# Music Analyses (of Pieces)



## vertciel (Sep 30, 2007)

Hello everyone,

I've been looking around for some time now but haven't found the following.

When I read books in English, I like to follow them up with analyses written by literary scholars. For example, the Bloom's Guides (by English professor Harold Bloom) are one of my favourites; they raise my literary awareness to a new level.

Thus, I am wondering if a similar series or collection exists for classical music. Is there a company or musical theorist that specialises in analysing and publishing analyses? It is my plan to read these analyses for piano pieces which I'm learning, so that I can see what someone else thinks of a piece.

Thank you!


----------



## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I've mentioned this book before... Michael Steinberg (who has performed program annotator duties with both the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra) has a book called _The Symphony_, which has analyses of more than 100 (mostly major repertoire) symphonies. However, since they're adapted from his program notes, don't expect searing detail. I'm very grateful I have this book, all the same.

Steinberg also has a sequel book _The Concerto_. [You know the drill...]


----------



## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

vertciel said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I've been looking around for some time now but haven't found the following.
> 
> ...


Hmm... where to start. 

I can recommend (the order in which they ought to be read):

_A Guide to Musical Analysis_ by Nicholas Cook

_Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven_ by William E. Caplin

_The Classical Style_ and _Sonata Forms_ by Charles Rosen

_Analysis Through Composition: Principles of the Classical Style_ by Nicholas Cook

_Forms in Tonal Music: An Introduction to Analysis_ by Douglass M. Green

Regarding Schenker:

_Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach_ by Allen Cadwallader and David Gagné

Regarding Riemann:

_Hugo Riemann and the Birth of Modern Musical Thought_

Regarding Pitch Class Set Theory:

_Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory_ by Joseph N. Straus

_Understanding Post-Tonal Music_ by Miguel Roig-Francoli

The Straus touches briefly upon Neo-Riemannian theory, but this has its origins in various articles by David Lewin; it crops up in his _Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations_.

Regarding Semiotics:

_Signs of Music: A Guide to Musical Semiotics_ by Eero Tarasti.

NB. Comprehension of most this stuff must be preceded by strong musicianship skills and an acquaintance with the 'nuts and bolts' of music itself. So for Harmony I can recommend _Harmony and Voice Leading_ by Edward Aldwell and Carl Schachter and for Counterpoint, _Counterpoint in Composition_ by Felix Salzer and Carl Schachter.

Incidentally, since you're interested in Harold Bloom, I feel I ought to point out that Joseph Straus's book _Remaking the Past: Musical Modernism and the Influence of the Tonal Tradition_ applies the Bloomian theory of influence to music.


----------



## danae (Jan 7, 2009)

Very helpful list, Herzeleide. I have some of these books / treatises at home, but I just don't have the time to study them. From what I've already read in analysis of specific works, William Caplin, James Webster, Charles Rosen and Kofi Agawu are some of the most important writers I think. But Forte, Schachter, Salzer etc etc are still too difficult for me. I need time to understand, especially since english is not my native language...


----------



## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

Thanks danae.



Herzeleide said:


> (the order in which they ought to be read):


Hmm perhaps not... though (some of) the books before the Riemann, Schenker etc. ought to be studied first.


----------



## danae (Jan 7, 2009)

I also found another really good book (as I can gather from a brief run through its pages) by James Hepokoski entitled "Elements of sonata theory: norms, types and demonstration in the late 18th century sonata", published in 2006. Check it out.


----------



## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

danae said:


> I also found another really good book (as I can gather from a brief run through its pages) by James Hepokoski entitled "Elements of sonata theory: norms, types and demonstration in the late 18th century sonata", published in 2006. Check it out.


Thanks.

For some retarded reason this message has to be at least ten characters long.


----------



## vertciel (Sep 30, 2007)

Thank you for the detailed replies. I will start checking out these books right away!


----------

