Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality

Carl Dahlhaus

Published by Princeton University Press 1990

Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality

Carl Dahlhaus
Translated by: Robert O. Gjerdingen

Volume 1111 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400861316

Overview
Contents

About this book

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 editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover 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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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Translator's Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
A Guide to the Terminology of German Harmony Robert O. Gjerdingen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. The Theory of Harmonic Tonality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
II. Intervallic and Chordal Composition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
III. Mode and System Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
IV. Analyses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	371
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381

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