Heinrich Schenker
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Schenker was a music
theorist, best known for his approach to musical analysis
, now usually called Schenkerian analysis
.
Schenker was born in Wisniowczyki
(now Vyshnivchyk) in Galicia
then in Austria-Hungary
(now Ternopil oblast
, Ukraine
) to a Jewish family. His musical talent was recognized early on, and at the age of 13 he was sent to study with Carl Mikuli
, a student of Chopin
, in Lemberg (now Lviv
). After a move to Vienna
, he studied music under Bruckner
and became known as a pianist
, accompanying lieder singers (such as Johan Messchaert
) and playing chamber music
.
He taught piano
and music theory privately, and Anthony van Hoboken
(future cataloguer of Haydn
's oeuvre), Felix Salzer
, and Hans Wolf were among his pupils. Other influential figures, such as the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler
, and the Leipzig Conservatory professor and composer Reinhard Oppel
were students of Schenker's work and are known to have consulted him.
(Harmonielehre, 1906) and Counterpoint
(Kontrapunkt, 2 vols., 1910 and 1922), and were developed in the two journals he published, Der Tonwille (1921–24) and Das Meisterwerk in der Musik (1925–30), both of which included content exclusively by Schenker. Schenker regarded his analyses as tools to be used by performers for a deeper understanding of the works they were performing. This is demonstrated by his editions of Ludwig van Beethoven
's late piano sonatas, which also include analyses of the works.
In 1932, Schenker published Five Graphic Music Analyses (Fünf Urlinie-Tafeln), analyses of five works using the analytical technique of showing layers of greater and lesser musical detail that now bears his name. Following Schenker's death, his theoretical work Free Composition
(Der freie Satz, 1935) was published. It was first translated into English by T. H. Kreuger in 1960 as a dissertation at the University of Iowa
; a second translation, by Ernst Oster, was published in 1979.
(often attributed to Bach
's chorale
settings, but more strongly made manifest in Arcangelo Corelli
's concerti grossi
). His analytical system, therefore, yields its most productive results when applied to music of the common practice period
. Schenker did not consider music any compositions that failed to follow traditional principles of tonality.
During the years in which Schenker devised his theory, he altered it to better fit the literature than the natural principles that inspired it. For example, Schenker's original conception of the Urlinie was of a line that rose from ^1 to reach its top note exactly midway through the piece, and then descended back to ^1.
set the stage for a conservative–liberal split among Schenkerians that persists to this day. Jonas, a traditional disciple who was more strict about the theory than Schenker himself, promoted the viewpoint that the analysis belonged only in the realm of triadic tonal music. This camp is generally responsible for the codification and clarification of the theory's principles, epitomized as the "New York" model by theorists such as Carl Schachter
and recently Allen Cadwallader and David Gagne. Salzer, on the other hand, was the first Schenkerian to attempt to use elements of the theory to explain music that is not strictly tonal, an approach that has since engendered structural and linear analysis of early music as well as post-tonal music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Hampered by limited availability in and after the war years, by the 1960s Schenkerian analysis had begun to attract renewed interest, and by the 1980s it had become one of the main analytical methods used by many North American music theorists. While Schenker's theories have been increasingly challenged since the mid-century for their rigidity and organicist ideology, the wider analytical tradition that they inspired has remained central to the study of tonal music in North America.
, A Topical Guide to Schenkerian Literature: An Annotated Bibliography with Indices (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2004). The largest Schenkerian reference work ever published, it has 3600 entries (2200 principal, 1400 secondary) representing the work of 1475 authors. It is organized topically: fifteen broad groupings encompass seventy topical headings, many of which are divided and subdivided again, resulting in a total of 271 headings under which entries are collected.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
theorist, best known for his approach to musical analysis
Musical analysis
Musical analysis is the attempt to answer the question how does this music work?. The method employed to answer this question, and indeed exactly what is meant by the question, differs from analyst to analyst, and according to the purpose of the analysis. According to Ian Bent , analysis is "an...
, now usually called Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker. The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music...
.
Schenker was born in Wisniowczyki
Vyshnivchyk
Vyshnivchyk is a village in the Terebovlya Raion area of the Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. Located on the western bank of the Strypa river. It neighbours the village of Zarvanytsia...
(now Vyshnivchyk) in Galicia
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
then in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(now Ternopil oblast
Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast is an oblast' of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret River, a tributary of the Dnister.-Geography:...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) to a Jewish family. His musical talent was recognized early on, and at the age of 13 he was sent to study with Carl Mikuli
Carl Mikuli
Karol Mikuli was a Polish-Armenian pianist, composer, conductor and teacher.- Biographical Notes :Mikuli was born in Czerniowce, then part of the Austrian Empire to an Armenian family. He studied under Frédéric Chopin for piano and Anton Reicha for composition...
, a student of Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, in Lemberg (now Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
). After a move to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, he studied music under Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
and became known as a pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, accompanying lieder singers (such as Johan Messchaert
Johan Messchaert
Johan Messchaert was born as Johannes Martinus Messchaert in Hoorn, The Netherlands. He died in Küssnacht, Switzerland. Messchaert was a singer and vocal pedagogue. He is known for his rendering of the Matthæus Passion. He founded his own conservatoire in Amsterdam.- Notes :...
) and playing chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
.
He taught piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and music theory privately, and Anthony van Hoboken
Anthony van Hoboken
Anthony van Hoboken was a collector and musicologist. He was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and died in Zürich, Switzerland.Hoboken trained as an engineer in Delft, before studying music in Frankfurt and Vienna...
(future cataloguer of Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's oeuvre), Felix Salzer
Felix Salzer
Felix Salzer was an Austrian-American music theorist, musicologist and pedagogue. He was one of the principal followers of Heinrich Schenker, and did much to refine and explain Schenkerian analysis after Schenker's death....
, and Hans Wolf were among his pupils. Other influential figures, such as the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
, and the Leipzig Conservatory professor and composer Reinhard Oppel
Reinhard Oppel
Reinhard Oppel was a German composer.He studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt 1903-1909, was briefly an organist in Bonn, then from 1911 professor of compositions at the Kiel Conservatory, and from 1928 professor of music theory at the Leipzig Conservatory.Oppel was a student,...
were students of Schenker's work and are known to have consulted him.
Schenker's publications
Schenker's ideas on analysis were first explored in his HarmonyHarmony (Schenker)
Harmony is a book published in 1906 by Heinrich Schenker. It is the first installment of Schenker's three-volume treatise on music theory entitled New Musical Theories and Fantasies; the others are Counterpoint and Free Composition...
(Harmonielehre, 1906) and Counterpoint
Counterpoint (Schenker)
Counterpoint is the second volume of Heinrich Schenker's New Musical Theories and Fantasies . It is divided into two "Books", the first published in 1910, and the second in 1922.The subject matter of the work is species counterpoint, also referred to as "strict counterpoint"...
(Kontrapunkt, 2 vols., 1910 and 1922), and were developed in the two journals he published, Der Tonwille (1921–24) and Das Meisterwerk in der Musik (1925–30), both of which included content exclusively by Schenker. Schenker regarded his analyses as tools to be used by performers for a deeper understanding of the works they were performing. This is demonstrated by his editions of Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's late piano sonatas, which also include analyses of the works.
In 1932, Schenker published Five Graphic Music Analyses (Fünf Urlinie-Tafeln), analyses of five works using the analytical technique of showing layers of greater and lesser musical detail that now bears his name. Following Schenker's death, his theoretical work Free Composition
Free Composition
Free Composition is a treatise by Heinrich Schenker, and possibly Schenker's best known work. The third volume of New Musical Theories and Fantasies , it was first published posthumously in 1935.Free Composition aims to present a complete and systematic outline of Schenker's mature theory, relying...
(Der freie Satz, 1935) was published. It was first translated into English by T. H. Kreuger in 1960 as a dissertation at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
; a second translation, by Ernst Oster, was published in 1979.
Philosophical and political origins of Schenker's theory
Some English translations of his work have deleted passages that could be considered politically incorrect and irrelevant to the topic. (For example, in the Preface to Counterpoint Schenker writes that "the man ranks above the woman, the producer is superior to the merchant or laborer, the head prevails over the foot," &c.) It is important to realize, however, that the genesis of Schenker's system lay in his philosophical and political views on the nature of the world. For Schenker, the natural hierarchies of music were part of a naturally ordered universe, and tonal music inherently reflects this order no matter what choices the composer makes to detail the music. Schenker considered music to be necessarily built on the principles of functional tonalityTonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
(often attributed to Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's chorale
Chorale
A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
settings, but more strongly made manifest in Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
's concerti grossi
Concerto grosso
The concerto grosso is a form of baroque music in which the musical material is passed between a small group of soloists and full orchestra...
). His analytical system, therefore, yields its most productive results when applied to music of the common practice period
Common practice period
The common practice period, in the history of Western art music , spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.-General characteristics:...
. Schenker did not consider music any compositions that failed to follow traditional principles of tonality.
During the years in which Schenker devised his theory, he altered it to better fit the literature than the natural principles that inspired it. For example, Schenker's original conception of the Urlinie was of a line that rose from ^1 to reach its top note exactly midway through the piece, and then descended back to ^1.
Developments after Schenker's death
In the academic generations after Schenker, other music theorists have both added to and disseminated Schenker's ideas. In the second generation (Schenker himself being the first), the fierce philosophical opposition between Oswald Jonas and Felix SalzerFelix Salzer
Felix Salzer was an Austrian-American music theorist, musicologist and pedagogue. He was one of the principal followers of Heinrich Schenker, and did much to refine and explain Schenkerian analysis after Schenker's death....
set the stage for a conservative–liberal split among Schenkerians that persists to this day. Jonas, a traditional disciple who was more strict about the theory than Schenker himself, promoted the viewpoint that the analysis belonged only in the realm of triadic tonal music. This camp is generally responsible for the codification and clarification of the theory's principles, epitomized as the "New York" model by theorists such as Carl Schachter
Carl Schachter
Carl Schachter is an American music theorist, renowned as arguably the most influential Schenkerian analyst since Schenker himself. He studied with Felix Salzer, who was later co-author with Schachter of the influential text, Counterpoint in Composition. He received the B.S., from the Mannes...
and recently Allen Cadwallader and David Gagne. Salzer, on the other hand, was the first Schenkerian to attempt to use elements of the theory to explain music that is not strictly tonal, an approach that has since engendered structural and linear analysis of early music as well as post-tonal music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Hampered by limited availability in and after the war years, by the 1960s Schenkerian analysis had begun to attract renewed interest, and by the 1980s it had become one of the main analytical methods used by many North American music theorists. While Schenker's theories have been increasingly challenged since the mid-century for their rigidity and organicist ideology, the wider analytical tradition that they inspired has remained central to the study of tonal music in North America.
Further reading
A thorough documentation of Schenker-related research and analysis is provided in David Carson BerryDavid Carson Berry
David Carson Berry is an American music theorist and historian, writer about music, and college professor. Among his diverse research interests are American popular music of the 1920s-60s, including a focus on Irving Berlin and Jimmy Van Heusen; the theory and aesthetics of music of the...
, A Topical Guide to Schenkerian Literature: An Annotated Bibliography with Indices (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2004). The largest Schenkerian reference work ever published, it has 3600 entries (2200 principal, 1400 secondary) representing the work of 1475 authors. It is organized topically: fifteen broad groupings encompass seventy topical headings, many of which are divided and subdivided again, resulting in a total of 271 headings under which entries are collected.
External links
- Schenker Documents Online, Ian BentIan BentIan Bent is Professor Emeritus, after retiring from Full Professor of Music, at Columbia University and Honorary Professor in the History of Music Theory at the University of Cambridge. He is the editor of the Cambridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis series and an area for second edition of...
, ed.