His drive to create a stronger, more musical, ear was inspiring to many composers at that time. Though, there is little known on how widely accepted his theories were at the time, however we do know that his theories are widely used today.
Heinrich Schenker Heinrich Schenker went to the University of Vienna to study law, under his father’s advising. While there, he enrolled at a conservatory in Vienna where he learned harmony and theory from Bruckner. He did not stay long at the conservatory, however, do to his father’s death, and his need to help provide for his mother and siblings. He was most widely known as a music critic and editor while in Vienna. Upon analyzing classical pieces from the 18th century, Schenker started tinkering with the idea of secondary dominant chords. It was in his book Harmonielehre were he stated that in a harmonic scale, if you take the fifth and stack another fifth on top of it, you will find that chord’s secondary dominant chord. This theory paved the way toward smoother key changes and