The School of Musical Composition, Practical and Theoretical
With Additional Notes and a Special Preface for the English Edition

The 1852 English translation of the first volume of the fourth edition of an influential German textbook on music theory.

Adolf Bernhard Marx (Author), Augustus Wehrhan (Translated by)

9781108063999, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 April 2014

572 pages, 50 music examples
24.4 x 17 x 2.9 cm, 0.9 kg

The influential music theorist and composer Adolf Bernhard Marx (1795–1866) spent much of his career as a professor of music in Berlin and was a friend and mentor of Mendelssohn. He believed music should be part of everyone's general education and lobbied the Prussian government for a comprehensive national scheme for musical education. His compositions included many songs and choral works now largely forgotten, with the exception of the 1841 oratorio Mose. Among his publications is Gluck und die Oper (1863) which is reissued in this series in both the German original and English translation. His most famous and influential work, Die Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition, was intended for the students of the University of Berlin, setting out in simple terms the principles of music theory and composition for the untrained. This English translation, of only the first volume of the fourth edition, was published in 1852.

Translator's preface
Preface
From the preface to the first edition
Preface to the fourth edition
Introduction
1. The doctrine of elementary composition
2. The accompaniment of given melodies
Appendix
Musical appendix
General index.

Subject Areas: Music reviews & criticism [AVC]