A new critical foreword by Walter Frisch, H. Harold Gumm/Harry and Albert von Tilzer Professor of Music at Columbia University, expands this centennial edition. Frisch puts Schoenberg's masterpiece into historical and ideological context, delineating the connections between music, theory, art, science, and architecture in turn-of-the century Austro-German culture.
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Book Description
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Text: English, German (translation)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), renowned Austrian and American composer, musical theorist, painter, and teacher of composition, pioneered compositional and critical approaches to atonality that were landmarks in twentieth century musical thought.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Philosophical Tome - Not a Textbook,
By
This review is from: Theory of Harmony (California Library Reprint Series) (Paperback)
No...Schonberg's Harmonic works are not where anyone should start when trying to learn standard western harmony. Let's get that out in the open first. You should not read this book as a way to learn the rules of figured-bass style harmony. For that, better to read Piston. This book is a philosophical tome. As such, it is verbose, but it is also extremely instructive, mostly for the composer. I first read the Theory of Harmony as a grad student. My composition teacher suggested it. (He was always correcting my chord spelling in ways that didn't make sense to me, until I read the Schonberg.) This book opened me to the "mystical" side of harmonic theory. It also was a great clarifier on the relationship between harmony and counterpoint in voice leading. And, most harmony texts really are based on the rules of Rameau, which amazingly work up until the post Wagnerian era, when they begin to break down. Schonberg's work is the best examination of post-Wagnerian tonal harmony that I've come across. So to me, this is more than an historical artifact, it is a useful tool for the experienced composer. But definately not for your usual undergrad!
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece for every musician,
This review is from: Theory of Harmony (California Library Reprint Series) (Paperback)
This book is a must for a musician.It is not a textbook. You need another standard one for this purpose. But it is essential as a companion, if you want to UNDERSTAND the reasons behind the rules. And you better read it in parallel with a standard textbook. Schoenberg starts from the most ancient sources to the most modern and EXPLAINS everything! You are his pupil because this book was written for his real pupils. (And btw a 6th chord is a 6th chord for every classical harmony manual...). I agree that sometimes some digressions may be questionable and some "rules" are introduced and then eliminated in a questionable way, but he is undoubtely an artist, and this book reflects it. The way he explains, for instance, the minor mode is unsurpassed. You can't break harmony rules if you don't know what's behind them. AMM
22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
overall, good but not great,
This review is from: Theory of Harmony (California Library Reprint Series) (Paperback)
Overall, I would rate this book as "good". It starts out by presenting basic music theory and even goes so far as to explain WHERE it all comes from (which many other texts do not (explains overtones, how they are created, and how they were used to create scales)) which I found fascinating. However, the book is more useful for historical purposes than for actual learning of music theory/harmony. It was written by a master who completely rewrote the way we thought about music and it is fascinating to see his thought process as he came to these conclusions. However, the English translation is not really very well done, often making it difficult to follow, and the writing tends to ramble on for pages and pages at a time often making me wonder "what exactly is he talking about?" midway through page 5 of the same extended paragraph. Also the examples tend to be very confusing and the rules regarding chord resolution, etc. are not presented clearly. If you are interested in Schoenberg's ideas about twelve-tone music, etc., and already know at least a fair amount of music theory, this book may be an interesting read. Otherwise, I'd recommend one of Kostka's texts, as they are much more clear and concise.
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