Counterpoint (
Kontrapunkt in the original
German) is the second volume of
Heinrich Schenker's New Musical Theories and Fantasies (the first is
Harmony and the third is
Free Composition). It is divided into two "Books", the first published in 1910, and the second in 1922.
The subject matter of the work is
species counterpoint, also referred to as "strict counterpoint". Book I is concerned with the construction of the
cantus firmus and the rules of counterpoint in two voices; Book II treats the cases of three- and four-voice counterpoint. Schenker thus follows the model of
Fux in presenting all of the species in turn before adding additional voices.
The Principles
The principles of strict counterpoint constitute one of the fundamental components of Schenker's musical
theory (see
Schenkerian analysis). For Schenker, the study of counterpoint is the study of
voice leading; in particular, contrapuntal theory is separate from and independent of
harmonic theory, which is concerned with
scale-steps (see
Harmony). In "free composition" (Schenker's term for actual music, as opposed to theoretical exercises), both of these two kinds of phenomena interact, together with the
principle of repetition. Schenker thus views the rules of strict counterpoint as basic structures underlying the complex voice-leading patterns of free composition, and not necessarily as models to be literally imitated on the actual musical surface. Throughout
Counterpoint, Schenker...
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