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The objection was raised that
music here becomes the victim of an abstract numbers game
which is contrary to the
nature of music. . . . The numbers used in the ordering
of the parameters
of serial music are almost always derived from proportions and measurements
of the basic musical substance. Of course, these numbers detach themselves
from the objects with which they were associated and take on a life of
their own in the various operations performed. The results of these operations
are, however, retranslated into musical terms and applied to the sounding
material. In this relation of number and reality one may see a vague analogy
to the connection of contemporary mathematics and physics.
Ernst Krenek
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