Carl Dahlhaus was without doubt the premier musicologist of the
postwar generation, a giant whose recent death was mourned the
world over. Translated here for the first time, this fundamental
work on the development of tonality shows his complete mastery of
the theory of harmony. In it Dahlhaus explains the modern concepts
of harmony and tonality, reviewing in the process the important
theories of Rameau, Sechter, Ftis, Riemann, and Schenker. He
contrasts the familiar premises of chordal composition with the
lesser known precepts of intervallic composition, the basis for
polyphonic music in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Numerous
quotations from theoretical treatises document how early music was
driven forward not by progressions of chords but by simple
progressions of intervals.
Exactly when did composers transform intervallic composition
into chordal composition? Modality into tonality? Dahlhaus provides
extensive analyses of motets by Josquin, frottole by Cara and
Tromboncino, and madrigals by Monteverdi to demonstrate how, and to
what degree, such questions can be answered. In his bold
speculations, in his magisterial summaries, in his command of eight
centuries of music and writings on music, and in his deep
understanding of European history and culture, Carl Dahlhaus sets a
standard that will seldom be equalled.
Originally published in 1990.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these
important books while presenting them in durable paperback
editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly
increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the
thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since
its founding in 1905.
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