Jonas (ed.) in Schenker 1954, "Introduction", p. ix: "[Schenker's] theory of Auskomponierung ['Elaboration'] shows voice-leading as the means by which the chord, as a harmonic concept, is made to unfold and extend in time. This, indeed, is the essence of music". Schenker, Heinrich (1954). Jonas, Oswald (ed.). Harmony. Translated by Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. LCCN51-11213.
Jonas (ed.) in Schenker 1954, "Introduction", p. xv: "Heinrich Schenker has shown the correct relationship between the horizontal [counterpoint] and the vertical [harmony]. His theory is drawn from a profound understanding of the masterpieces of music [...]. Thus he indicates to us the way: to satisfy the demands of harmony while mastering the task of voice-leading," Schenker, Heinrich (1954). Jonas, Oswald (ed.). Harmony. Translated by Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. LCCN51-11213.
Tymoczko 2011, p. 147: "Western music involves the simultaneous satisfaction of two independent constraints — a vertical constraint that requires chords to be structurally similar, and a horizontal constraint that dictates that they be connected by efficient voice leadings. Clearly, to satisfy these constraints, a composer must be able to find the efficient voice leadings between arbitrary chords." Tymoczko, Dmitri (2011). A Geometry of Music: Harmony and Counterpoint in the Extended Common Practice. Oxford Studies in Music Theory. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-533667-2.
Schoenberg 1983, p. 39: "Thus, the voices will follow (as I once heard Bruckner say) the law of the shortest way". Schoenberg, Arnold (1983) [Original German published 1911]. Theory of Harmony. Translated by Carter, Roy E. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN0-520-04944-6.
Cohn 1997, note 4 writes that the term "parsimony" is used in this context in Ottokar Hostinský, Die Lehre von den musikalischen Klangen, Prag, H. Dominicus, 1879, p. 106. Cohn considers the principe of parsimony to be the same thing as the "law of the shortest way", but this is only partly true. Cohn, Richard (1997). "Neo-Riemannian Operations, Parsimonious Trichords, and Their 'Tonnetz' Representations". Journal of Music Theory. 41 (1): 1–66. JSTOR843761.
Jonas (ed.) in Schenker 1954, "Introduction", p. ix: "[Schenker's] theory of Auskomponierung ['Elaboration'] shows voice-leading as the means by which the chord, as a harmonic concept, is made to unfold and extend in time. This, indeed, is the essence of music". Schenker, Heinrich (1954). Jonas, Oswald (ed.). Harmony. Translated by Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. LCCN51-11213.
Jonas (ed.) in Schenker 1954, "Introduction", p. xv: "Heinrich Schenker has shown the correct relationship between the horizontal [counterpoint] and the vertical [harmony]. His theory is drawn from a profound understanding of the masterpieces of music [...]. Thus he indicates to us the way: to satisfy the demands of harmony while mastering the task of voice-leading," Schenker, Heinrich (1954). Jonas, Oswald (ed.). Harmony. Translated by Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. LCCN51-11213.