Twelve Tone Music example essay topic

Definition: Serialism is a rigorous system of composing music in which various elements of the piece are ordered according to a pre-determined ordered set or sets, and variations on them. The elements thus controlled may be the pitch of the notes, their length, their dynamics, their accents, or virtually any other musical quantity, which, in serial terms is called a parameter. More generally, serialism is any music which uses any ordered sets applied to any musical element. Whilst researching serialism I came across a quote which I find very relevant to our studies at the moment. The quote reads: "Serial music is like spinach. People grow up hearing others complain about how terrible it is.

Some people eventually try it and agree that it's horrible stuff; others try it and decide it's rather good. But most avoid and detest it as a result of rumour and hearsay". Although it is not necessary to enjoy serialism, one who is interested in classical music should attempt to understand it. Twelve tone music which was established by Schoenberg is often referred to as serialism, but strictly speaking serialism is the sequel to Schoenberg's works, and came about in the late 1940's.

Composers, led by Pierre Boulez and Karl heinz Stockhausen started to apply Schoenberg's 12-tone principle to more than just pitch. To recap, Schoenberg created tone rows, where the 12 different pitch classes of the scale are arranged in a particular order, then inverted, then played in reverse (retrograde) and then the retrograde inversion is played, and thus Schoenberg simply manipulated the pitch. For serialist's, the basic pattern to be manipulated is determined not only by each note's pitch but by its rhythm, dynamics and timbre. Listen Boulez - Structures pour deux pianos When a tone row is turned backwards, its rhythmic pattern is also reversed. For example, a min um followed by a quaver followed by a semi-quaver becomes a semi-quaver followed by a quaver followed by a min um. It is in this way that every conceivable musical element is manipulated.

Although this music is very organized it is often, ironically, perceived to be very chaotic to the listener. Listen Stockhausen - Ge sang der JunglingeSerialism was greatly influential in post-War music. Serialism was "revolutionary" and declared itself as a "new tonality". Serialism created an environment where experimentation with sound was at the forefront of composition, which led to increased use of electronics as well as other applications of mathematical notation to composition. Joseph Matthias Hauer (1883-1959) Background Joseph Hauer was an Austrian composer and theorist.

He was an active organist, choral conductor and cellist since his teenage years. At about the age of 23 (1908) he started composing. His first published works are Op 1 -18 (1912-1919) and he described these works as "the first onset of [his] 12-tone works". These pieces range from songs and piano miniatures to the dramatic "Apokalyptische Phantasie" op.

5 (1913), which is scored for chamber orchestra and is his most significant early work. Between the world wars Vienna was buzzing with artistic and intellectual activity and this is when Hauer associated with the Schoenberg circle. He also worked very closely with E bner, who worked with Hauer on his first theoretical work. (Uber die Klangfarbe). In August 1919 Hauer discovered his "twelve tone law" which required that all 12 notes be sounded before any is repeated. Throughout his career as a composer, Hauer thought of music as a means to spiritual contemplation - music as a window that opens onto the spiritual realm.

Hauer believed that music should arise through a composer in the most unmediated manner possible and when he discovered a principle of constantly and systematically circulating all twelve notes, he believed that he had discovered the realm in which music could transcend the personal and attain the spiritual. (Listen to Nomos op. 19) It is interesting to note that although Schoenberg is known to be the person who established 12-tone composition, Nomos was composed in 1920 which was before the earliest writings on Schoenberg's twelve-note techniques. Hauer held that each composition should be based on a specific arrangement of the 12 pitch classes which he called the "Konstellation" or "Grund gestalt" (which is the basic shape).

However Hauer's system did not involve a fixed serial succession. Instead he focussed on "tropes" which were pairs of hexachord's, of which he identified 44. The notes of the trope could be arranged in the melodic or harmonic dimensions or in both simultaneously. Hauer believed that the 12 equal-tempered notes do not arise naturally in nature, but are instead a result of " " of what nature provides - a way of rising above any will to personal expression in music and to work only at expressing the spiritual truth inherent in the 12 notes themselves. Eventually he rejected the title of "composer" and instead thought of himself as an "interpreter of the twelve tones".

After 1939 he only composed "Zwolftonspiele" which are marked by a complete disregard of personal expression. These began with a 12 tone row, which was used to arrive at a "Kontinuum" which is a sequence of twelve 4-note chords in which one note changes from chord to chord. This Kontinuum is then subjected to any number of technical manipulations in order to bring out aspects of its 12-tone structure. Because this music is so mechanical, the Zwolftonspiele are closer to meditation exercise than to composition, and the various technical procedures used can be thought of as lenses through which one can contemplate the 12 tone universe.

Listen to a "Zwolftonspiele".