Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis
3 total works
Heinrich Schenker is regarded as one of the leading music theorists of the twentieth century. The Masterwork in Music was written in three volumes between 1925 and 1930 and is distinguished from earlier writings by its depth of vision, demonstrated here both graphically and verbally. Although the concept of structural hierarchy is already present in Der Tonwille (1921–4), the idea of a network of layers becomes particularly prominent in Das Meisterwerk. This volume contains a major essay on Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor and other studies of Bach keyboard and solo cello works, Haydn and Reger, as well as theoretical writings on sonata form and fugue and Schenkerian theory. These essays are translated by a team of specialists with ample editoral annotations including comparisons with earlier and later writings.
The Masterwork in Music comprises the main writings from the mid-1920s to 1930 of the eminent Austrian theorist and music-philosopher, Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935); these range from detailed analyses of individual works to discussions of music theory in a historical/cultural context to general thoughts about music, art and culture. The third and final volume of Masterwork embraces all three types of essay, but is in reality dominated by the most detailed and, for many, the most celebrated of all of Schenker's studies of single works: the analysis of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. All four movements are discussed and graphed in detail; the surrounding commentary on the history of theory, and of contemporary culture, is related in a general way to the central analytical study.
Volume I of this work is translated here by a team of distinguished theorists. It includes analyses of keyboard works by Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, Beethoven and Handel and solo violin music by Bach, as well as more general essays on aspects of Schenkerian theory. Volume 2 (1926) and Volume 3 (1930) were published in 1995/6. Long awaited in English translation, this edition will also be invaluable to scholars for the editorial annotations and elucidations provided by Dr Drabkin and his translators.