born June 19, 1868, Wisniowczyk, Galicia, Russia
died Jan. 14, 1935, Vienna, Austria
Austrian music theorist.
Schenker studied law and composition in Vienna before settling there as a private teacher and occasional performer. He proposed that Jean-Philippe Rameau 's harmonic theory had erred in making harmony fundamental at the expense of counterpoint . His own study of C.P.E. Bach led him to posit counterpoint as equally fundamental and to recognize the subtle integration of the two. Schenker's most influential perception was that tonal music consists of layers of ornamentation of simpler musical statements. His controversial theories and graphic notation
presented in texts such as Harmony (1906), Counterpoint (191022), and Free Composition (1935)
were widely disseminated in the 1970s and by the end of the 20th century had become the basis of the most widely employed analytical techniques for tonal music.