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 comprises the eminent Austrian theorist's main writings from
the mid-1920s to 1930. In addition to essays on music theory in cultural
context, the book is dominated by one of Schenker's most celebrated
studies of a single work: the analysis of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony,
which discusses all four movements in painstaking detail. 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 Two contains a major essay on Mozart's Symphony
No. 40 in G minor and shorter studies of works by Bach, Haydn, and
Reger.