OF ALL THE STRUCTURAL FACTORS AND DESIGNS
EMPLOYED IN MUSICAL COMPOSITION

BY

PERCY GOETSCHIUS, MUS. DOC.

(Royal WÜrttemberg Professor)

AUTHOR OF
THE MATERIAL USED IN MUSICAL COMPOSITION,
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TONE-RELATIONS,
THE HOMOPHONIC FORMS OF MUSICAL COMPOSITION,
MODELS OF THE PRINCIPAL MUSIC FORMS,
EXERCISES IN MELODY WRITING,
APPLIED COUNTERPOINT, ETC.

$1.50

BOSTON
OLIVER DITSON COMPANY
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CHAS. H. DITSON & CO. ———— LYON & HEALY
COPYRIGHT. MCMIV, BY OLIVER DITSON COMPANY
MADE IN U. S. A.

[Transcriber's note: This book contains a few page references, e.g., "…on page 122". In such cases the target page number has been formatted between curly braces, e.g. "{122}", and inserted into this e-text in a location matching that page's physical location in the original book.]

FOREWORD.

The present manual treats of the structural designs of musical composition, not of the styles or species of music. Read our AFTERWORD.

It undertakes the thorough explanation of each design or form, from the smallest to the largest; and such comparison as serves to demonstrate the principle of natural evolution, in the operation of which the entire system originates.

This explanation—be it well understood—is conducted solely with a view to the Analysis of musical works, and is not calculated to prepare the student for the application of form in practical composition. For the exhaustive exposition of the technical apparatus, the student must be referred to my "Homophonic Forms."

The present aim is to enable the student to recognize and trace the mental process of the composer in executing his task; to define each factor of the structural design, and its relation to every other factor and to the whole; to determine thus the synthetic meaning of the work, and thereby to increase not only his own appreciation, interest, and enjoyment of the very real beauties of good music, but also his power to interpret, intelligently and adequately, the works that engage his attention.

The choice of classic literature to which most frequent reference is made, and which the student is therefore expected to procure before beginning his lessons, includes:—

The Songs Without Words of Mendelssohn; the Jugend Album, Op. 68, of Schumann; the pianoforte sonatas of Mozart (Peters edition); the pianoforte sonatas of Beethoven.

Besides these, incidental reference is made to the symphonies of Beethoven, the sonatas of Schubert, the mazurkas of Chopin, and other pianoforte compositions of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Chopin, and Brahms.

PERCY GOETSCHIUS.
BOSTON, MASS., Sept., 1904.