Steve Schwartz's message regarding a 'Symphony Themes' book reminds
me of a book I saw in my school library in the 1970s and haven't seen
since.  I wonder if anybody can identify it from the following description?
I would love to find a copy again but don't know how to begin without
recalling the title.

It contained a 'dictionary' of musical themes by taking the first seven
notes of the themes and converting them to an alphabetical notation on
the basis of the note's relationship to its predecessor -- did it go up
or down or stay the same?  I can't recall the letters used, but if U=Up,
D=Down and S=Same, then the opening of Beethoven's Fifth, for example,
would have been noted as SSSDUSS.

It was a marvellous treasure trove in which a teenager studying music
could while away hours.  God knows how long it took to compile, or how
frequently it was issued/upodated, but it has stuck in my mind for over
thirty years.  Anyone out there able to identify it?

Tim Mahon
[log in to unmask]