Heinrich Schenker as Theorist, Teacher and Correspondent, 1925-1930

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Working in Vienna, Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935) was the most influential 20th-century theorist and analyst of tonal music. His ideas have had an impact on the teaching of music in almost every major institution of higher education in the United States and Canada, and have significantly influenced that in Britain, mainland Europe, Australasia, and elsewhere. His publications are widely known in German, and have all been translated into English. Schenker was a radical traditionalist: he thought in penetratingly radical ways about the German tradition from Bach to Brahms (although his ideas have since been applied to early music, music since 1900, jazz and ethnic musics). He kept a detailed diary over 40 years, and maintained a huge correspondence over half a century. Yet few biographical studies of him have been made. We know little about his private life and dealings with others, and consequently we cannot cast much light on his intellectual development, or on the genesis and production of his published works. Never occupying an official position, he taught piano, music theory, editing and performance practice privately throughout his career. Although abundant records exist of his teaching over 20 years, including details of pieces taught and notes on the insights he transmitted to his pupils, they remain neglected and no study has yet been made of his pedagogical work. Schenker's most influential writings are the series of analytical volumes 'Der Tonwille' (The Will of the Tone, 1921-24) and 'Das Meisterwerk in der Musik' (The Masterwork in Music, 1925-30), 'Fünf Urlinie-Tafeln' (1932), and his theoretical summation 'Der freie Satz' (Free Composition, 1935). Between them, they provide exemplars of his analytical techniques and the most detailed specification of his theoretical ideas about music. Thus, while Schenker was active as a teacher and writer from 1887 until his death, it is the years 1925-30 that saw the emergence of many of his mature ideas and techniques for conveying them. The programme of research applied for seeks to chart that emergence, drawing on the correspondence, diaries and lessonbooks for 1925-30, and other documents datable to that period. To that end, we propose:1. to edit, translate, interpret, and produce a publicly accessible digital edition of Schenker's diaries, pertinent correspondence, and lessonbooks 1925-30; 2. to use those materials to assess the formulation of his technical and symbolic language for analysing music deployed in 'Das Meisterwerk' and the working out of the theoretical ideas that led to 'Der freie Satz';3. to understand the impact on Schenker of social, economic and political conditions in inter-war Austria (his diaries are rich in contextual information conveying historical events and the texture of everyday life), and the way in which these affected his thought;4. to disseminate the results widely through online and paper publication of documents, journal articles, PhD dissertations, conference papers, an encyclopedia, and through networking with other scholars.