Beyond Orpheus

David Epstein devotes part of this book to a review of theories of musical structure and he pays particular attention to Schoenberg's idea of the Grundgestalt or Basic Shape, the fundamental concept underlying a musical work.

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How do we explain the musical as well as psychological feeling of unity sensed in the great instrumental and orchestral works of Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms? Given, for example, a sonata-form movement from the piano sonatas of Mozart, why can we not substitute it in themes from others of these sonatas? Why can we not alter the given sequence of themes within the same work? David Epstein devotes part of this book to a review of theories of musical structure, notably those of Heinrich Schenker and Arnold Schoenberg, and he pays particular attention to Schoenberg's idea of the Grundgestalt or Basic Shape, the fundamental concept underlying a musical work. The remaining chapters are devoted to an application of this concept to the various elements of musical language and to close analysis of representative works of the period. Readership: advanced first-degree and graduate music students; music analysts and theorists.