A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries, Second Edition [Hardcover]

Rita Steblin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2005

This is a revised second edition of Dr. Steblin's important work on key characteristics, first published in 1983 by UMI Research Press and re-issued by the University of Rochester Press in 1996. The revision has been limited to a thorough correction and update of the material in the first edition, so as to not disrupt the content and organization, for which the book has been praised as a significant and noteworthy reference for both scholars and research students alike. The book discusses the extra-musical meanings associated with various musical keys by ancient Greek and medieval-renaissance theorists and inparticular composers and writers on music in the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic periods. Chapters focus on Mattheson's extensive key descriptions from 1713, the Rameau-Rousseau and Marpurg-Kirnberger controversies regarding unequal versus equal temperaments, and C.F.D. Schubart's influential list based on the sharp-flat (bright-dark) principle of key-distinctions. Rita Katherine Steblin is a world-renowned music scholar, living and working in Vienna.

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From the Publisher

This product is not a traditionally bound book. Many ProQuest UMI products are black-and-white reproductions of original publications produced through the Books On Demand ® program. Alternately, this product may be a photocopy of a dissertation or it may be a collection reproduced on microfiche or microfilm if it is intended for library purchase. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Rita Katherine Steblin is a world-renowned music scholar, living and working in Vienna.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: University of Rochester Press; 2 edition (November 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580460410
• ISBN-13: 978-1580460415
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,361,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good resourse, March 28, 2007

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This review is from: A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries, Second Edition (Hardcover)

I find this a useful book in coming to conclusions about why 19th century composers made certain key as well as key related decisions, especially in regard to their piano works. A great deal of the book is bibliography, as well as German untranslated source material. But there is enough food for thought to enhance the premise that keys are indeed built on specific character, and that composers have gravitated to or away from them, basing choices on their individual and national "characteristics."