Melody and Motive in Schenker's Earliest Writings

There has been a growing interest in recent years in the earlier and less mature writings of Heinrich Schenker, and in the many musical and intellectual influences on his work. We have as yet, however, only the barest outline of any developmental or intellectual narrative, and much of that out-line has been manipulated so as to suggest a narrative that is often at odds with the evidence of the various stages of Schenker’s work. As I have suggested elsewhere, ¹ much of these earlier stages has been seen as anticipating in important ways his more mature ideas. A usual theme has been to characterize Schenker as systematically moving from middle-ground structures to more background structures. This gradual search for the most prototypical and universal properties of tonal music and the laws of harmonic prolongation can thus be portrayed as a relentless and uninterrupted progression in which every stage plays its role in the search for ultimate truths. One can hardly fail to see the similarity between this process of intellectual search and achievement and the actual levels of prolongation that make up the typical Schenkerian analysis.