The Schenker Project: Culture, Race, and Music Theory in Fin-de-siecle Vienna

Today we think of Heinrich Schenker, who lived in Vienna from 1884 until his death in 1935, as the most influential music theorist of the twentieth century. But he saw his theoretical writings as part of a comprehensive project for the reform of musical composition, performance, criticism, and education-and beyond that, as addressing fundamental cultural, social, and political problems of the deeply troubled age in which he lived. This book aims at an understanding of Schenker's project through reading his key works within a series of period contexts. These include music criticism, the field in which Schenker first made his name; Viennese modernism, particularly the debate over architectural ornamentation; German cultural conservatism, which is the source of many of Schenker's most deeply entrenched values; and Schenker's own position as a Galician Jew who came to Vienna just as traditional anti-semitism was becoming fully racialized. As well as presenting an unfamiliar perspective on the cultural and political ferment of fin-de-siècle Vienna, this approach reveals how deeply the social and political were thought into Schenker's theory. It also raises issues concerning the meaning and value of music theory, and the extent to which today's music-theoretical agenda unwittingly reflects the values and concerns of a very different world.

Table of Contents:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; ABBREVIATIONS; INTRODUCTION: SCHENKER'S CONTEXTS; CONCLUSION: MUSIC THEORY AS SOCIAL PRACTICE; LIST OF REFERENCES; APPENDIX: 'THE SPIRIT OF MUSICAL TECHNIQUE', TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM PASTILLE; INDEX

About the Author :
Nicholas Cook is Professor of Music at Cambridge University. He was Professorial Research Fellow in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he directs the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM). He is the author of articles and books on a wide variety of musicological and theoretical subjects (his Music: A Very Short Introduction has been translated into ten languages). He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2001.

Review :
"Cook...assembles yet another rich cultural study of this already well-researched time period but with the added benefit of illustrating the degree to which a field as seemingly abstract as music theory can be a site of political contestation...The Schenker Project offers a riveting account of how music comes to be 'imbued with worldly meaning' (318)--a process that was not without its dark side in the early decades of the twentieth century." --Austrian History Yearbook "Nicholas Cook has whipped up an intellectual feast for all those interested in Schenker, his theories, and the cultural melting pot of turn-of-the-century Vienna. Schenker's story-that of a Polish Jew who became, in his own estimation, the only living representative of German music-is too strange for fiction. Cook brings to it impressive erudition, fair-mindedness, and a flair for vivid narration."-William Rothstein, Professor of Music Theory at Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. "The Schenker Project offers an even-handed and meticulously researched account of the life's work of the twentieth century's greatest theorist of tonal music, set squarely for the first time in the culture of the fin-de-siècle Vienna. This is intellectual history at its best. Persuasive in both its large-scale narrative sweep and in its wealth of provocative insights along the way, this book's impact on Schenkerian studies will be felt for years to come."- Patrick McCreless, Professor of Music Theory, Yale University "Nicholas Cook has whipped up an intellectual feast for all those interested in Schenker, his theories, and the cultural melting pot of turn-of-the-century Vienna. Schenker's story-that of a Polish Jew who became, in his own estimation, the only living representative of German music-is too strange for fiction. Cook brings to it impressive erudition, fair-mindedness, and a flair for vivid narration."-William Rothstein, Professor of Music Theory at Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. "The Schenker Project offers an even-handed and meticulously researched account of the life's work of the twentieth century's greatest theorist of tonal music, set squarely for the first time in the culture of the fin-de-siècle Vienna. This is intellectual history at its best. Persuasive in both its large-scale narrative sweep and in its wealth of provocative insights along the way, this book's impact on Schenkerian studies will be felt for years to come."- Patrick McCreless, Professor of Music Theory, Yale University "Cook adds to our understanding of music theory and fin de siècle Viennese politics and culture." --Musica Judaica Online Reviews