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Theory of Harmony by Arnold Schoenberg

A textbook on harmony and everything surrounding it by the master. Better than most theory books I've looked at since Schoenberg tries to show what music is capable of as opposed to looking in the rearview mirror and dictating what music has done. Stravinsky should've stuck to doing and not teaching but Schoenberg is boss at both.

A must for musicians really, but readable enough for nonmusician fans of Schoenberg to take a gander. If you've read Cage's work, this would be a good supplement because you can spot some of Schoenberg's influence on his student.

Orientations: Collected Writings by Pierre Boulez

An incredibly thorough look at historical approaches to music and where it's going, informed by his own compositions and those that he's conducted. Received this on christmas so I've only taken a glance at it but have high hopes.

Spoiler for table of contents:

12-31-2020, 07:25 AM	#26 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	Theory of Harmony by Arnold Schoenberg A textbook on harmony and everything surrounding it by the master. Better than most theory books I've looked at since Schoenberg tries to show what music is capable of as opposed to looking in the rearview mirror and dictating what music has done. Stravinsky should've stuck to doing and not teaching but Schoenberg is boss at both. A must for musicians really, but readable enough for nonmusician fans of Schoenberg to take a gander. If you've read Cage's work, this would be a good supplement because you can spot some of Schoenberg's influence on his student. Orientations: Collected Writings by Pierre Boulez An incredibly thorough look at historical approaches to music and where it's going, informed by his own compositions and those that he's conducted. Received this on christmas so I've only taken a glance at it but have high hopes. Spoiler for table of contents: I. The Shaping Imagination Fundamentals 1. Aesthetics and the Fetishists 2. Taste: ‘The Spectacles Worn by Reason’? 3. Putting the Phantoms to Flight 4. Time, Notation and Coding 5. Form 6. Towards a Conclusion 7. Periform Seeing and Knowing 8. The Composer as Critic 9. Demythologizing the Conductor 10. On Musical Analysis 11. The Teacher’s Task Frenzy and Organization 12. The System Exposed: Polyphonie X and Structures for two pianos 13. ‘Sonate, que me veux-tu’: Third Piano Sonata 14. Constructing an Improvisation: Deuxiéme Improvisation sur Mallarmé 15. Pli selon pli 16. Sound, Word, Synthesis 17. Poetry—Centre and Absence—Music 18. An Interview with Dominique Jameux: Polyphonie X, Structures for two pianos and Poésie pour pouvoir II. Exemplars 19. Beethoven: Tell Me 20. Berlioz and the Realm of the Imaginary 21. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique and Lélio 22. Richard Wagner: The Man and the Works 23. Cosima Wagner’s Diary: ‘R. is Working’ 24. Parsifal: The First Encounter 25. Wieland Wagner: ‘Here Space Becomes Time’ 26. Approaches to Parsifal 27. The Ring -Time Re-explored -A Performer’s Notebook 28. Gustav Mahler: Why Biography? 29. Mahler: Our Contemporary 30. Mahler: Das klagende Lied 31. Reflections on Pelléas et Mélisande 32. Debussy: Orchestral Works 33. Satie: Chien flasque 34. Schoenberg the Unloved? 35. Speaking, Playing, Singing: Pierrot lunaire and Le Marteau sans maître 36. Kandinsky and Schoenberg 37. Bartók: Music for strings, percussion and celesta 38. Stravinsky: Style or Idea?—In Praise of Amnesia 39. Stravinsky: The Firebird 40. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring 41. The Stravinsky–Webern Conjunction 42. Varèse: Hyperprisme, Octandre, Intégrales 43. Berg: The Chamber Concerto 44. Wozzeck and its Interpretation 45. Lulu -The Second Opera -Questions of Interpretation -A Short Postscript on Fidelity 46. Olivier Messiaen -A Class and its Fantasies -In Retrospect -Vision and Revolution -The Utopian Years -The Power of Example 47. Oriental Music: A Lost Paradise? III. Looking Back The ‘Domaine muscial’ 48. First and Second Hearings 49. Experiment, Ostriches and Music 50. Mini-Editorial 51. Ten Years On Point of Departure 52. Why I Say ‘No’ to Malraux Composer and Audience 53. Where Are We Now? 54. The Bauhaus Model 55. Orchestras, Concert Hall, Repertory, Audiences 56. Arousing Interest in New Music 57. What’s New? 58. Freeing Music 59. Technology and the Composer Tributes 60. Wolfgang Steinecke -Accidental -From the distance 61. Edgard Varèse 62. Hermann Scherchen: the Adventurous Patriarch 63. Roger Désormière: ‘I Hate Remembering’ 64. Hans Rosbaud -The Conductor and his Model -‘…to cut me off before night’ 65. T. W. Adorno 66. Heinrich Strobel -The Friend -The Intermediary 67. Brudno Maderna: A Portrait Sketch By Way of Conclusion 68. The Elliptical Geometry of Utopia __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x