Product Description
Originally published in 1979, this book was reissued byC. F. Peters Corporation in 1994. The author, the composer CharlesWuorinen, describes the book in this way : "--this book is written bya composer and is addressed to other composers - intending or actual,amateur or professional. Thus it is similar in intent to certain olderbooks on the subject like Thomas Morley's "A Plain and EasieIntroduction to Practical Musicke" (1597), for instance...It outlinespresent practice, and while it can be used for purely didacticpurposes, it can also be employed in composing "real" music.""In writing this book, I intended it primarily as a guide forcomposers in search of practical advice and models of how one mightwork compositionally. But since my presentation made extensive use ofthe twelve-tone system in its simplest and most easily describableform, the book was taken as a primer in that system. The fact that Iused twelve-tone relations for convenience and only because of theirsimplicity was somehow overlooked.Perhaps today in 1994 (the year this book was reissued after its firstpublication in 1979) the book may make a slightly differentcontribution than it originally did: to offer a basic outline of amusical system and method that has proved immensly rich since itsintroduction by Schoenberg seventy-five years ago, as well as toprovide a few practical tips."

---Charles Wuorinen ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Backward-looking
I leave it to you to judge how seriously to take this book from a quote within it:

"While the tonal system, in an atrophied or vestigial form, is still used today in popular and commercial music, and even occasionally in the works of backward-looking serious composers, it is no longer employed by serious composers of the mainstream. It has been replaced or succeeded by the 12-tone system."

Good introduction to 12 tone composition
This is the clearest and most complete
description of 12 tone composition of the
several I've read.

Twelve-tone music is out-dated
Far from Wuorinen's opinion that tanality would one fade into the historical distance, it is in fact atonal and serial practices which have been assimilated by tonal ones. Much of the background information Wuorinen gives is based as much on his own opinion as anything resembling professional composition. This book is useful for tonal composers who have any interest at all in atonal procedures for things like film score (sci-fi, horror), and any other plainly disaasociative musical effect. I do not recommend this book to the novice, but only to those who are practiced using traditional tonal technique.

12-tone yes, but so much more.
This book is an excellent introduction to major techniques for composing music in the pan-tonal (atonal), rather than the tonal tradition.

The emphasis on processes and techniques that are beyond basic may make the title seem misleading to the unprepared reader.But there is so much more to this book than its presentation of serial methods.Once you see through this 12-tone layer, however, the book really is also about composition of music.

The 12-tone techniques themselves occupy only the last third of the book.Even though the author does seem to express a somewhat veiled disdain for the older "backward-looking" tonal system, Wourinen begins with discussion, examples, and exercises that help the student understand the fundamental differences between tonal and pan-tonal melodic and harmonic organization.The emphasis is still on the requirements and possiblities of a twelve tone row, but the student who wishes to understand many different compositional possibilities will learn a lot from these early chapters.

More than this, however, every chapter includes discussions of principles and processes of composition in general.Wourinen points out the decisions composers must make at every stage of a composition.He paints a vivid picture of how a composer must form a work as a whole from the beginning, gradually bringing all the parts into greater focus and detail.And he gives detailed instruction and exercise in the process of revision, noting what kind of changes constitute a surface revision versus a more substantial revision in structure.

It is this inclusion of general information about the composer's real tasks that elevate this book to better than average.The gems of experience and insight that go beyond the main topic of the book remind me of the depths of knowledge one also finds in Schoenberg's texts for counterpoint and harmony.The book is smaller and lighter than Schoenberg, and so easy to read and follow.It is not the only composition text one would want, but even people not interested in pan-tonal style could gain insights from reading it.

To The Point
Using the 12 tone system, "Simple Composition" is a practical approach to composition.While thory is explained, the focus of the book is on how to use 12 tone rows to create music that sounds like, well - 12 tone music.I prefer this book to similar books on the subject because of this focus. ... Read more

Product Description
Charles Wuorinen: A Bio-Bibliography is a chronicle, a lexicon, a manual, a narrative, and a testament to the life and work of an American musical genius. The work contains a biography, discography, interview, comprehensive listing of works and detailed roster of performances, and almost 1,200 annotated citations of writings about the music of this important composer. The oral history component--the interview--is the foundation of the book in that it expresses the composer's philosophy of music and of life and serves as a contrast to the many annotations featuring critical commentary on his music. No one even remotely connected with contemporary music and the arguments and discussions thereof should be without this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on September 1, 1995. The length of the article is 830 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Charles Wuorinen: A Bio-Bibliography.
Author: Carl Rahkonen
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1995
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: v52Issue: n1Page: p112(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Charles Wuorinen," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Charles Wuorinen in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Charles Wuorinen when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Charles Wuorinen, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Product Description
Full-size performance score for solo violin. ... Read more