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Years after Walter Piston's death, his students and their students
can still take great pride in the enduring vitality of his
teaching. By now it is plain that the book is different from what
it used to be, but its essential approach and its basic substance
remain as they were. The major departure of the fourth edition was
the addition of seven new chapters, including four on the
complicated subject of harmony after common practice, which had not
been discussed in the first three editions. However, then as now,
the core of the book remains the exhaustive treatment of
common-practice harmony, the subject of most one-year or two-year
courses in tonal harmony. In the present edition, the entire text
has been carefully revised with a view to clarifying the language
and illuminating the essential principles. Wherever possible, the
text has been "opened up" to allow the reader to adopt a more
leisurely pace through what had been a terse and detailed
presentation. The results will also be perceived in the more
spacious design of this edition. New exercises have been added to
the early chapters as well as some fresh music examples. There is
an entirely new chapter on musical texture that serves to clear up
many difficult points encountered by the beginning student. Another
innovation is the rearrangement of the chapters dealing with
harmonic rhythm and the structure of the phrase as well as the
inclusion of a short summary of analytical method. This book has
long been known as an introductory textbook, but because of its
comprehensive range, it also serves as an invaluable reference
book. The acquisition of an consummate knowledge of composers'
practice the goal of any study of harmony is admittedly an endless
assignment. Ars longa, vita brevis, but consolation may be derived
from the thought that intellectual and artistic rewards are to be
found at all stages along the way."
Year of Decision 1846 tells many fascinating stories of the U.S. explorers who began the western march from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from Canada to the annexation of Texas, California, and the southwest lands from Mexico. It is the penultimate book of a trilogy which includes Across the Wide Missouri (for which DeVoto won both the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes) and The Course of Empire. DeVoto's narrative covers the expanding Western frontier, the Mormons, the Donner party, Fremont's exploration, the Army of the West, and takes readers into Native American tribal life.
Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) was a historian, critic, editor,
professor, political commentator, and conservationist, and above
all a writer of comprehensive skill. As a contributor for more than
thirty years to "Harper's" and other magazines, he was known for
his forceful opinions. His essays were often brash and opinionated
and kept him in the public limelight. One stinging essay even led
the FBI to create a file on him. His five serious novels are
forgotten today, but his magazine short stories and the well-paid
potboilers that he wrote under a pseudonym (John August) subsidized
the first of the significant works of American history that brought
DeVoto lasting fame. Four of his historical works, all still in
print, are "The Year of Decision: 1846," a Book-of-the-Month Club
selection in 1943; "Across the Wide Missouri," which won the
Pulitzer Prize in history in 1948; 1953 National Book Award-winning
"The Course of Empire"; and his popular abridged edition of the
"Journals of Lewis and Clark," which also appeared in 1953.
A busy man with a busy life, DeVoto found time to write and answer
letters in abundance. In 1933 he received a fan letter from
Katharine Sterne, a young woman hospitalized with tuberculosis; his
reply touched off an extraordinary eleven-year correspondence.
Sterne had graduated with honors from Wellesley College in 1928 and
had served as an assistant art critic at the "New York Times"
before her illness. Despite her enforced invalidism she maintained
an active intellectual life. Sterne and DeVoto wrote to each other
until her death in 1944, sometimes in many pages and as often as
twice a week, exchanging opinions about life, literature, art,
current events, family news, gossip, and their innermost feelings.
DeVoto's biographer, Wallace Stegner, states that in these letters
DeVoto "expressed himself more intimately than in any other
writings." Although their correspondence amounted to more than 868
letters (and is virtually complete on both sides), DeVoto and
Sterne never met, both of them doubtless realizing that physical
remoteness permitted a psychological proximity that was deeply
nourishing.
This volume contains 140 of their letters. They have been selected
by DeVoto's son Mark, who has also provided detailed notes
clarifying ambiguities and obscure references. Readers will enjoy
these letters for their wit and literary flair, but they will also
gain insight into the cultural and historical crosscurrents of the
1930s and '40s while taking an intimate and engaging look at a
friendship forged entirely through words.
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