The Masterwork in Music, 1925

The three volumes of The Masterwork in Music present complete English translations of major works by Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker, one of the twentieth century’s leading figures in the field. First published in German between 1925 and 1930, these essays represent Schenker’s greatest writings in analysis prior to the 1935 definitive formulation of his theory of music in Der freie Satz (Free Composition). This new publication of the long-awaited English translation, which first appeared in the distinguished Cambridge University Press edition, provides a valuable resource for scholars. Editorial annotations and elucidations by Dr.William Drabkin and his translators offer additional insights.
Volume One includes analyses of keyboard pieces by Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, and Beethoven, along with studies of solo violin music by Bach. Volume Two contains a major essay on Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor and shorter studies of works by Bach, Haydn, and Reger. Volume Three’s contents include Schenker’s celebrated analysis of Beethoven’s ＂Eroica＂ Symphony and other works.

Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935) was a composer, pianist, music theorist, and critic, chiefly remembered for the system of musical analysis known as Schenkerian analysis. He is the author of Dover’s Five Graphic Music Analyses. William Drabkin is Professor of Music at the United Kingdom’s University of Southampton. Ian Bent, the lead translator, is Professor Emeritus of Music at Columbia University and Honorary Professor in the History of Music Theory at the University of Cambridge.