A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries [Hardcover]

Rita Steblin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1996

This a study of the meanings and associations of different keys as understood by composers of the baroque, classical and Romantic eras. The concept of key characteristics - the association of mood or meaning with an individual key - has long been a controversial matter.

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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. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 396 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Rochester Pr (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878822624
• ISBN-13: 978-1878822628
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,353,716 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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Elizabeth Wolff - See all my reviews
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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."