The three volumes of The Masterwork in Music present complete English translations of major works by Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker, one of the twentieth century's leading figures in the field. First published in German between 1925 and 1930, these essays represent Schenker's greatest writings in analysis prior to the 1935 definitive formulation of his theory of music in Der freie Satz (Free Composition). This new publication of the long-awaited English translation, which first appeared in the distinguished Cambridge University Press edition, provides a valuable resource for scholars. Editorial annotations and elucidations by Dr. William Drabkin and his translators offer additional insights. This volume features a major essay on Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor; studies of Bach keyboard and solo cello pieces; works by Haydn and Reger; theoretical writings on sonata form and fugue; and many examples of Schenkerian theory. Volume One includes analyses of keyboard works by Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, Beethoven, and Handel and solo violin music by Bach, along with studies of other works. Volume Three's contents include Schenker's celebrated analysis of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony and other works.

This study focuses on a continued evaluation and integration of Schenker’s work, specifically the role of his ever-deepening understanding of counterpoint in musicalistic structures, both horizontal (melodic) and vertical (‘chordal’). It reformulates the role of this understanding in discerning the atomic, primitive elements of an abstract human species-specific, cognitive-computational process. We conjecture that the fundamental technical concepts of counterpoint plausibly form the basis of natural musical logic and coherence and somehow reflect the basis of a representing system for a generative capacity evidenced in the creation and interpretation of musicalistic expressions. It is plausible to assume that a thorough investigation of the musical generating principles of consonance and dissonance, as developed through the technical perspective of species counterpoint, can lead to surprising insights necessary for the formulation of a general theory of music. Music, like language, is obviously an extremely complex system. Music theory must simplify this complexity and endeavour to discover its primitive elements which can be used to develop a systematic representation of levels that contributes to greater descriptive and explanatory salience of musicalistic structure.

Enth. u.a. "The polyphony of Heinrich Glarean's 'Dodecachordon'" (S. 115-176).

This book explores the work of three significant American women composers of the twentieth century: Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer and Miriam Gideon. It offers information on both their lives and music and skillfully interweaves history and musical analysis in ways that both the specialist and the more general reader will find compelling. Ellie Hisama suggests that recognising the impact of a composer's identity on the music itself imparts valuable ways of hearing and understanding these works and breaks important new ground towards constructing a feminist music theory.

The first book to be devoted to the music of Stravinsky's last compositional period.

The first book to examine Schubert's songs as active shaping forces in the culture of their era rather than a mere reflection of it. His songs project a kaleidoscopic array of unexpected human types, all of whom are eligible for a sympathetic response. Kramer shows how Schubert sought to validate these types in his songs.