Reddit reviews Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata

Schenkerian analysis takes everything you learned in harmony and makes it useful. It helped me make sense of counterpoint too. I link some sources in this thread.

Then there's neo-Riemannian theory, which is more or less about chords that don't behave well under traditional analysis. I learned from bashing my head against really dense academic articles, but I hear Richard Cohn's Audacious Euphony is supposed to be good. What you want to do is learn PLR-family transformations and the triadic Tonnetz, learn the concept behind compound transformations, then jump into Cohn's writing on cyclical progressions and wrap your head around Douthett & Steinbach's graphs.

Form is super important, especially Caplin's theory of formal functions. This stuff meshes well with Schenkerian theory, in my opinion. Schmalfeldt's book is also a very useful for the study of form. I always feel a little strange recommending Hepokoski and Darcy, because that book is so dense and I don't want to push anyone into purchasing a 600-page book on the analysis of sonata forms that's just going to end up collecting dust on their shelf. However, it's easily one of the most important music theory treatises of the 21st century so far (and the other ones I'm mentioning are right up there too), so I feel I should mention it.

Question is, what are you into? What do you want to learn? What do you hope to do with this knowledge?

If you would like to end with Chopin, you only need to study tonal theory. So twelve tone topics are not of any use since that topic is 20th century, after tonality.

If you didn't do voice leading (SATB harmony): Are you interested in voice leading? If you want to get to the more advanced topics of tonal theory, you'll need to cover that. If so I would suggest this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Guide-Theory-Analysis-Third/dp/0393600491/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535936804&sr=1-1&keywords=clendinning+theory

Have you done species counterpoint? Species counterpoint will be very helpful in dealing with just about all music. I would recommend Fux's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Study-Counterpoint-Johann-Joseph-Parnassum/dp/0393002772/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535936929&sr=1-1&keywords=fux+counterpoint

If you've already done species counterpoint: For more advanced counterpoint (not useful for Chopin, but necessary for anything with fugues in it, obviously) I would suggest Mann's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Study-Fugue-Dover-Books-Music/dp/0486254399

For a complete discussion of forms I would suggest Berry's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Form-Music-2nd-Wallace-Berry/dp/0133292851

For an in depth and modern discussion of sonata theory (remember that symphonies are also often times in sonata form), I would suggest Hepokoski's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Sonata-Theory-Deformations-Late-Eighteenth-Century/dp/0199773912/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535937360&sr=1-1&keywords=hepokoski+sonata

If you already know species counterpoint and voice leading you can study Schenkarian Analysis. For this there's two books I would suggest:

https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Tonal-Music-Schenkerian-Approach/dp/0199732477/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535937496&sr=1-1&keywords=schenkerian+analysis

https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Analysis-Schenkerian-David-Damschroder/dp/0393283798/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535937488&sr=1-2&keywords=schenkerian+analysis

​

If you're interested in composition, that's the other side of the coin and so all the above are of limited use. Let me know if you want books for composition.

Start with Norton! The Norton music textbook series is personally responsible for any remotely good thing I've done in my life. But seriously, the writing is amazing, the anathologies are superb, the prices are mega reasonable (as far as textbooks go), and the selection is extensive. Of particular interest would be "Music in the 19th century," primarily European in focus. It comes with an anthology of musical examples and I know (from having read most of it from class) it's an excellent primer to Romantic music!

I'm a budding fan of Neo-Riemannian theory, particularly many of extensions to the theory and the varied ways it can be applied. It, just like Schenkerian analysis, sonata theory, and pc-set theory, is a powerful tool to have. Transformational theories can be used to analyze Romantic music but sometimes, it might not be the most appropriate tool for the job. I'd say definitely learn it (oh please, try to learn it!) but learn enough other theories (sonata theory especially!) to approach analysis from many different facets.

Speaking of, Romanticism as an era is close enough (temporally) to be well-documented but far away enough for us to fully view and appreciate the trends and impacts it's left. Definitely look into musicologists and what they've had to say about prominent composers/trends of the era. Two big names to get you started: Theodor Adorno and Susan McClary. Both addressed specific threads and motifs they found in Romantic music and their work continues to spark incredible discussion today (what either of them have to say about Beethoven is always a fun read). They also have a slew of associated controversies (word choice!), so always look for replies and dissents to their work, and in the work of any other musicologists you read.

This is a doozy of a question because "Romantic" music is a a century+ tradition that spans at least 3-ish continents and countless substreams and genres to consider. Are you interested in opera, chamber music, symphonies, concerti, choral music, piano music, or something else? Is there a particularly country/region you're interested in? Norwegian Romanticism is different from Russian Romanticism is different fron Mexican Romanticism. Perhaps there are certain composers who specifically interest you?

I'm sorry that this advice wasn't terribly specific but it should offer a few places to begin your quest. If you could narrow down your interests, we might be able to better point you to resources on the subject. In the mean time, hop on over to r/romanticism because I'm sure they'd love this quest just as much as we would. Also take a peek at r/classicalresources. Tons of awesomely curated playlists. I hope this helps and take care!

http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Form-Functions-Instrumental-Beethoven/dp/019514399X

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Sonata-Theory-Deformations-Late-Eighteenth-Century/dp/0199773912/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41kEvM8h4GL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR222%2C320_&refRID=0TNPE9A46S86HNNVY1PS

those two are a good start

If you're interested in Sonata form (and form in general), I'd also recommend Elements of Sonata Form by Hepokoski and Darcy, and William Caplin's Classical Form.

All of these works are highly technical, though, and probably won't be of much interest unless you really want to get crunchy with the theory. It's also important to know that all of these authors differ on the specifics of their theory, so even though they're describing the same musical structures, they do so in different ways and have different conceptions of how and why things work the way they do.

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0199773912?tag=rv3xay7gkrpf2tw2pifrsgkr-20