This book is Schoenberg's last completed theoretical work and represents his final thoughts on the subject of classical and romantic harmony. The earlier chapters recapitulate in condensed form the principles laid down in his 'Theory of Harmony'; the later chapters break entirely new ground, for they analyze the system of key relationships within the structure of whole movements and affirm the principle of 'monotonality, ' showing how all modulations within a movement are merely deviations from, and not negations of, its main tonality.

A brilliant investigation into musical structure through a systematic exploration of tonality, melody, harmony, texture, and rhythm. Discusses early madrigals and Gregorian chants through Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms to Ravel, Bartok, and Berg."

This comprehensive resource features more than 400 projections and colour illustrations augmented by MRI images for added detail to enhance the anatomy and positioning presentations.

Fundamentals of Musical Composition represents the culmination of more than forty years in Schoenberg's life devoted to the teaching of musical principles to students and composers in Europe and America. For his classes he developed a manner of presentation in which 'every technical matter is discussed in a very fundamental way, so that at the same time it is both simple and thorough'. This book can be used for analysis as well as for composition. On the one hand, it has the practical objective of introducing students to the process of composing in a systematic way, from the smallest to the largest forms; on the other hand, the author analyses in thorough detail and with numerous illustrations those particular sections in the works of the masters which relate to the compositional problem under discussion.

Models for Beginners in Composition was one of Arnold Schoenberg's earliest attempts to reach a broad American audience through his pedagogical ideas. The novelty of MModels for Beginners in Composition lay in its streamlined approach-one basing all aspects of composition including motivic design, harmony, and the construction of themes on the two-measure phrase. In its practical function as a syllabus for the American classroom, Models for Beginners in Composition stands alone. One of its most significant contributions to American music education was its use of the two-measure phrase as the building block for an entire compositional method. This revised edition of Models for Beginners in Composition by Gordon Root incorporates Schoenberg's corrections to the original manuscript and a commentary tracing the evolution of Schoenberg's unique pedagogical approach. These features allow readers to utilize and explore the text in greater depth. Students of composition, Schoenberg scholars, music theorists, and historians of music theory alike will no doubt welcome this new edition of Schoenberg's classic composition syllabus.

This book provides first-year university students majoring in western art music with a thorough study of both structural and ornamental diatonic harmony in the Common Practice Period (c.1700 until the late 1800s). It provides one of the most comprehensive coverages of the topic of ornamental diatonic harmony published to date, and offers ample musical examples to illustrate the concepts explained, as well as exercises in creative four-part writing, analysis, aural development and keyboard harmony to practice the application of these concepts. Understanding the difference between the way chords act at the structural level and the ornamental level explains why rules that apply to one do not necessarily apply to the other, providing novel insights into the interplay between harmony and melody and renewed appreciation for the ingenious ways in which composers throughout the Common Practice Period exploited these techniques.