MUSI 1001 Study Guide - Harpsichord, Percussion Instrument, Pedal Point
Document Summary
A solution to the formal anarchy resulting from atonality: atonal music works for small forms, but not for large compositions, musical form traditionally dependent on a tonal architecture and thematic repetition. The twelve-tone method (called a tone row: all twelve notes of the chromatic scale arranged into a fixed, predetermined order. The row can be unique for each composition. No note may be repeated until the entire row is played. The row must remain in the same order throughout the entire composition: methods of using the row. Can be played successively or simultaneously as dissonant chords. Rows can be played in retrograde, inversion, and retrograde inversion. The row can be transposed : that is, it can begin on any pitch as long as the sequence remains constant. One row can serve as the melody while another accompanies it: schoenberg finished developing this concept in 1923. Suite for piano, one of his earliest compositions to use this method.
