there results
a large number of compositional consequences directly derivable from the
theorems of finite group theory . . .
Milton Babbitt
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