Overview

In 1912 Heinrich Schenker contracted with the Viennese publisher Universal Edition to provide an 'elucidatory edition' (Erläuterungsausgabe) of Beethoven's last five piano sonatas. Each publication would comprise a score, newly edited by Schenker and using the composer's autograph manuscript as principal source, together with a substantial commentary combining analytical, text-critical and performance-related matter. Four of the five editions appeared between 1913 and 1921, but that of the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata, op. 106, was never published. It has generally been assumed that this was simply because Schenker was unable to locate the autograph manuscript, which remains missing to this day. But as Nicholas Marston shows in a detailed history of the Erläuterungsausgabe project, other factors were involved also, including financial considerations, Schenker's health concerns, and his broader theoretical ambitions. Moreover, despite the missing autograph he nevertheless developed a voice-leading analysis of the complete sonata during the years 1924-1926, a crucial period in the development of his mature theory of tonal music. Marston's book provides the first in-depth study of this rich analysis, which is reproduced in full in high-quality digital images. The book draws on hundreds of letters and documents from Schenker's Nachlaß; it both adds to our biographical knowledge of Schenker and illuminates for the first time the response of this giant of music theory to one of the most significant masterworks in all music.

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9781032928500

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'... a detailed history and study of Schenker's voice-leading analysis of each movement.' Beethoven Journal ’Marston’s comprehensive account in this book of all the documentary evidence about Schenker’s interaction with Opus 106 ... lifts the veil on that silence in a most illuminating way ... The result is one of the most thought-provoking Schenker publications and works of Beethoven analysis for some time. Marston demonstrates that Schenker’s thinking about the piece was both profound and incomplete’. Musicology Australia

'... a detailed history and study of Schenker's voice-leading analysis of each movement.' Beethoven Journal Marston‘s comprehensive account in this book of all the documentary evidence about Schenker‘s interaction with Opus 106 ... lifts the veil on that silence in a most illuminating way ... The result is one of the most thought-provoking Schenker publications and works of Beethoven analysis for some time. Marston demonstrates that Schenker‘s thinking about the piece was both profound and incomplete. Musicology Australia

Author Information

Nicholas Marston is University Reader in Music Theory and Analysis in the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge; he is also a Fellow of King's College. His work on Beethoven's sketches, the music of Schumann and Schenkerian theory has appeared in major international journals and in books published by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

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