Atonality

relationships were lost, structural boundaries were blurred, and listeners were losing themselves in an aural swamp. Schoenberg's solution was to find a means of organization other than tonality. In his quest, he pursued methods dictated by free atonality, by text (Sprechstimme) and ultimately by the twelve-tone method. By removing tonality, Schoenberg emphasized the independence of each musical line by the importance of a set of intervals. It was a radically new way of creating and perceiving music

represent his first fully atonal work, which would become the basis for moving forward in his later atonal and serial works. Schoenberg believed that music history naturally pushed forward and that tonality could not contain music forever. He believed atonality was the next step and Schoenberg admitted, “The most decisive steps forward occurred in the Two Songs, Op. 14, and in the Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11.” However, small traces of tonality and Romanticism remain, as the small thematic units of the

Arnold Schoenberg's Musical Influence Arnold Schoenberg was one of the greatest musical influences of the mid 20th Century. He was born on September 13, 1874, to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria (Schoenberg 1). Schoenberg was a young Jewish man during World War I (WWI) living in Berlin. He was directly affected by the invasion of the Nazis. In 1933, he had to leave Berlin and desert his faith for Lutheranism later on taking on the faith of Judaism. At the early age of eight, he began violin

Unanswered Question 5 Leonard Bernstein says” There is no such a thing as atonal. Schoenberg used the same 12 notes that Bach used. He just destroyed the hierarchy. Schoenberg even denied the possibility of atonality. The 12 tones of the chromatic scale have a tonal relationship to each other. If true atonality is to be achieved some uniquely different basis for it is needed. Maybe a different division of the octave.” In the 12 tone system you can take one row and use some of it’s notes as melody and others

Serialism is style of music that subverts the standard form of arranging sounds produced by musical instruments and approaches the composition from an almost mathematical standpoint. It can be described as a compositional strategy in which the composer arranges notes in a particular order based on the characteristics of a sound such as pitch, duration, amplitude or even timbre, but giving no preference to each individual characteristic; all aspects of a sound are equal. Once the notes are arranged

Throughout the early twentieth century, music began to take on a new role as society started to progress and change. In society, music is an important part of culture and the forming of culture, where people can assert and preserve their histories and experiences when facing a change in social conditions. Modernism is defying convention to an extreme degree, disregarding boundaries completely in rhythm and tonality, opening up doors that would eventually redefine the notion of what constitutes music

“Pierrot lunaire” Expressionism was a development of early 20th century music that had been marked by the use of complex, unconventional rhythm, melody, and form. The intention of expressionism in music was to express the composer’s psychological and their emotional life, within their compositions. Expressionism is known as a modernist movement, and it initially was originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Some popular characteristics of expressionism in music are clashing dissonances

and compositional theory and make him one of the most—if not the most—influential composers of all time. Among Wagner’s changes were new ideas on harmony (i.e. the “Tristan” chord) and symphonies of scale. These changes would set the tone for the atonality and dissonance that would mark Modern classical music. Indeed, works such as Debussy’s Syrinx and Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun extended these harmonic ambiguities, which allowed the music to revolve in a circular fashion seemingly without a

21 by Anton Webern Similarities • A first thing to point out is the use of expressionism, with these atonal chromatic note structure, no sense of a tonal center, but somehow you still hear the emotion in each piece. • One major similarity is the atonality, both fully utilizing different versions of it, Schoenberg uses pitch class set theory or could be read as using an octatonic scale (at least in my opinion), and Weber use a 12 note tone row to create an organic symphony. • Both do use an orchestra

serialism. Crawford & Hamberlin (2013), describe this style as organizing twelve pitches of the chromatic scale into a unique pattern. This method expressed a way of organizing notes freely, without focusing on a key center. To non-musical ears, the atonality heard is interpreted as strange, exotic, or in some cases esthetically pleasing. Copland’s musical influence includes his time in Paris during the 1920’s with Stravinsky, a Russian Nationalist. Stravinsky’s style was inclusive of traditional Russian