# Major Composers Who Wrote Books?



## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

I am looking to compile a list of instructional books (or other writings) on composing, written by major composers of the classical and romantic periods.

Rimsky-Korsakov's _Principles of Orchestration_ would be one example.

Can anyone suggest some others?

If such a list already exists elsewhere in these fora, please kindly point me to it. Thanks!


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Berlioz wrote _Treatise on Instrumentation_ that was later updated by Richard Strauss.

Treatise on Instrumentation


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

SuperTonic said:


> Berlioz wrote _Treatise on Instrumentation_ that was later updated by Richard Strauss.
> 
> Treatise on Instrumentation


Excellent, thank you SuperTonic.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

CPE Bach wrote _The Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments_.
Fux wrote _Gradus ad parnassum_.
Charles Ives wrote _Essays Before A Sonata_.
American composer Walter Piston wrote the excellent _Orchestration_.
Rameau wrote _Treatise on Harmony_.
Schoenberg wrote three: _Theory of Harmony_, _Structural Functions of Harmony_ and _Fundamentals of Musical Composition_.

I know there are LOTS more and so I will post again if I remember any of them.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

Many thanks, Delicious Manager: I am grateful for these suggestions.

So you would classify all these individuals as "major composers of the classical and romantic periods" then?


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

chillowack said:


> So you would classify all these individuals as "major composers of the classical and romantic periods" then?


Many of these are on the periphery but should still be applicable. For example, Schoenberg wrote these books from a romantic idiom and particularly his 'Theory of Harmony' can be seen as a grand summary of harmonic theory at that point in history. It was written in the decade prior to his theory of 'serialism'.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

emiellucifuge said:


> Many of these are on the periphery but should still be applicable. For example, Schoenberg wrote these books from a romantic idiom and particularly his 'Theory of Harmony' can be seen as a grand summary of harmonic theory at that point in history. It was written in the decade prior to his theory of 'serialism'.


Thank you, I will check this book out.

From what I can tell, Schoenberg was a 20th century composer, not classified as a Romantic, but rather a pioneer of atonal music. Therefore he is not the kind of composer I'm looking for with this particular query--though he may well have written (and with great skill, no doubt) about earlier eras, or concepts from earlier eras.

To clarify: I'm looking for major (as opposed to minor) composers of the classical and romantic (as opposed to post-romantic, modern, atonal, etc.) periods, who wrote books or other writings on the composition (as opposed to the playing) of music.

That's not to discount these suggestions though, and I thank DM again for posting them.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

I'm currently reading Paul Hindemith's Craft of Musical Composition, and it is pretty enlightening to see how the 12 tone chromatic scale can be derived from the natural physics of sound (overtone series). Haven't gotten too far yet, but I highly recommend the book to grasp how the rules of harmony came to being and how music can be enjoyable to the ears.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

chillowack said:


> Thank you, I will check this book out.
> 
> From what I can tell, Schoenberg was a 20th century composer, not classified as a Romantic, but rather a pioneer of atonal music. Therefore he is not the kind of composer I'm looking for with this particular query--though he may well have written (and with great skill, no doubt) about earlier eras, or concepts from earlier eras.
> 
> ...


Still Schoenberg did begin as quite a romantic writing in a similar tradition to R. Strauss or Mahler, and you shouldnt discount this book. If you are looking for a book about romantic harmony then this is the one.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

I can see already that responders aren't really reading my selection criteria, but that's okay: there's no harm in recommending books that fall outside those specs. These other books are no doubt good, and every once in awhile a recommendation will indeed land within my criteria, like SuperTonic's.

I wish I had time to read all the great books written by composers of every era; but at the moment I'm really only looking to obtain a small handful of titles from within a certain period.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Delicious Manager said:


> CPE Bach wrote _The Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments_.
> Fux wrote _Gradus ad parnassum_.
> Charles Ives wrote _Essays Before A Sonata_.
> American composer Walter Piston wrote the excellent _Orchestration_.
> ...





chillowack said:


> Many thanks, Delicious Manager: I am grateful for these suggestions.
> 
> So you would classify all these individuals as "major composers of the classical and romantic periods" then?


I'm sorry. I'm one of those guilty of not reading your question thoroughly enough. Fux and Rameau are Baroque and, therefore, too early. Piston is very much of the 20th century. One could argue that Ives and Schoenberg are 'late Romantic' in the context of their writings.
CPE Bach was one of the most important figures in the development of the new-fangled Classical style after the Baroque, so I would say he counts.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Delicious Manager said:


> CPE Bach wrote _The Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments_.
> Fux wrote _Gradus ad parnassum_.
> Charles Ives wrote _Essays Before A Sonata_.
> American composer Walter Piston wrote the excellent _Orchestration_.
> ...


Walter Piston also wrote _Harmony_ and _Counterpoint_, which are also excellent.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Wagner also dabbled in writing, although I'm not sure if he ever wrote books. He mainly focused on essays. And I don't think he wrote anything on harmony and instrumentation/orchestration, but I might be wrong. His essay on conducting is rather entertaining, though.


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## Guest (Apr 27, 2011)

The full title of Berlioz' work is _Grand Traité d'Instrumentation et d'Orchestration Modernes._

It is the model for both Rimsky-Korsakov's and Piston's excellent works.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

Thank you all for these suggestions--eventually I hope to read them all, but I want to start with the older ones.

I'm currently reading Rimsky-Korsakov's excellent work; I have ordered the Berlioz tome as well.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

chillowack said:


> Thank you all for these suggestions--eventually I hope to read them all, but I want to start with the older ones.
> 
> I'm currently reading Rimsky-Korsakov's excellent work; I have ordered the Berlioz tome as well.


Berlioz' treatise on instrumentation is very good. I especially enjoyed the trombone chapter.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

chillowack said:


> I'm currently reading Rimsky-Korsakov's excellent work; I have ordered the Berlioz tome as well.


BTW, a free, online, interactive version of RK's book (not necessarily a replacement, but has comments from music professors and (midi) recordings of the examples in the book) is available at: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-Orchestration-On-line
Also, Berlioz' book is available for free from Google Books: http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=XNY5AAAAIAAJ&num=13


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

Kopachris said:


> BTW, a free, online, interactive version of RK's book (not necessarily a replacement, but has comments from music professors and (midi) recordings of the examples in the book) is available at: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-Orchestration-On-line
> Also, Berlioz' book is available for free from Google Books: http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=XNY5AAAAIAAJ&num=13


Thank you, Kopachris: I knew about the former, but not the latter.


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## wingracer (Mar 7, 2011)

This is outside your criteria but Copland's What to Listen for in Music is a good read.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

Thanks, I'll put it on the "greater" list.


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## 1648 (Mar 4, 2011)

I wouldn't dismiss the treatises of Fux and Rameau so hastily, they were written in the twilight of the Baroque era and greatly influenced the music to come, both men were among the most highly regarded composers of their day. Even Johann Mattheson (a good friend of Händel and well-respected composer in his own right), spearhead of the German counter-Enlightenment bashing of Rameau the man and theorist couldn't help but praise Rameau the composer in his _"Der vollkommene Capellmeister"_ of 1739, another seminal late Baroque treatise that shaped the Classical style - Haydn treasured it greatly. The father of the string quartet and symphony wasn't quite as enthusiastic about Johann Philipp Kirnberger's _"Die Kunst des reinen Satzes"_ of 1771, which he thought a bit dry and restrictive, though he did praise its thoroughness and clean, logical structure. Mozart knew and perhaps owned the treatise as well - the way he taught chords, their inversions and resolutions mirrors Kirnberger's approach quite closely, though he may have been influenced by the writings of Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (a friend of his father) as well. As for translations of their theoretical works, I'm sure they exist, though I cannot comment on their faithfulness and availability.

And while the first volume of CPE Bach's _"Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen"_ primarily deals with playing technique the second one contains an extensive introduction to thoroughbass notation and the art of accompaniment - pragmatic as its outlook may be it nonetheless conveys an interesting slice of contemporary German harmonic-contrapuntal practice.

Those (or the search for them) should keep you occupied for a while.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

1648 said:


> I wouldn't dismiss the treatises of Fux and Rameau so hastily, they were written in the twilight of the Baroque era and greatly influenced the music to come, both men were among the most highly regarded composers of their day. Even Johann Mattheson (a good friend of Händel and well-respected composer in his own right), spearhead of the German counter-Enlightenment bashing of Rameau the man and theorist couldn't help but praise Rameau the composer in his _"Der vollkommene Capellmeister"_ of 1739, another seminal late Baroque treatise that shaped the Classical style - Haydn treasured it greatly. The father of the string quartet and symphony wasn't quite as enthusiastic about Johann Philipp Kirnberger's _"Die Kunst des reinen Satzes"_ of 1771, which he thought a bit dry and restrictive, though he did praise its thoroughness and clean, logical structure. Mozart knew and perhaps owned the treatise as well - the way he taught chords, their inversions and resolutions mirrors Kirnberger's approach quite closely, though he may have been influenced by the writings of Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (a friend of his father) as well. As for translations of their theoretical works, I'm sure they exist, though I cannot comment on their faithfulness and availability.
> 
> And while the first volume of CPE Bach's _"Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen"_ primarily deals with playing technique the second one contains an extensive introduction to thoroughbass notation and the art of accompaniment - pragmatic as its outlook may be it nonetheless conveys an interesting slice of contemporary German harmonic-contrapuntal practice.
> 
> Those (or the search for them) should keep you occupied for a while.


Thank you for this recommendation 1648, I will put these works on the list.

I'm currently reading Rimsky-Korsakov's and Berlioz's works (along with two or three non-musical books, including a Latin tome), so my reading plate is full at the moment--but these are on the backburner.

I did want to ask you, though: when you say that Mozart's method of teaching chords, inversions and resolutions mirrors Kirnberger's, are you referring to an instructional work of Mozart's? And if so, what is the title?

Thanks.


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## 1648 (Mar 4, 2011)

chillowack said:


> I did want to ask you, though: when you say that Mozart's method of teaching chords, inversions and resolutions mirrors Kirnberger's, are you referring to an instructional work of Mozart's? And if so, what is the title?


 I was referring to the manuscripts (hundreds of pages, many corrected and annotated by Mozart) of Thomas Attwood's studies with Mozart, which are part of the New Mozart Edition but sadly not available in the free digital version on the website of the Mozarteum.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Aksel said:


> Wagner also dabbled in writing, although I'm not sure if he ever wrote books.


Yes, and more than some established authors. No-one could claim that Wagner came anywhere near his music-writing abilities in his book-writing endeavors. Still, here's a partial memorial reconstruction of some of the titles (coverted to English) he penned-

_A Communication to My Friends
The Art-Work of the Future
Opera & Drama
My Life_ [a 'self-hagiography']


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Yes, and more than some established authors. No-one could claim that Wagner came anywhere near his music-writing abilities in his book-writing endeavors. Still, here's a partial memorial reconstruction of some of the titles (coverted to English) he penned-
> 
> _A Communication to My Friends
> The Art-Work of the Future
> ...


Ok. Good to know. I even have My Life on my Kindle, but somehow (as if the title wasn't enough) I wasn't sure if he actually wrote that.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> Yes, and more than some established authors. No-one could claim that Wagner came anywhere near his music-writing abilities in his book-writing endeavors. Still, here's a partial memorial reconstruction of some of the titles (coverted to English) he penned-
> 
> _A Communication to My Friends
> The Art-Work of the Future
> ...


Have you read all those tomes, Chi_townPhilly?

It sounds, from your tongue-in-cheek description of the last one, that you have read that, at least.


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## 1648 (Mar 4, 2011)

chillowack said:


> Have you read all those tomes, Chi_townPhilly?
> 
> It sounds, from your tongue-in-cheek description of the last one, that you have read that, at least.


 I don't think anyone could read them in full and retain his sanity.

And let's not forget the perennial favorite _"Jewry in Music"_ (*bravely* published under a pseudonym in 1849).


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## KJohnson (Dec 31, 2010)

Most of these books are available for free on google books. Does anyone know if Kindle can be used to read them?


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## 1648 (Mar 4, 2011)

KJohnson said:


> Most of these books are available for free on google books. Does anyone know if Kindle can be used to read them?


 If the book is freely available in full google usually supplies a .pdf link. Yet due to the Fraktur blackletters and poor scan quality the German treatises (the French ones tend to use a much more pleasant Antiqua type) are pretty much immune to all common forms of OCR, even if your Kindle can handle the large, image-heavy .pdfs I doubt you'll find reading them on it very pleasant - they can be hard to decipher even on large computer screens.


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## KJohnson (Dec 31, 2010)

1648 said:


> If the book is freely available in full google usually supplies a .pdf link. Yet due to the Fraktur blackletters and poor scan quality the German treatises (the French ones tend to use a much more pleasant Antiqua type) are pretty much immune to all common forms of OCR, even if your Kindle can handle the large, image-heavy .pdfs I doubt you'll find reading them on it very pleasant - they can be hard to decipher even on large computer screens.


Thank you! I'm still waiting for something larger than Kindle DX. Hopefully something comes out soon.


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## wingracer (Mar 7, 2011)

Didn't Szymanowski write a book?


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## Poppin' Fresh (Oct 24, 2009)

1648 said:


> I don't think anyone could read them in full and retain his sanity.


The books definitely have their faults. Wagner's writing is often very tedious and unnecessarily abstract. But there is nothing insane about them. They are filled with provocative and insightful ideas on opera, art, and composition. His writings continue to be useful to conductors and singers. Wagner was also a shrewd analyst of Beethoven and a stimulating music critic.

Bryan Magee points out:

"One of the most fruitful and influential books on opera to be published in our half-century -- _Opera as Drama_ by Joseph Kerman, published in 1956 -- begins with the words: 'I make no apology for the Wagnerian title. This book is far from Wagnerian, but the point of view it develops is really the basic one celebrated by Opera and Drama, that astonishing volume of a hundred years ago..."

And his autobiography _Mein Leben_ is actually a quite enjoyable and easy read, written in a very conversational style.



> And let's not forget the perennial favorite _"Jewry in Music"_ (*bravely* published under a pseudonym in 1849).


A short essay, not a book. But I've read that one as well while still managing to retain my sanity.


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## kwansk (Jun 5, 2011)

Tchaikovsky actually Wrote a book on Practical Study of Harmony. But it doesn't go very in depth and his writing is no where near as good as his composing. I still had fun reading it though.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486442721/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER


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## Vor Gott (Jan 26, 2011)

For those of you searching for a pdf file of the _Treatise_, IMSLP has one; it includes every version, like the system they use for scores:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Grand_Treatis...Modern_Orchestration,_Op.10_(Berlioz,_Hector)


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## solkorset (May 26, 2011)

Poppin' Fresh said:


> The books definitely have their faults. Wagner's writing is often very tedious and unnecessarily abstract. But there is nothing insane about them. They are filled with provocative and insightful ideas on opera, art, and composition. His writings continue to be useful to conductors and singers. Wagner was also a shrewd analyst of Beethoven and a stimulating music critic.
> 
> Bryan Magee points out:
> 
> ...


I agree. I enjoyed "Mein Leben" tremendously. Because of Wagner's broad interests it almost reads like a history of the 19th century from a personal point of view. You're taken inside and get to know all the people.

Wagner's literary output was vast, covering about 50 years from 1833 till his death in 1883. He was an artist, but also a philosopher, art critic, historian, political revolutionary, religious visionary, pioneer of new lifestyle, and God knows what else. His collected works will cover all your needs in every field of life. They fill ten volumes:

Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen in zehn Bänden

Here is a selection of his works that I find most interesting. I'm omitting the lyrics of his music dramas and everything connected with them:

Die deutsche Oper (1834)
Der dramatische Gesang (1837)
Eine Pilgerfahrt zu Beethoven (1840)
Über deutsche Musik (1840)
Der Virtuos und der Künstler (1840)
Über die Ouvertüre (1840-41)
Der Künstler und die Öffentlichkeit (1841)
Halévy und die französische Oper (1842)
Das Oratorium Paulus von Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1843)
Zu Beethoven's Neunter Symphonie (1846)
Künstler und Kritiker, mit Bezug auf einen besonderen Fall (1846)
Programm zur 9. Symphonie von Beethoven (1846)
Theater-Reform (1849)
Der Mensch und die bestehende Gesellschaft (1849)
Die Revolution (1849)
Die Kunst und die Revolution (1849)
Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft (1849)
Das Künstlertum der Zukunft (Verschiedene Notizen zu einem geplanten Essay) (1849)
Zu Die Kunst und die Revolution (1849)
Kunst und Klima (1850)
Das Judentum in der Musik, rev. 1869 (1850)
Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft. Widmung an L. Feuerbach (1850)
Eine Skizze zu Oper und Drama (Brief an Uhlig) (1850)
Oper und Drama (überarbeitet 1868) (1851)
Beethovens "Heroische Symphonie" (1851)
Beethoven's Cis moll-Quartett (programmatische Erklärung) (1854)
Gluck's Ouvertüre zu Iphigenie in Aulis (1854)
Metaphysik der Geschlechtsliebe (1858)
Zukunftsmusik (1860)
Über Staat und Religion (1864)
Deutsche Kunst und deutsche Politik (1867-68)
Über das Dirigieren (1869)
Fragment eines Aufsatzes über Hector Berlioz (1869)
Gedanken über die Bedeutung der deutschen Kunst für das Ausland (1869)
Über Beethoven (1870)
An das deutsche Heer vor Paris (1871)
An Friedrich Nietzsche (1872)
Über Schauspieler und Sänger (1872)
Ein Einblick in das heutige deutsche Opernwesen (1872)
Über die Benennung "Musikdrama" (1872)
Was ist deutsch? (1878)
Publikum und Popularität (1878)
Das Publikum in Zeit und Raum (1878)
Wollen wir hoffen? (1879)
Über das Dichten und Komponieren (1879)
Über das Opern-Dichten und Komponieren im Besonderen (1879)
Über die Anwendung der Musik auf das Drama (1879)
Religion und Kunst (1880)
'Was nützt diese Erkenntnis?': ein Nachtrag zu Religion und Kunst (1880)
Zur Einführung der Arbeit des Grafen Gobineau Ein Urteil über die jetzige Weltlage (1881)
Ausführungen zu Religion und Kunst: 'Erkenne dich selbst'; Heldentum und Christentum (1881)
Über das Weibliche im Menschlichen (unvollständig) (1883)
Jesus von Nazareth : ein dichterischer Entwurf aus dem Jahre 1848 (1887)


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## Zemberry (5 mo ago)

chillowack said:


> I am looking to compile a list of instructional books (or other writings) on composing, written by major composers of the classical and romantic periods.
> 
> Rimsky-Korsakov's _Principles of Orchestration_ would be one example.
> 
> ...


Tchaikovsky wrote quite a fine text on harmony. I have the original version but it’s been translated into English and German.


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