While I can shoot down what was wrong with the whole endeavor -- the main problem was the goal of having definitive "factual" answers to questions that are not scientific -- I sure as hell wish I could run MIDI data through an activity analysis program, and get a score that had 3 activity numbers for ever measure in a piece!
Indeed, I don't know of much in the way of computerized analytical tools at all. I raised this subject a few years ago on the this list and was pointed in the direction of a handful of programs that seemed to be designed for heavy-duty non-tonal theorists (set theory is easy to program in comparison to analyzing functional harmony). I havent' kept up with the subject at all, and would like to know if anyone is aware of any work like this?
I can't address the musical end of this, but very similar work has been done (with great success) in identifying the authorship of anonymous writings. Don Foster's book _Author Unknown_ is a highly entertaining and eye-opening introduction to the area, wh. he pioneered. Law enforcement agencies are beginning to use his techniques to help identify the authors of ransom notes and terrorist manifestos.
I see no reason why similar means could not be used to, for example, divide the motets of the Mo and Ba MSS into groups assignable to single composers.
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Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
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