-- Stanley Persky, City University of New York

The most celebrated book on counterpoint is Fux's great theoretical work GRADUS AD PARNASSUM. Since its appearance in 1725, it has been used by and has directly influenced the work of many of the great composers, including J.S. Bach, Haydn, and Beethoven. Originally written in Latin, this work has been translated in to the principal European languages. The present translation by Alfred Mann is the first faithful rendering in English, presenting the essence of Fux's teachings.

Musica ficta is the practice of sharpening or flattening certain notes to avoid awkward intervals in medieval and Renaissance music. This collection gathers Margaret Bent's influential writings on this controversial subject from the past 30 years, along with an extensive author's introduction discussing the current state of scholarship and responding to critics. Also includes 25 musical examples.

Counterpoint manuals have long been central to the music education of composers, historians, and theorists. In this book a conductor uses counterpoint exercises to aid musicians in becoming sensitive to the fundamental ingredients of good music making.

"Counterpoint proceeds by developing species counterpoint in the tradition of Johann Joseph Fux and his famous Gradus ad Parnassum (1725), but with attention to Schenker's more in-depth study. Everyone from beginning music theory students to composers to graduate composition students will benefit from the methods introduced here. As emphasized in the preface, readers are presented with "exercises for composition." Rather than actually teaching a student to compose, working through these exercises will improve musicianship as it applies to both composition and understanding music theory."--BOOK JACKET.

Explores the contrapuntal element in significant works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for the music student who fully understands the composition of harmony

Features a historical survey of writings on the fugue from the Renaissance to the present as well as four 18th-century studies: works by J. J. Fux, F. W. Marpurg, and more. Includes introductions, commentary, and 255 musical examples.