Leonard Gilbert Ratner (July 30, 1916 – September 2, 2011), was an American musicologist, Professor of Musicology at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, He was a specialist in the style of the Classical period, and best known as a developer of the concept of Topic theory.

Raymond Monelle Raymond Monelle (19 August 1937 in Bristol, England – 12 March 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland). was a music theory, music theorist, teacher, music critic, composer and jazz pianist. Monelle wrote three books, dozens of articles on music, and ...

, ''The Sense of Music:Semiotic Essays'' Princeton Univ. Press, 2000

Biography

Ratner was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After studying the violin and viola, and studying composition with Frederick Jacobi,

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. As well as producing music ...

, and Arthur Bliss, he received a Ph.D. in musicology in from the University of California at Berkeley under Manfred Bukofzer, the first such degree to be given by that university.Kofi Agawu, "Leonard G. Ratner, 1916-2011" ''Ad Parnassum: A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Instrumental Music '' 10 (19), April 2012, 190-194

Career

In 1947, he joined the newly formed Department of Music at

, and continued there until his retirement in 1984 composing, teaching, and conducting research on music theory. He composed a chamber opera, '' The Necklace'', and several chamber works. He taught composition and theory to advanced students and coached chamber music; he also taught elementary music appreciation courses for undergraduates, Stanford alumni, and the general public. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for1962, and elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998. His research was devoted to emphasizing "sonata form's harmonic underpinnings as an antidote to the thematic perspective" and developing a theory of musical period and form.

Publications

Books

*''Music: The Listener's Art'' NY: McGraw-Hill. 1st ed. 1957; 2nd. ed 196; 3rd ed. 1977 *''Harmony, Structure, and Style'' NY: McGraw-Hill, 1962 *''Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style'' NY: Schrimer, 1980 **Review by Jane Stevens, ''Journal of Music Theory'' 27 (1983) *''The Musical Experience: Sound, Movement, and Arrival'' NY:Freeman, 1983 *Romantic Music: Sound, and Syntax'' NY: Schrimer, 1992 *''the Beethoven String Quartets: Compositional Strategies and Rhetoric'' Stanford: Stanford Bookstore, 1995

Academic journal articles

*"Harmonic aspects of Classic Form" '' Journal of the American Musicological Society '' 2 (3), Autumn, 1949 p.159-68 *"Eighteenth-Century Theories of Musical Period Structure" ''

Musical Quarterly ''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including Car ...

'' 42(4) Oct. 1956 p 439-454 *"On the nature and value of theoretical training" ("A Forum: Music theory for the Layman") ''

Journal of Music Theory The ''Journal of Music Theory'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established by David Kraehenbuehl (Yale University) in 1957. According to its website, " e ''Journal of Music Theory'' fosters c ...

'' 3 (1959) 58-69 *"Approaches to Musical Historiography of the Eighteenth Century" ''Current Musicology'' 9 (1969) 154-57 *"Key Definition: A structural problem in Beethoven's Music" ''Journal of the American Musicological Society, 23(3) Autumn, 1970 472-83 *"Texture: A Rhetorical element in Beethoven;s Quartets" ''Israel Studies in Musicology'' 2 (1980) p. 51-62 *"Topical content in Mozart's Keyboard Sonatas" ''

Early Music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

19 (4) (1991) 615-19 *"'Mozart's Parting Gifts" ''

Journal of Musicology ''The Journal of Musicology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of musicology published by University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the ...

'' 18(1) Winter, 2001, 189-211

Other

*"Development" and "Sonata Form" in ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', 2nd ed., 1969. *"Koch, Heinrich Cristoph" "Period" and "Riepel, Joseph" in ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' 1980

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratner, Leonard 1916 births 2011 deaths People from Minneapolis University of California, Berkeley alumni Stanford University faculty American musicologists