This is the first volume of a two-volume translation of Heinrich Schenker's Der Tonwille (1921-24). Among the foremost music theorists of the twentieth century, Schenker's methods of analysis continue to be one of the most important tools of musicology. This book includes Schenker's original, major essays on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and piano sonatas by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, shorter analyses of Bach preludes, and writings that provide an extensive account of the philosophical and cultural background from which Schenker's theories emerged.