Theory of Harmony

by Arnold Schoenberg

Book Overview

A new critical foreword by Walter Frisch, H. Harold Gumm/Harry and Albert von Tilzer Professor of Music at Columbia University, expands this centennial edition. Frisch puts Schoenberg's masterpiece into historical and ideological context, delineating the connections between music, theory, art, science, and architecture in turn-of-the century Austro-German culture.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520266080
• ISBN13: 9780520266087
• Release Date: October 2010
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.9" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

An artful course in harmony

I have read most reviews below...and I find most of them incomprehensible. Someone compares Shoenberg's Treatise to the Treatise by Rameau,for example. A rather irrelevant comparison,because both books have their area of undeniable expertise. How do you compare a book about building a Ferrari and one about building an aeroplane? They both talk about aerodynamics,but there are differencies,I think! Then there is the person that finds the book very hard to grasp. Well,I doubt this is Mr. Shoenberg's fault! This is a books about CLASSICAL harmony! It seems that nowadays people playing popular pop or doing songwriting or jazz-rock fusion guitarists (nothing wrong with any of this ) think,for some strange reason, that Shoenberg's book is actually a whatever course of harmony and because he was so open-minded and wide ranging,that actually anyone after learning a Beatles song just starts on Shoenberg? Or that in the book the technique of 'atonality' is taught ? No,no....there is some very real confusion here. Not many people know that Shoenberg practiced and learned the traditional techniques in an amazingly diligent and through way for years....incredibly hard work. On his own! The 'serialism' part it's entirely his own quirk and style,and it is not the main point in this book...it's only people that see it this way. It is basicly an assumption. So basicly,if you want to fly,learn to run properly on your own ground first. That is the philosophy,and this is exactly what he does in the book: he starts and progress VERY logically. Some people may be puzzled ,but again,if you dont understand,well,read it 'till you do. Do not forget that Shoenberg had unsurpassed experience in teaching ,and that he started teaching in universisites WITHOUT the help of titles or master degree's but ONLY because of his SKILL. And that has to be kept in mind too,so,if they appear ramblings,I am sorry,it's only laziness on the part of the student. Sure it's not easy to keep pace,but if you do,you will be rewarded. If anyone actually STUDIED seriously even part of the book,he would realize that ,in fact,this is exactly what Shoenberg says: ''I bolt the door against the bravado which would like to burst in absolute disregard for the rules. I bolt the door by developing his sense of form,according to the rigorous old rules.'' The people that say that 'it's not a textbook' ,dont know what they are talking about. This is a course in harmony prepared by a real artist,a real composer,not by an historian,not by a teacher in a university,master's degree or otherwise. You make out of this whatever you want. Of course I am not saying that the other people are bad ,or good. I am only saying that this book was written by a real composer,not by a theorist. He just happened to study most major harmony texts and compose in his mind for 14 instruments while going for morning walks! People who think of his book as having a place as a theorist treatise did not really know the bo

A Masterpiece for every musician

This book is a must for a musician.It is not a textbook. You need another standard one for this purpose. But it is essential as a companion, if you want to UNDERSTAND the reasons behind the rules. And you better read it in parallel with a standard textbook. Schoenberg starts from the most ancient sources to the most modern and EXPLAINS everything! You are his pupil because this book was written for his real pupils. (And btw a 6th chord is a 6th chord for every classical harmony manual...).I agree that sometimes some digressions may be questionable and some "rules" are introduced and then eliminated in a questionable way, but he is undoubtely an artist, and this book reflects it. The way he explains, for instance, the minor mode is unsurpassed.You can't break harmony rules if you don't know what's behind them.AMM

"Invariably wrong?"

I think not.Schoenberg's theoretical approach is not the approach accepted as as standard in American music schools. He was an independent thinker. In this reviewer's opinion, Schoenberg was right.I would not recommend this volume as a primary textbook for the study of tonal harmony; it is too rich and complex for that, and undoubtedly way beyond the reading level of most college undergraduates. Schoenberg's thought is subtle and elegant to a degree rarely found in books of this sort. I would recommend this volume to anyone willing to dig more deeply into the subject than is done by most three chord pop musicians or Schenkerian purists, but it takes time and patience and an open mind as well as a firm command of complex sentence structure. Schoenberg does not provide the reductio ad absurdam desired by many.This is one of the most important books ever written on the subject of music theory. It is essential reading for any serious student of early 20th century tonal music.

A Philosophical Tome - Not a Textbook

No...Schonberg's Harmonic works are not where anyone should start when trying to learn standard western harmony. Let's get that out in the open first. You should not read this book as a way to learn the rules of figured-bass style harmony. For that, better to read Piston. This book is a philosophical tome. As such, it is verbose, but it is also extremely instructive, mostly for the composer. I first read the Theory of Harmony as a grad student. My composition teacher suggested it. (He was always correcting my chord spelling in ways that didn't make sense to me, until I read the Schonberg.) This book opened me to the "mystical" side of harmonic theory. It also was a great clarifier on the relationship between harmony and counterpoint in voice leading. And, most harmony texts really are based on the rules of Rameau, which amazingly work up until the post Wagnerian era, when they begin to break down. Schonberg's work is the best examination of post-Wagnerian tonal harmony that I've come across. So to me, this is more than an historical artifact, it is a useful tool for the experienced composer. But definately not for your usual undergrad!

traditional harmony text by inventor of serial composition

Schoenberg presents a systematic method for learning/teaching traditional harmony. He gets into fairly advanced levels of harmony, but does not really get into 12-tone composition, except fleetingly toward the end of the book. You have to remember that at the time he wrote this, he was still only beginning to work out his ideas about serialism, and all his works prior to and surrounding the publication of this book were still written in his earlier harmonic style. One of his major premises is that it is necessary to the _craft_ (a very important word) of music to be intimately familliar with the older ways, because it guarantees the ability to at least write music of "established effectiveness."He leads the reader from scales and diatonic triads, through modulations and diminished chords, and into "wandering" non-diatonic chords. He does not have the student realize figured bass lines, or harmonize chorales, and he goes into great detail describing the fallacy of these teaching methods. Rather, he has the student composing from the outset, manipulating musical materials in a manner more like the act of "real" composition.