[Smt-talk] THEORY TEXTBOOKS

[Nicholas Baragwanath]

In response to Stephen Jablonsky's comments on the seemingly
inverse proportion between the length of a harmony textbook and
its efficiency in providing practical training, it might be
interesting to note that Nicola Porpora, the principal teacher of
Farinelli and Haydn, used a single page as the basis for five or
six years' of training in singing and bel canto improvisation.
The thoroughbass manuals that formed the cornerstone of musical
education in the 17th and 18th centuries usually contained around
50 pages or less. The 55 pages of Fenaroli (1775) would fit onto
approximately 15 pages of a modern textbook.
Less is more?

Nicholas Baragwanath
University of Nottingham
nicholas.baragwanath at nottingham.ac.uk
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