Background
Meyer, Leonard B. was born on January 12, 1918 in New York City. Son of Arthur S. and Marion (Wolff) Meyer.
( In this influential book on the subject of rhythm, the ...)
In this influential book on the subject of rhythm, the authors develop a theoretical framework based essentially on a Gestalt approach, viewing rhythmic experience in terms of pattern perception or groupings. Musical examples of increasing complexity are used to provide training in the analysis, performance, and writing of rhythm, with exercises for the student's own work. "This is a path-breaking work, important alike to music students and teachers, but it will make profitable reading for performers, too."—New York Times Book Review "When at some future time theories of rhythm . . . are . . . as well understood, and as much discussed as theories of harmony and counterpoint . . . they will rest in no small measure on the foundations laid by Cooper and Meyer in this provocative dissertation on the rhythmic structure of music."—Notes ". . . . a significant, courageous and, on the whole, successful attempt to deal with a very controversial and neglected subject. Certainly no one who takes the time to read it will emerge from the experience unchanged or unmoved."—Journal of Music Theory The late GROSVENOR W. COOPER, author of Learning to Listen, was professor of music at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226115224/?tag=2022091-20
(This book "...places music in the area of communicatioon ...)
This book "...places music in the area of communicatioon and demonstrates that music is a form of language..." Reaches out to all times and forms of music are all explicable under one includive theory of musical phenomena.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084HSPG2/?tag=2022091-20
( Leonard B. Meyer's writings on the theory, history, per...)
Leonard B. Meyer's writings on the theory, history, perception, and aesthetics of music have inspired and provoked generations of readers. The Spheres of Music makes available a selection of his most important essays (originally published between 1974 and 1998). Gathering them together in one volume not only enables the essays to "converse" with and illuminate each other, but also allows Meyer to revise, recant, and comment on the ideas they present. With the same sensitive insight and searching intelligence he has exhibited throughout his career, Meyer transcends the boundaries that so often separate fields of inquiry. The Spheres of Music joins music theory to history, history to culture, culture to aesthetics, aesthetics to psychology, and psychology back to theory. In so doing, the book highlights the complex interrelationships at the heart of the creation, comprehension, and history of music. Diverse and adventurous, The Spheres of Music presents an intriguing and impressive collection of Meyer's work. "Ever since the publication of his Emotion and Meaning in Music . . . I have considered Leonard B. Meyer one of the keenest thinkers about music among us."—Winthrop Sargeant, The New Yorker
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226521540/?tag=2022091-20
( Leonard Meyer proposes a theory of style and style chan...)
Leonard Meyer proposes a theory of style and style change that relates the choices made by composers to the constraints of psychology, cultural context, and musical traditions. He explores why, out of the abundance of compositional possibilities, composers choose to replicate some patterns and neglect others. Meyer devotes the latter part of his book to a sketch-history of nineteenth-century music. He shows explicitly how the beliefs and attitudes of Romanticism influenced the choices of composers from Beethoven to Mahler and into our own time. "A monumental work. . . . Most authors concede the relation of music to its cultural milieu, but few have probed so deeply in demonstrating this interaction."—Choice "Probes the foundations of musical research precisely at the joints where theory and history fold into one another."—Kevin Korsyn, Journal of American Musicological Society "A remarkably rich and multifaceted, yet unified argument. . . . No one else could have brought off this immense project with anything like Meyer's command."—Robert P. Morgan, Music Perception "Anyone who attempts to deal with Romanticism in scholarly depth must bring to the task not only musical and historical expertise but unquenchable optimism. Because Leonard B. Meyer has those qualities in abundance, he has been able to offer fresh insight into the Romantic concept."—Donal Henahan, New York Times
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812281780/?tag=2022091-20
( Meyer makes a valuable statement on aesthetics, criteri...)
Meyer makes a valuable statement on aesthetics, criteria for assessing great works of music, compositional practices and theories of the present day, and predictions of the future of Western culture. His postlude, written for the book's twenty-fifth anniversary, looks back at his thoughts on the direction of music in 1967.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226521435/?tag=2022091-20
( "Altogether it is a book that should be required readin...)
"Altogether it is a book that should be required reading for any student of music, be he composer, performer, or theorist. It clears the air of many confused notions . . . and lays the groundwork for exhaustive study of the basic problem of music theory and aesthetics, the relationship between pattern and meaning."—David Kraehenbuehl, Journal of Music Theory "This is the best study of its kind to have come to the attention of this reviewer."—Jules Wolffers, The Christian Science Monitor "It is not too much to say that his approach provides a basis for the meaningful discussion of emotion and meaning in all art."—David P. McAllester, American Anthropologist "A book which should be read by all who want deeper insights into music listening, performing, and composing."—Marcus G. Raskin, Chicago Review
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226521397/?tag=2022091-20
composer musicologist philosopher
Meyer, Leonard B. was born on January 12, 1918 in New York City. Son of Arthur S. and Marion (Wolff) Meyer.
Student, Bard College, 1936-1937; Bachelor, Columbia, 1940; Master of Arts, Columbia, 1948; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1954; Doctor of Humane Letters, Grinnell College Doctor of Humane Letters, Loyola University, Chicago Doctor of Humane Letters, Bard College Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Chicago Doctor of Humane Letters, Ohio State University.
He contributed major works in the fields of aesthetic theory in music, and compositional analysis. In Music. He became professor emeritus at Pennsylvania in 1988. His most influential work, Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956), combined Gestalt Theory and theories by Pragmatists Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey to try to explain the existence of emotion in music
Peirce had suggested that any regular response to an event developed alongside the understanding of that event"s consequences, its "meaning".
Dewey extended this to explain that, if the response was stopped by an unexpected event, then an emotional response would occur over the event"s "meaning". Meyer used this basis to form a theory about music, combining musical expectations in a specific cultural context with emotion and meaning elicited.
His work went on to influence theorists both in and outside music, as well as providing a basis for cognitive psychology research into music and our responses to lieutenant Other major written works include, The Rhythmic Structure of Music (with Grosvenor Cooper, 1960), Explaining Music (1973), and Style and Music: Theory, History, and Ideology (1989.
Paperback reprint ed, 1997).
( In this influential book on the subject of rhythm, the ...)
( Meyer makes a valuable statement on aesthetics, criteri...)
( Leonard Meyer proposes a theory of style and style chan...)
( Leonard Meyer proposes a theory of style and style chan...)
( "Altogether it is a book that should be required readin...)
(This book "...places music in the area of communicatioon ...)
( Leonard B. Meyer's writings on the theory, history, per...)
(Brand New. In Stock. Will be shipped from US. Excellent C...)
Meyer"s 1967 work "Music, the Arts, and Ideas," was influential in defining the transition to postmodernism in light of new works such as George Rochberg"s Music for the Magic Theater, which was premiered at the University of Chicago in 1967.
In 1946, he became a member of the music department at the University of Chicago, in 1961 he was appointed professor of music at the University of Chicago and in 1975 professor of music and the humanities at the University of Pennsylvania.
Married Janet M. Levy. Children: Marion L., Carlin, Erica Cecile.