Attention!, Serious Lovers Of Classical Music

Alarmed, even appalled, at what he sees as a time "when music has become almost arbitrary and composers refuse to be bound by any rules and principles, detesting the very name of school and law like death itself," a universally admired composer, conductor, and teacher writes in the forward to his new book on composition:

Some people will perhaps wonder why I have undertaken to write about music, there being so many works by outstanding men who have treated the subject most thoroughly and learnedly; and more especially why I should be doing so just at this time when music has become almost arbitrary and composers refuse to be bound by any rules and principles, detesting the very name of school and law like death itself. To such I want to make my purpose clear. There have certainly been many authors famous for their teaching and competence who have left an abundance of works on the theory of music, but on the practice of writing music they have said very little, and this little is not easily understood. Generally, they have been content to give a few examples, and never have they felt the need of inventing a simple method by which the novice can progress gradually, ascending step by step, to attain mastery in this art. I shall not be deterred by the most ardent haters of school, nor by the corruptness of the times.

Medicine is given to the sick, and not those who are in good health. However, my efforts do not tend — nor do I credit myself with the strength — to stem the course of a torrent rushing precipitously beyond its bounds. I do not believe that I can call back composers from the unrestrained insanity of their writing to normal standards. Let each follow his own counsel. My object is to help young persons who want to learn.

Hardly surprising these sentiments in our present era of what might be described plausibly as one of near musical anarchy. Except that these sentiments were not written in our present era, but in the 1720's by one Johann Joseph Fux in the Forward to his enduring 1725 classic, Gradus ad Parnassum, reprinted in an edited English translation of the work from the Latin by Alfred Mann titled, The Study of Counterpoint: from Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum.

We're at present engaged in our first perusal of this classic text which informed the likes of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Richard Strauss, and Hindemith as, curiously, it was not among the texts used in theory classes where we attended conservatory. Written in the form of a dialogue between the master, "Aloysius" (Fux's stand-in for his beloved Palestrina), and his student, "Josephus", the instruction is charming, lucid, hugely illuminating, and — believe it or not — easy to grasp. Based on what we've so far read, we recommend this book to the attention of every serious lover of classical music who can read music but is unfamiliar with this work. It promises to repay many times over the time spent in reading and study.