Much controversy surrounds Schenker's mature theory and its attempt to explain musical pitch motion. Becoming Heinrich Schenker brings a new perspective to Schenker's theoretical work, showing that ideas characteristic of his mature theory, although in many respects fundamentally different, developed logically out of his earlier ideas. Robert P. Morgan provides an introduction to Schenker's mature theory and traces its development through all of his major publications, considering each in detail and with numerous music examples. Morgan also explores the relationship between Schenker's theory and his troubled ideology, which crucially influenced the evolution of his ideas and was heavily dependent upon both the empirical and idealist strains of contemporary German philosophical thought. Relying where possible on quotations from Schenker's own words, this book offers a balanced approach to his theory and a unique overview of this central music figure, generally considered to be the most prominent music theorist of the twentieth century.

The first detailed study of Schenker's pathbreaking 1906 treatise, showing how it reflected 2500 years of thinking about harmony and presented a vigorous reaction to Austro-Germanic music theory ca. 1900.

The first two volumes of Heinrich Schenker's masterwork Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien, Harmonielehren (1906), and Kontrapunkt (1910 and 1922), laid the foundations for the harmonic aspect of his theory. The specific voice-leading component was a later development, progressing with brilliance over the last 15 years of his life. It is in Free Composition (Freie Satz, 1935) that the idea of voice-leading receives its most detailed and precise formulation. Pendragon Press is honored to make this distinguished reprint available once again, with a new preface by Carl Schacter.

In 1912 Heinrich Schenker contracted with the publisher Universal Edition to provide an 'elucidatory edition' (Erläuterungsausgabe) of Beethoven's last five piano sonatas. But that of the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata, op. 106, was never published. As Nicholas Marston shows in a detailed history of the Erläuterungsausgabe, despite Schenker's failure to complete the project, he nevertheless developed a voice-leading analysis of the sonata during the years 1924-1926. Marston's book provides the first in-depth study of this rich analysis, which is reproduced in full in high-quality digital images.

From TikTok phenomenon Whitney Hanson, a brand-new collection of poems exploring the progression of a life through the elements of music In this collection of all new poems, Whitney Hanson explores the progression of a life through the lens of music. We each begin with a simple note, but as life progresses, we're led to the next note, and the next - all of which combine to form the melody of a song and the cadence of a life. As life becomes more complicated and complex, we find that loss, grief, and heartache can muffle our music, making the world go silent. But as Whitney's poems show, all of these rests and pauses in the music are part of the magnificent composition of life. Broken into four sections - melody, rest, crescendo, and harmony - the poems in Harmony explore childhood, friendship, grief, acceptance, and peace. The result is a collection that emphasizes the beauty of living a life at peace with all its musical variations.

Publisher description

This book examines the origin, content, and development of the musical thought of Heinrich Schenker and Arnold Schoenberg. One of the premises is that Schenker’s and Schoenberg’s inner musical lives are inseparable from their inner spiritual lives. Curiously, Schenker and Schoenberg start out in much the same musical-spiritual place, yet musically they split while spiritually they grow closer. The reception of Schenker’s and Schoenberg’s work has sidestepped this paradox of commonality and conflict, instead choosing to universalize and amplify their conflict. Bringing to light a trove of unpublished material, Arndt argues that Schenker’s and Schoenberg’s conflict is a reflection of tensions within their musical and spiritual ideas. They share a particular conception of the tone as an ideal sound realized in the spiritual eye of the genius. The tensions inherent in this largely psychological and material notion of the tone and this largely metaphysical notion of the genius shape both their musical divergence on the logical (technical) level in theory and composition, including their advocacy of the Ursatz versus twelvetone composition, and their spiritual convergence, including their embrace of Judaism. These findings shed new light on the musical and philosophical worlds of Schenker and Schoenberg and on the profound artistic and spiritual questions with which they grapple.