To understand this music we will start at the beginning. You may not realize that 12-tone music has been around for a very long time (1923?), and still continues today. 12-tone music is a way of organizing atonal music in a more consistent fashion. Many early atonal works dwell on the sensuous qualities of the non-harmonic formations themselves and utilize non-standard forms. Though Schoenberg composed atonal works in traditional forms, he was unsatisfied with the results feeling that atonal music was not suited for traditional forms. Schoenberg felt that atonal music needed a vocal text for formal deliniation. Perhaps he felt that atonal music was more Wagnarian (text based), 12-tone music more Brahmsian (absolute music). Books to study Schoenberg’s essays in Style and Idea, Part V, 12-tone composition, and George Perle’s Serial composition and atonality.
Questions about 12 tone music:
Is it math?
True Schoenberg had a thing about numbers, especially number 13, look at Erwartung, measure 313! However Schoenberg’s row charts are pitch charts not number charts.
Is it all rules?
There are many rules but you can chose which rules to follow.
Does it replace inspiration?
Negatory on that.
Hasn’t this music ruined it for the rest of us?
The continued popularity of any work depends on its quality. Since personal politics tends to die with the composer, of what are you afraid?
Is there only one method of 12-tone music?
No. There is a wide variety as seen in the work of Alban Berg, Anton Webern, and Luigi Dallapiccola among others.
Assignment : Look up these composers.
I don’t like it do I have too?
No, but a composer needs to understand even the music they don’t like.
Are there any limitations with 12-tone music?
It has been pointed out that you have the limitation of only 12 notes at a time, if you feel that is a limitation.
Many 12-tone composers have changed their styles recently, what does this mean?
This question would be better answered in 12-tone part too, but anyway…
Some composers create trends and others follow them, and trends tend to change. Remember what Roger Sessions said: “composers are doers of deeds.” That is, judge composers compositions on their quality not their style. Consider that Schoenberg created masterworks in 4 styles: tonal, late romantic, atonal, 12-tone.
From Schoenberg’s Style and Idea page 233, example 13, create a short composition.