In 1906, Austrian music theorist Heinrich Schenker (born 1868, Wiśniowczyk, Austrian Galicia; died 1935, Vienna, Austria) published the first volume of his series developing a new theory of music analysis, entitled, Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien (New Musical Theories and Phantasies). By 1931, Schenker was teaching his method of analysis to students in Vienna in weekly seminars. Hans Weisse, a student of Schenker’s who immigrated to the United States in 1931, began teaching music theory at the David Mannes Music School in New York City, where he established Schenkerian analysis as part of the fundamental curriculum of the school and arranged for the school’s publication of Five Analyses in Sketchform, a graphical record of the work of Schenker’s weekly seminars.

The association between the Mannes School of Music and Schenkerian analysis was later expanded upon by noted music theory faculty member (and student of Weisse and Schenker) Felix Salzer in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as by Carl Schachter, a student of Salzer’s with whom he wrote Counterpoint in Composition: A Study of Voice Leading, an important text in the teaching of music theory and composition.

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Heinrich Schenker’s death, the Mannes College of Music held its inaugural Schenker Symposium from March 15 to 17, 1985. The event was comprised of presentations by leading Schenkerian scholars, including Carl Schachter, a concert which included works composed by Schenker, and a discussion of existing archival material related to Schenker. Possibly due to the interest generated by the first symposium, much of the material in the Oster Collection of Heinrich Schenker’s papers, held by the New York Public Library, was made accessible by the time of the second symposium, held at Mannes in 1999. The Schenker Symposia were subsequently held at Mannes septennially until 2013, each time consisting of the presentation of scholarly papers, a concert, and discussion of historical Schenker materials.

References

Alpern, Wayne, Ian Bent, William Drabkin, and Lee Rothfarb. “Heinrich Schenker.” Schenker Documents Online. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://schenkerdocumentsonline.org/colloquy/heinrich_schenker.html.

Drabkin, William. “Hans Weisse.” Schenker Documents Online. Accessed September 29, 2023. https://schenkerdocumentsonline.org/profiles/person/entity-000951.html.

“Programs.” 1985-2013. Schenker Symposium records, MA.03.02.01, box 1, folder 8, New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York.

Siegel, Hedi. “Felix Salzer.” Schenker Documents Online. Accessed September 29, 2023. http://www.schenkerdocumentsonline.org/profiles/person/entity-000754.html.