Schoenberg's Models for Beginners in Composition
- Editor: Root, Gordon
The present volume is part of the ambitious 'Schoenberg in Words' series, which aims to reissue some of Schoenberg's published works on music theory and also his correspondence. If this updated...
Schoenberg's Models for Beginners in Composition
- Editor: Root, Gordon
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The present volume is part of the ambitious 'Schoenberg in Words' series, which aims to reissue some of Schoenberg's published works on music theory and also his correspondence. If this updated...
About
Originally published in 1943, Models for Beginners in Composition represents one of Arnold Schoenberg's earliest attempts at reaching a broad American audience through his pedagogical ideas. The novelty of this book was its streamlined approach, basing all aspects of composition including motivic design, harmony, and the construction of themes on the two-measure phrase. This newly revised edition by Gordon Root incorporates many of Schoenberg's corrections to the original manuscript. It also includes a significant commentary elucidating the evolution of Schoenberg's pedagogical approach. In its function as a practical manual for the American classroom, Models for Beginners in Composition is unique among Schoenberg's texts. The current Commentary explores Schoenberg's experience as a teacher at UCLA while tracing the development of the two-measure phrase as the main component of his pedagogical method. It demonstrates the way in which Schoenberg simultaneously preserved and adapted European ideas about tonal theory and pedagogy when he came to America, a give and take that allowed for increased theoretical originality and scope. Models for Beginners in Composition established the two-measure phrase as one of the most significant of Schoenberg's contributions to American music education. This new edition, with Schoenberg's corrections and newly added commentary, allows readers to utilize and explore the text in greater depth. Students of composition, Schoenberg scholars, music theorists, and historians of music theory alike will no doubt welcome this new edition.
Contents
- Table of Contents
- Abbreviations of Texts
- Preface: On the History of Models for Beginners in Composition
- Editorial Notes
- Commentary
- Models for Beginners in Composition
- Editor's Preface to the 1972 Edition
- Schoenberg's Preface to the 1943 Edition
- Syllabus
- Musical Examples:
- I. Coordination of Melody and Harmony
- II. Motive and Motival Features in Two-Measure Phrases
- III. Sentences
- IV. Periods
- V. Contrasting Middle Section
- VI. Recapitulation (a')
- VII. Minuet
- VIII. Scherzo
- IX. Phrases, Half Sentences, Antecedents, and a
- Sections of Ternary Forms
- Glossary
- Appendices
- Appendix 1: Manuscript Sources for Models for Beginners in Composition
- Appendix 2: Schoenberg's Teaching Schedule at UCLA
- Appendix 3: Assignments from Schoenberg's Beginning Composition Class
- Appendix 4: Key to Schoenberg's Symbols and Abbreviations
- Appendix 5: Primer in Regions
- Appendix 6: Primer in Transformations
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Awards and reviews
The present volume is part of the ambitious 'Schoenberg in Words' series, which aims to reissue some of Schoenberg's published works on music theory and also his correspondence. If this updated edition of Models for Beginners in Composition (which Schoenberg published in 1943) is representative, the series sets a very high standard for bibliographic history in music theory. The volume includes the text of the original work, along with prefaces to the original edition (by Schoenberg) and the 1972 edition (by editor Leonard Stein). But a large part of the book is taken up with exhaustive commentary by Root (SUNY, Fredonia) and appendixes with welcome supplementary documents. This edition of Schoenberg's classic work will interest novice and expert alike
