The Origins and Evolution of Centered Conducting is divided into six sections: Prelude, four Parts and Postlude. Click on the title to download a .pdf version of a section.

Monograph Contents

Prelude: A brief history of conducting from BCE 2400 to CE 1900.  Spanning more than four millennia, it progresses from the choral and instrumental chironomy of Ancient Egypt to Christian chant, various metric patterns that emerged in the Middle Ages and the masters who pioneered baton conducting in the 19th century.

Part 1: Compares and contrasts the conducting and interpretive styles of Arturo Toscanini, the earliest known centered (focal point) conductor, and Wilhelm Furtwängler, seen by many as the last 20th century representative of Richard Wagner’s German Romantic Era.

Part 2: A detailed study of the conducting gestures of Arturo Toscanini, drawn from the doctoral thesis of Norman F. Leyden (Columbia University, 1968).

Part 3: A broad review of the conducting method used and taught by Leon Barzin for six decades (1930-99).  Barzin’s method was adapted primarily from the conducting principles of Toscanini, whom Barzin observed during his years as principal viola of the the New York Philharmonic (1926-29).  It is organized into teachable units and supported by extensive video examples.

Part 4: A study of the evolution of centered conducting from 1930 to the present. It includes conductors, authors and mentors of the 20th and 21st centuries who used and/or taught the style, either knowingly or intuitively.  It contains diagrams of the style’s various iterations produced during this period.

Postlude: A summary of the monograph and the conducting principles presented therein. It considers contemporary trends and hypothesizes on the future of conducting.