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

"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 fin-de-siecle Vienna. 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 McCRELES S, Professor of Music Theory, Yale University.

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 to explain Schenker's project through reading his key works within a series of period contexts. As well as presenting an unfamiliar perspective on the cultural and political ferment of fin-de-siecle Vienna, this book reveals how deeply Schenker's theory is permeated by the social and political. 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.

NICHOLAS COOK is 1684 Professor of Music at Cambridge University. He previously directed the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM) at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of articles and books on a wide variety of musicological and theoretical subjects. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2001.