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Title: Study of Counterpoint
ISBN: 0393002772
Author:
John J. Fux
Publicate Date: 1965-06
Publish: 1965-06
List Price: $17.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.63
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $10.45
Amazon Merchant Price: $12.21
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| Customer Review: |
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1: A Dated Classic
It's true that this is the classic work on species counterpoint, used by Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven and endorsed by Bach. It belongs in every serious musician's library. But nowadays, it's not the first book to get on counterpoint. If you are just going to embark on studying counterpoint, do yourself a favor and get Jeppesen's book "Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the 16th Century", which builds directly on Fux's work and presents essentially the same material with a more informed historical perspective and a somewhat more modern point of view (1929). (There are more recent books as well. Also I have to acknowledge the common complaint that to read Jeppesen requires reading C-clef.) Later you can fill in your knowledge of historical esoterica by reading Fux, just so you can say you did it.
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2: Study of Counterpoint Begins Here.
Would you study Western religion without reading the Bible first? Nor should one study counterpoint without reading this book first. I'm glad I was able to purchase it from Amazon.com at a good price.
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3: The Standard
This book has been the basis of strict counterpoint instruction for over 200 years. In that period of time music has changed considerably. As a composer of a strange variety of music I have to say that these exercises are among the most useful things I've ever done. I dont think that the rules in the book were ever meant to be followed exactly in real composition, look at Handel Bach or Telemann( they were all in the middle of their careers when this was published:1721) but learning to do the exercises strictly to the rules influences the way you think about composing. Of course the main area that this book is concerned with is VOCAL polyphony, most of the rules of writing the individual parts are based on the general limitations of the human voice. I cant accurately explain how much this book has helped my music the exercises are realy helpful in making you think about certain details. Every composer should be force their way through the entire thing before they graduate from the conservatory.
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4: Fux Will Leave You Breathless
Fux's masterful use of his counterpoint will leave you wanting more. Best know for his masterful thrust with a foreceful tempo, contemporary pianists have emulated his approach to great success. J. Holmes is reported to have read Fux's work daily prior to his strenuous orchestrations of thrust and release. Do yourself and your entire choir a favor and buy this book.
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5: Interesting but arcane
Clearly I'm in the minority in giving it only three stars, so perhaps I'm way off, but these were my thoughts going through it:
The good aspects: This book is informative and cleverly written and through reading it I had lots of notes written in the margins. I appreciate the format and lessons, and I felt that I could almost use this as a workbook and text book in one due to the excellent arrangement of lessons. The master is helpful and kind, and for me, it was nice having a student asking all the questions so I didn't feel like the only one there that didn't understand every point!
The bad aspects: It seemed so antiquated and I can't imagine memorizing all those arcane rules and applying them when writing. Like, "Oops, I can't proceed in this direction because the masters frowned upon that sound?" Not that all those rules should be thrown out the window, but the exceptionally strict "you must never do this" seems so robotic and programmatic and strange for composing today, even for someone who isn't composing in an atonal or post-modern style. Perhaps if you want to make music that sounds medieval, then yes, this is your book, but if you're looking for something more broad, I don't think this really addresses it. Also, one reviewer said that you didn't need to have much of a background in music to understand it, but I totally disagree (although I can't imagine anyone without a music background picking this book up!). I would not recommend this book for someone who doesn't have a decent background because I think they would get very lost in all the terminology.
Overall: I did feel like it gave a great idea about how many people composed, but again, I can't imagine writing music today based on all of those "right and wrong" rules.
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