Counterpoint Applied in the Invention, Fugue, Canon and Other Polyphonic Forms: An Exhaustive Treatise on the Structural and Formal Details of the Polyphonic or Contrafuntal Forms or Music, for the Us

Excerpt from Counterpoint Applied in the Invention, Fugue, Canon and Other Polyphonic Forms: An Exhaustive Treatise on the Structural and Formal Details of the Polyphonic or Contrafuntal Forms or Music, for the Use of General and Special Students of MusicThis book is a sequel to the Homophonic Forms, and the system pursued in its preparation corresponds in every detail to that of the latter.Experience in practical teaching has confirmed the author's belief that no further preparation for the exercise of contrapuntal writing is necessary than the course of harmony given in the Material used in Musical Composition (or any equally exhaustive treatise), together with the course of study prescribed in the Homophonic Forms. But these courses, especially that in harmony, must be exceedingly thorough; two years of diligent application to Material is by no means too much, possibly not enough, for the acquirement of the only basis upon which practical contrapuntal facility can rest, naturally and securely.Nevertheless, the first Division of the present book is devoted to the specific details of contrapuntal discipline, partly because of their inseparable bearing upon polyphonic form, and partly as a concession, - for the benefit of students not familiar with the method of harmonic discipline peculiar to the Material.The other Divisions owe their design to the author's conviction that the quickest and surest means of acquiring contrapuntal skill consists in the practical application of the contrapuntal method to the composition of polyphonic forms. Hence the title of the book.Therefore, this volume, like the preceding, "undertakes no more than the systematic enumeration and exhaustive explanation of all the formal designs and methods of structural treatment in the polyphonic domain of music composition, as revealed in classic or standard writings."Further, "the student must regard the conscientious analysis of all the carefull…