Why "Models" Matters

In outlining Schoenberg's theoretical works, Alexander Goehr once condensed his discussion of Models for Beginners in Composition (hereafter MBC) into a single, terse statement: "In addition," he wrote, "there is a short work, Models for Beginners in Composition."1 When compared with more substantial works such as Theory of Harmony (TH) (1978), Fundamentals of Musical Composition (FMC) (1967), and Structural Functions of Harmony (SFH) (1954), it is easy to see why Schoenberg's diminutive syllabus might have failed to garner greater attention.One reason may have to do with the taciturn nature of the book itself: aside from a glossary of terms and a brief preface, MBC contains only seven pages of explanatory text (pp.5-12). 2 As with any empirically based composition manual, a theoretical framework implicitly guides the structure and graded progression of these 'practical' models. 3Yet, only occasionally does this framework manage to rise explicitly to the surface.In MBC Schoenberg discusses in condensed form, the essential characteristics of thematic types such as sentences and periods, and small part-forms including the minuet and scherzo.However, absent from these discussions are the slightly more philosophical musings of FMC such as the notion that the sentence should be considered a "higher form of construction than the period [because it] at once starts a kind of development," or that the "special type of modulatory contrasting middle section" in the scherzo comes closer than that of the minuet to approaching "the elaboration (Durchfrung) of the Sonata Allegro."4 More than mere observations, these claims not only elevate the sentence and scherzo to the top of their respective classes, but they also incorporate a kind of barebones aesthetics, one that prioritizes development even in expository formal spaces.To be sure, this prioritization is illustrated by way of example throughout MBC.Yet, any explanation of Schoenberg's most iconic concept, developing variation, remains conspicuously absent from its pages.Thus, developing variation, the method by which slight developments gradually lead to increasingly distant motive forms, is only tacitly present in Schoenberg's syllabus even as it subliminally guides the logic of the many themes, middle sections, conclusions and alternative endings that comprise the bulk of the book's content.