Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Tonality is a system of Music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. In Music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1907 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used as a primary foundation for the work. More narrowly, the term describes music that does not conform to the system of tonal hierarchies that characterized classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Tonality is a system of Music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar

More narrowly still, the term is used to describe music that is neither tonal nor serial, especially the pre-twelve-tone music of the Second Viennese School, principally Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold The Second Viennese School is the term generally used in English -speaking countries to denote the group of Composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9 1885 &ndash December 24 1935 was an Austrian Composer. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer

Composers such as Alexander Scriabin, Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varèse, however, have written music that has been described, in full or in part, as atonal. Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Скря́бин Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin; sometimes transliterated as Skriabin Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25 1881&ndashSeptember 26 1945 was a Hungarian Composer and Pianist, considered to be one of the greatest Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 &ndash 28 December 1963 was a German Composer, Violist, violinist teacher music theorist and conductor. Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Серге́й Серге́евич Проко́фьев Sergéj Sergéjevič Prokófjev) ( - 5 March 1953 was a Russian composer who Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse

Contents 1 History 1.1 Free atonality 1.2 Strict atonality 2 Controversy over the term itself 3 Composing atonal music 4 Criticism of atonal music 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

History

While music without a tonal center had been written previously, for example Franz Liszt's Bagatelle sans tonalité of 1885, it is with the 20th century that the term atonality began to be applied to pieces, particularly those written by Arnold Schoenberg and The Second Viennese School. Bagatelle sans tonalité (" Bagatelle without Tonality " S Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with

Their music arose from what was described as the crisis of tonality between the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in classical music. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music This situation had come about historically through the increasing use over the course of the nineteenth century of

ambiguous chords, less probable harmonic inflections, and the more unusual melodic and rhythmic inflections possible within the style[s] of tonal music. The distinction between the exceptional and the normal became more and more blurred; and, as a result, there was a concomitant loosening of the syntactical bonds through which tones and harmonies had been related to one another. The connections between harmonies were uncertain even on the lowest—chord-to-chord—level. On higher levels, long-range harmonic relationships and implications became so tenuous that they hardly functioned at all. At best, the felt probabilities of the style system had become obscure; at worst, they were approaching a uniformity which provided few guides for either composition or listening.

—Meyer 1967, 241

The first phase is often described as "free atonality" or "free chromaticism" and involved the conscious attempt to avoid traditional diatonic harmony. Works of this period include the opera Wozzeck (1917–1922) by Alban Berg and Pierrot Lunaire (1912) by Schoenberg. Wozzeck is the first Opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire ("three times seven poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire'" commonly known as Pierrot Lunaire

The second phase, begun after World War I, was exemplified by attempts to create a systematic means of composing without tonality, most famously the method of composing with 12 tones or the twelve-tone technique. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold This period included Berg's Lulu and Lyric Suite, Schoenberg's Piano Concerto, his oratorio Die Jakobsleiter and numerous smaller pieces, as well as his last two string quartets. Lulu is an Opera by the Composer Alban Berg. The Libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind 's plays This article is about the composition by Alban Berg "Lyric Suite" is also the title of Edvard Grieg 's composition (orchestration of four Lyric Pieces Arnold Schoenberg 's Piano Concerto, Op 42 (1942 consists of one movement with four sections Andante Molto allegro Adagio and Giocoso Schoenberg was the major innovator of the system, but his student, Anton Webern, is anecdotally claimed to have begun linking dynamics and tone color to the primary row, making rows not only of pitches but of other aspects of music as well (Du Noyer 2003, 272; see also Ircam's page dedicated to Webern (fr)). WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer However, actual analysis of Webern's twelve-tone works has so far failed to demonstrate the truth of this assertion. One analyst concluded, following a minute examination of the Piano Variations, op. 27, that

while the texture of this music may superficially resemble that of some serial music . . . its structure does not. None of the patterns within separate nonpitch characteristics makes audible (or even numerical) sense in itself. The point is that these characteristics are still playing their traditional role of differentiation. (Westergaard 1963, 109)

Twelve-tone technique, combined with the parameterization of Olivier Messiaen, would be taken as the inspiration for serialism (du Noyer 2003, 272). Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those

Atonality emerged as a pejorative term to condemn music in which chords were organized seemingly with no apparent coherence. This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles In Nazi Germany, atonal music was attacked as "Bolshevik" and labeled as degenerate (Entartete Musik) along with other music produced by enemies of the Nazi regime. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction Degenerate art is the English translation of the German entartete Kunst, a term adopted by the Nazi Many composers had their works banned by the regime, not to be played until after its collapse after World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

The Second Viennese School, and particularly 12-tone composition, was taken by avant-garde composers in the 1950s to be the foundation of the New Music, and led to serialism and other forms of musical innovation. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those Prominent post-World War II composers in this tradition are Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Milton Babbitt. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Pierre Boulez (pjɛʁ buˈlɛz (b Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI ( October 24, 1925 &ndash May 27, 2003) was an Italian Composer. Krzysztof Penderecki (ˈkʂɨʂtɔf pɛndɛrˈɛ͡tski born November 23 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish Composer and conductor of classical Milton Byron Babbitt (born May 10 1916 is an American Composer. Many composers wrote atonal music after the war, even if before they had pursued other styles, including Elliott Carter and Witold Lutosławski. Elliott Cook Carter Jr (born in New York City on December 11, 1908) is an American Composer from New York City. Witold Lutosławski ( January 25 1913 &ndash February 7 1994 was one of the major European Composers After Schoenberg's death, Igor Stravinsky began to write music with a mixture of serial and tonal elements (du Noyer 2003, 271). Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to Iannis Xenakis generated pitch sets from mathematical formulae, and also saw the expansion of tonal possibilities as part a synthesis between the hierarchical principle and the theory of numbers, principles which have dominated music since at least the time of Parmenides (Xenakis 1971, 204). Iannis Xenakis (Ιάννης Ξενάκης (May 29 1922 - February 4 2001 was a Greek modernist composer musical theoretician and architect Parmenides of Elea ( Greek:, early 5th century BC was an Ancient Greek Philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of

Free atonality

The twelve tone technique was preceded by Schoenberg's "freely" atonal pieces of 1908-1923 which, though "free", often have as an "integrative element. . . a minute intervallic cell" which in addition to expansion may be transformed as with a tone row, and in which individual notes may "function as pivotal elements, to permit overlapping statements of a basic cell or the linking of two or more basic cells" (Perle 1977, 2).

The twelve tone technique was also preceded by "nondodecaphonic serial composition" used independently in the works of Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, Carl Ruggles, and others (Perle 1977, 37). Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Скря́бин Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin; sometimes transliterated as Skriabin Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25 1881&ndashSeptember 26 1945 was a Hungarian Composer and Pianist, considered to be one of the greatest Charles "Carl" Sprague Ruggles ( March 11, 1876 – October 24, 1971) was an American Composer part of the group "Essentially, Schoenberg and Hauer systematized and defined for their own dodecaphonic purposes a pervasive technical feature of 'modern' musical practice, the ostinato" (Perle 1977, 37). In Music, an Ostinato (derived from Italian: "stubborn" see also Oscillation) is a motif or phrase which is persistently

Strict atonality

The twelve tone techniques shares with free atonality premises including the general avoidance of a key or the overemphasis of one note, and some of the rules of the twelve tone technique are designed to ensure this, such as the non-repetition of a pitch before the statement of all other pitches in the row. Twelve tone practices differ from previous atonal practices in two important ways: all pitches are used and ordered.

Controversy over the term itself

The appropriateness of the term "atonality" has been controversial. Arnold Schoenberg, whose music is generally used to define the term, was vehemently opposed to it, arguing that "The word 'atonal' could only signify something entirely inconsistent with the nature of tone. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with . . . [T]o call any relation of tones atonal is just as farfetched as it would be to designate a relation of colors aspectral or acomplementary. There is no such antithesis" (Schoenberg 1978, 432). For some, the term continues to carry negative connotations.

"Atonal" developed a certain vagueness in meaning as a result of its use to describe a wide variety of compositional approaches that deviated from traditional chords and chord progressions. Attempts to solve these problems by using terms such as "pan-tonal," "non-tonal," "multi-tonal", "free-tonal," and "without tonal center" instead of "atonal" have not gained broad acceptance.

Composing atonal music

Setting out to compose atonal music may seem complicated because of both the vagueness and generality of the term. Additionally George Perle explains that, "the 'free' atonality that preceded dodecaphony precludes by definition the possibility of self-consistent, generally applicable compositional procedures" (Perle 1962, 9). George Perle (born May 6, 1915 in Bayonne New Jersey) is a Composer and music theorist. However, he provides one example as a way to compose atonal pieces, a pre-twelve tone technique piece by Anton Webern, which rigorously avoids anything that suggests tonality, to choose pitches that do not imply tonality. Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony, especially in British usage twelve-note composition) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer In other words, reverse the rules of the common practice period so that what was not allowed is required and what was required is not allowed. The common practice period, in the history of European Art music (broadly called Classical music) spanning the Baroque, Classical, and This is what was done by Charles Seeger in his explanation of dissonant counterpoint, which is a way to write atonal counterpoint (Seeger 1930). Charles (Louis Seeger Jr ( December 14, 1886, Mexico City - February 7, 1979, Bridgewater Connecticut) was a Musicologist In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony

Further, Perle agrees with Oster and Katz that, "the abandonment of the concept of a root-generator of the individual chord is a radical development that renders futile any attempt at a systematic formulation of chord structure and progression in atonal music along the lines of traditional harmonic theory" (Perle 1962, 31). Atonal compositional techniques and results "are not reducible to a set of foundational assumptions in terms of which the compositions that are collectively designated by the expression 'atonal music' can be said to represent 'a system' of composition" (Perle 1962, 1).

Perle also points out that structural coherence is most often achieved through operations on intervallic cells. A cell "may operate as a kind of microcosmic set of fixed intervallic content, statable either as a chord or as a melodic figure or as a combination of both. Its components may be fixed with regard to order, in which event it may be employed, like the twelve-tone set, in its literal transformations. . . . Individual tones may function as pivotal elements, to permit overlapping statements of a basic cell or the linking of two or more basic cells" (Perle 1962, 9–10).

Criticism of atonal music

Composer Anton Webern held that "new laws asserted themselves that made it impossible to designate a piece as being in one key or another" (Webern 1963, 51). WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Anton Webern (December 3 1883 &ndash September 15 1945 was an Austrian Composer Composer Walter Piston, on the other hand, said that, out of long habit, whenever performers "play any little phrase they will hear it in some key—it may not be the right one, but the point is they will play it with a tonal sense. Walter Hamor Piston Jr ( January 20, 1894 &ndash November 12, 1976) was an American composer and music theorist . . . [T]he more I feel I know Schoenberg's music the more I believe he thought that way himself. . . . And it isn't only the players; it's also the listeners. They will hear tonality in everything" (Westergaard 1968, 15).

Swiss conductor, composer, and musical philosopher Ernest Ansermet, a critic of atonal music, wrote extensively on this in the book Les fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine (Ansermet 1961) where he argued that the classical musical language was a precondition for musical expression with its clear, harmonious structures. Ernest Alexandre Ansermet ( November 11, 1883 &ndash February 20, 1969) was a Swiss conductor. Ansermet argued that a tone system can only lead to a uniform perception of music if it is deduced from just a single interval. For Ansermet this interval is the fifth (Mosch 2004, 96). So the incomprehensible (to Ansermet) modern atonal music, by choosing interval relations seemingly at random, could not achieve such an impact, ethos, or catharsis for an audience.

See also

• Serialism
• Emancipation of the dissonance
• Klangfarbenmelodie

References

• Ansermet, Ernest. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those The emancipation of the dissonance was a concept or goal put forth by Arnold Schoenberg (composer of Atonal music and the inventor of the Twelve tone technique Klangfarbenmelodie ( German for tone-color-melody is a Musical technique that involves breaking up a musical line or Melody out from one 1961. Les fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine. 2 v. Neuchâtel: La Baconnière.
• Beach, David (ed. ). 1983. "Schenkerian Analysis and Post-Tonal Music", Aspects of Schenkerian Theory. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Dahlhaus, Carl. 1966. "Ansermets Polemik gegen Schönberg. " Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 127, no. 5:179–83.
• Du Noyer, Paul (ed. ). 2003. "Contemporary", in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music: From Rock, Jazz, Blues and Hip Hop to Classical, Folk, World and More, pp. 271-272. London: Flame Tree Publishing. ISBN 1-9040-4170-1
• Katz, Adele T. 1945. Challenge to Musical Traditions: A New Concept of Tonality. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprint edition, New York: Da Capo, 1972.
• Krausz, Michael. 1984. "The Tonal and the Foundational: Ansermet on Stravinsky". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 42:383–86.
• Meyer, Leonard B. 1967. Music, the Arts, and Ideas: Patterns and Predictions in Twentieth-Century Culture. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. (Second edition 1994. )
• Mosch, Ulrich. 2004. Musikalisches Hören serieller Musik: Untersuchungen am Beispiel von Pierre Boulez' «Le Marteau sans maître». Saarbrücken: Pfau-Verag.
• Oster, Ernst. 1960. "Re: A New Concept of Tonality (?)", Journal of Music Theory 4, p. 96.
• Perle, George. 1962. Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07430-0.
• Perle, George. 1977. Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. Fourth Edition. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03395-7.
• Philippot, Michel. 1964. "Ansermet’s Phenomenological Metamorphoses. " Translated by Edward Messinger. Perspectives of New Music 2, no. 2 (Spring-Summer): 129–40. Originally published as "Métamorphoses Phénoménologiques." Critique. Revue Générale des Publications Françaises et Etrangères, no. 186 (November 1962).
• Radano, Ronald M. 1993. New Musical Figurations: Anthony Braxton's Cultural Critique Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Schoenberg, Arnold. 1978. Theory of Harmony, translated by Roy Carter. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press.
• Seeger, Charles. 1930. "On Dissonant Counterpoint. " Modern Music 7, no. 4:25–31.
• Webern, Anton. 1963. The Path to the New Music, translated by Leo Black. Bryn Mawr. Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser; London: Universal Edition.
• Westergaard, Peter. 1963. "Webern and 'Total Organization': An Analysis of the Second Movement of Piano Variations, Op. 27. " Perspectives of New Music 1, no. 2 (Spring): 107–20.
• Westergaard, Peter. 1968. "Conversation with Walter Piston". Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 1 (Fall-Winter) 3-17.
• Xenakis, Iannis. 1971. Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press. Revised edition, 1992. Harmonologia Series No. 6. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press. ISBN 0-945-19324-6

External links

• An Introduction to Atonal Music Analysis by Robert T. Kelly.
• Atonality, Information, and the Politics of Perception by Lee Humphries

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