Heinrich Schenker

Heinrich Schenker

Heinrich Schenker , 1868–1935, Austro-Polish music theorist. Educated at the Vienna Conservatory, he devoted his life to teaching and research. Schenker developed the concept of structural levels and coherence in tonal music. He conceived of all tonal pieces as generated from a basic cell, the triad (major or minor chord). The interest and singularity of a composition were ascribed to the imagination and consistency with which the composer elaborated the triad into a complete piece. Schenker's theories have been successfully applied to nontonal music and influenced 20th-century theoreticians.

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Schenker, Heinrich

Schenker, Heinrich (b Wisniowczyki, Galicia, 1868; d Vienna, 1935). Austrian pianist, writer, and teacher. Wrote songs and was for a time accomp. to bar. Johannes Messchaert. Thereafter devoted himself to theoretical research. Ed. Beethoven's pf. sonatas, Handel's org. works, and C. P. E. Bach's kbd. music. Wrote several theoretical books. Inventor of famous system of analysis based on theory that one type of mus. structure was basis of all masterpieces from Bach to Brahms.

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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Schenker, Heinrich." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Schenker, Heinrich." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-SchenkerHeinrich.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Schenker, Heinrich." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-SchenkerHeinrich.html

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