Schenkerian Theory

Schenkerian theory, even in Europe, is known mainly through its American translations, which today reproduce so to say all of its published production. The vocabulary used in these translations often is of American origin, following suggestions by Adele Katz (Challenge to Musical Tradition. A New Concept of Tonality, 1945), Felix Salzer (Structural Hearing. Tonal Coherence in Music, 1952), and others.

The European project Schenker Documents Online, conceived by King’s College London, the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Vienna and the University of Southampton, chose not to translate several Schenkerian terms, as did the translators of Das Meisterwerk in der Musik (CUP, 1994) and of Der Tonwille (OUP, 2004).

The Schenkerian documentation provided here would also want to remain closer to its original German terminology and offer a less Americanized reading.

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