Atonality Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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- Music, Musical Composition, Musicology, Technology

"Carter's music poses struggles of opposition, for instance in timbre (Double Concerto), space (String Quartet No. 3) or pulse (String Quartet No. 5). His preference for the all-interval tetrachords, 4–Z15 [0, 1, 4, 6] and 4–Z29 [0, 1, 3,... more

- by Joshua B Mailman
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- Discourse Analysis, Semiotics, Evolutionary Psychology, Music

“Adorno Kab Utsahakam-Wattanadham: Koranee-Suksa Pleng Samai- Niyom” [Adorno and his idea of Culture Industry: The Case Study of Popular Music], in Thirawuth Senakham, editor. Leow-Nair Lair-Lang Wattanadham- Pop [Looking back to the future of Popular Culture Studies]. Bangkok: Princess Maha Jakkri Sirindhorn Anthropology Center. (written in Thai)

- by Nantawat Chatuthai
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- Popular Music, Culture Industry, Dialectic of Enlightenment, Atonality

El presente texto analiza la segunda de las composiciones para piano del Op. 11 de Arnold Schoenberg. Se pretende comprender cómo el compositor organiza el discurso musical. En este sentido, después de un resumen sobre la importancia y significados musicales tradicionalmente atribuidos a la partitura –a partir de los trabajos de Mark K. Clinton y Colin C. Sterne sobre numerología y simbolismo de alturas, respectivamente–, se recogen distintas perspectivas analíticas que ponen de manifiesto cómo Schoenberg emplea en esta obra funciones estructurales no basadas exclusivamente en la organización jerárquica de alturas, concretamente el concepto, desarrollado por Philip Friedheim, de flexibilidad rítmica.

- by Diego J. Vigueras
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- Set Theory, Structural Analysis, Schoenberg, Musical Rhythm Theory

Minoru Miki’s orchestral work Jo no kyoku, Prelude for Shakuhachi, Koto, Shamisen and Strings (1969), exemplifies the postwar synthesis of atonality and Japanese tradition. Miki adopted pitch-class sets from the Japanese modes as dominant motivic cells, and modulated the nuclear tones by transposing the cells to articulate musical space and pitch organization. He aimed to reemphasize that Japanese modes are rooted in the cycle of fifths from Chinese modal theory. His progression through nuclear tones separated by fifths conforms to the jo-ha-kyu structure, an asymmetrical arc (gradually rising to a climax and then falling sharply) found throughout the Japanese performing arts. Jo No Kyoku’s cross-cultural characteristics reflect Miki’s conviction that intercultural communication and harmony between the East and West are necessary and fundamental sources of world peace.

- by Serena Yang
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- Music, Music Theory, Musicology, Japanese music history

Consideraciones estilísticas acerca de una de las primeras aproximaciones al serialismo de Arnold Schoenberg: la Serenata, Op. 24. Realizadas en base al análisis de estilo propuesto por el musciólogo Jan LaRue, basado en Sonido, Armonía,... more

- by Juan Linares
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- Twentieth-century Music, Arnold Schoenberg, Serialismo, Atonality

In this essay, I explore historical and theoretical issues germane to an understanding of an 1885 piano composition with an intriguing title: Liszt’s Bagatelle ohne Tonart—a bagatelle “without tonality” or “without a key.” After briefly describing the work’s history and musical associations with other compositions by Liszt, I survey two present-day approaches that reveal ways in which the work defies tonality: octatonic interpretations via set-class examinations, and Schenker-influenced prolongational models. I then turn to focus instead on how the Bagatelle fit within the framework of nineteenth-century musical thought; how its processes were supported by contemporaneously evolving theories of chromaticism. Partly through an analysis based on the practice of Gottfried Weber (1779–1839), I demonstrate that the Bagatelle is not a piece “without tonality” as much as it is one “without the fulfillment of the tonic.” It maintains harmonic tension by avoiding anticipated resolutions, as well as by preserving a sense of ambiguity as to what the actual “missing” key is. Next, I consider why Liszt was prompted to write a piece in such a manner. We know that he was a proponent of musical progress—of Zukunftsmusik (“music of the future”)—but for this fact to be relevant we must confirm, first, that Liszt had definite ideas about a Zukunftsharmoniesystem; and second, that such a system is reflected in the processes exhibited by the Bagatelle. I argue that the Bagatelle’s traits are indeed in accordance with theoretical views about music’s future direction, to which Liszt subscribed. Relevant theories of Karl Friedrich Weitzmann (1808–80) and François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871) are assessed. Lastly, in a “Schoenbergian epilogue” I explore connections between Liszt’s operations and Schoenberg’s ideas, addressing historical associations that conjoin their views of composing “ohne Tonart.” I conclude that the 1885 Bagatelle’s attenuation of tonality was part of a tradition that extended from the mid-nineteenth into the early twentieth century—one that stretched from Liszt and his contemporaries through Schoenberg and his pupils and beyond, embracing along the way the theoretical prescriptions of Weitzmann, Fétis, and Schoenberg himself. The various threads of theory and analysis explored in this essay contribute to an understanding of the same strand of musical evolution: the increasing circumvention of tonality to the point that a piece could be written “ohne Tonart.” (NB: For this article, the author was awarded the 2006 “Emerging Scholar Award” by the Society for Music Theory.)

- by David Carson Berry
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- Music Theory, Romanticism, Nineteenth-Century Music, Atonal Music
- by Luigi Casolino
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- Thomas Mann, German Expressionism, Dialectic, Joseph Roth

An essay on Arnold Schönberg's concept of "Klangfarbenmelodie" and its application and meaning beyond a purely timbral interpretation. On the one hand, a very early reception of the concept by Ernst Kurth is discussed, on the other hand, documents from Schönberg's late period are consulted. Ultimately, it is precisely in its utopian transgression of categories and dimensions that the concept proves to be productive and sustainably effective.

- by Michel Roth
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- Arnold Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, Atonality, Ernst Kurth

"All being well, the reader who has made it to this last word will
at least empathize with an attachment to exploring the known
unknowns in music theory pedagogy. Admittedly, that concept
'known unknown' got an uneasy, mixed public reaction in the USA in 2002. All the same it has a respectable pedigree in fairly recent thinking-in philosophy, literature, economics. Its versatility alone qualifies it to be salvaged from political hubris.
Here, it was used to focus our attention on the promise of
technology, an important promise in that we do not have to
regard technology as cold science, but on the contrary technology guarantees us good outcomes, if we put it to good uses; and many believe that there is a moral imperative to do so. In principle we can know nothing about the future of technology while having every confidence in our ability to exploit its present virtues for future musical benefit. The ideas we develop now for the use of technology in music theory pedagogy will likely be those on which we shall build in the future-and of course the learning that technology produces currently will leave vital traces in that future, as certainly as anything can be certain. Ironically perhaps, the' archeology' of music, spread backwards in its absolute entirety, in all its immutable truth, may sometimes seem to present us with
fewer knowns. The idea of the known unknown can remind us of the truth content in the past, of the things that by definition we do know, while sometimes having yet to see perhaps their most important meanings for us now.

- by Jonathan Dunsby
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- Music Theory Pedagogy, Music Technology, Musical semiology, Atonality
- by Cory J Johnson
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- Aesthetics, Graph Theory, Diagrammatic Reasoning, Charles S. Peirce
- by Larson Powell
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- Aesthetics, Ethics, Theodor Adorno, Philosophy of Music

PREVIOUS STUDIES OF TWELVE-TONE MUSIC
suggest that participants can learn a twelve-tone row and
identify it in a forced-choice test (Bigand, D’Adamo, &
Poulin, 2003; Krumhansl, Sandell, & Sergeant, 1987).
However, these findings invite speculation about the
extent to which participants were attuning to intervals
to complete the task. The present study builds upon
these previous experiments by specifically investigating
whether participants implicitly attune to repetitive
interval patterns embedded in twelve-tone melodies.
After passive exposure to a monophonic twelve-tone
melody dominated by intervals 1 and 3 (in semitones),
musician listeners with no formal training in nontonal
music theory demonstrated learning of the frequent
intervals (and directed interval pairs) in both forcedchoice
and ratings tasks. Experiment 2 tested a new
group of participants with similar backgrounds,
although this time the twelve-tone melody heard in
familiarization was predominated with intervals 2 and
5. Participants showed learning of directed interval
pairs, but not intervals (possibly due to the more tonal
nature of interval successions within familiarization).
These findings have pedagogical and analytical
implications.

- by Jenine Brown
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- Post-tonal Theory, Atonal Music, Twelve-Tone Technique, Atonality

Observing tension in music is generally a very sensitive research field. Authors like Wallace Berry and Joseph Swain believe that this is a principle which is the most fundamental aspect of music experience through its history, no matter which music language or compositional system it is.
Starting from such general assumptions that it is possible to determine the parameters which affect the feeling of tension and relaxation in dodecaphonic music as well, the possibility of recording the closures that are the basis for the structural delineation of the sections and the determination of phrases and sentences in the musical flow is imposed. The system surely exists, the only question is whether we are able to perceive it in a new, dodecaphonic music flow? Is it possible in a dodecaphonically organized work to find dissonant and consonant harmonies, and thus demonstrate the elements of tension and resolution, or do some other musical components have the primacy in organizing and establishing hierarchical levels in the definition of closures in dodecaphonic music? Relying on the writings of authors who
have dealt with this or similar theme (Babbitt 1949, Forte 1973, Lerdahl 1989, Boss 1994, Rothgeb 1997, Farbood 2006, Granot and Eithan 2011, Zatkalik 2016), this work will illustrate the systematization and ranking of closures at the hierarchical level at which they operate in the examples of Webern’s dodecaphonic music (op. 20, op. 21, op. 22, op. 24, op.27, op. 28 i op. 30).
Also, this work deals at a certain extent with the terminology of the cadence-closure. The parameters that are most important for the construction of the closures in Webern’s dodecaphony works are determined, and terminology is proposed: perfect closure–closure–semiclosure. The application of these ideas was demonstrated in the third movement of Webern’s String Quartet op. 28.

- by Gordana Grujic and +1
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- Music Theory, Music Perception, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern
- by Walter Horn
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- Music, Music Theory, Aesthetics, 12-tone Composition

Goethe est l’auteur d’une 'Farbenlehre' et d’une 'Tonlehre'. Si la première s’est beaucoup diffusée, malgré les critiques du monde scientifique, la seconde est parvenue sous forme fragmentaire. Les deux écrits visent à appréhender les couleurs et les sons de manière qualitative, compte tenu de l’effet qu’ils produisent sur les sens. La 'Farbenlehre' a joué un rôle essentiel dans le domaine des arts visuels, notamment dans les théories du Bauhaus, conceptualisées par Itten et Kandinsky. L’idée essentielle dans la pensée de Goethe réitérée au Bauhaus est celle de la « luminosité » (Helligkeit) des couleurs, déclinée autour de deux pôles : le jaune, le plus proche de la lumière ; le bleu, le plus proche de l’obscurité ; les autres couleurs comme le pourpre résultent de l’interaction entre ces deux extrémités. Cette luminosité fonde et explique les correspondances inhérentes à l’«art synthétique» de Kandinsky : au triangle jaune répond le presto, le forte, l’aigu et le son de la voyelle i ; au cercle bleu l’adagio, le piano, le grave et le son de la voyelle o. L’impact des idées de Josef Matthias Hauer sur la théorie des couleurs de Johannes Itten s’avère moins connu quoique décisive dans la genèse des idées fondatrices du Bauhaus. Ainsi, la conception de l’étoile de Johannes Itten a été fortement marquée par le cercle de Josef Matthias Hauer (Zwölfteiliger Farbkreis übereingestimmt mit den zwölf Tönen der chromatischen Skala, 1919) associant des intervalles ou des tonalités à des caractères et à des couleurs : notamment les tonalités diésées à des couleurs chaudes, les tonalités bémolisées à des couleurs froides, ce qui correspond aux caractéristiques attribuées aux tonalités par des théoriciens de la fin du XVIIIe et de la première moitié du XIXe siècles (Schubart, Cramer, Hand…).

- by Damien Ehrhardt and +1
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- Aesthetics, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bauhaus, Music and the Visual Arts
- by Diego Alonso
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- Arnold Schoenberg, Modernidad, Atonality, Catalanismo
- by Daniel Ponder
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- Folklore, 20th century Avant-Garde, György Ligeti, Atonality

Atonal Music / Frank Zappa style

- by Dallton Santos
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- Atonal Music, Jazz Guitar, Frank Zappa, Atonality

Resumo: Nesta comunicação, relaciono aspectos do processo criativo do prelúdio coral Es spricht der unweisen Mund wohl, de minha autoria, peça finalista no Concurso Internacional de Composição promovido pelo The Orgelbüchlein Project e o Royal College of Organists (Londres, 2017). Contextualizo a obra apresentando as tendências estilísticas da música organística a partir do século XX e também um breve histórico da melodia coral escolhida. A seguir, relaciono alguns procedimentos adotados para a composição da obra, demonstrando o diálogo existente entre este prelúdio e obras de compositores do passado europeu como Bach e Messiaen. Palavras-chave: Abstract: In this paper, I relate aspects of the creative process of the choral prelude Es spricht der unweisen Mund wohl, of my authorship, finalist piece in the International Composition Competition promoted by The Orgelbüchlein Project and the Royal College of Organists (London, 2017). I contextualize the work presenting the stylistic tendencies of organ music beginning in the early 20th century and a brief history of the chosen choral melody. Then, I relate some procedures adopted for the composition of the work, demonstrating the existing dialogue between this prelude and the works of composers of the European past such as Bach and Messiaen.

- by Miriam Carpinetti
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- Musical Composition, Composition (Music), Atonal Music, Music Composition

The researcher focuses on how these compositions managed, by analyzed in the issues of pitch organization and rhythmic organization, which showed the composer’s identity.The study of pitch organization showed that Ether-Cosmos no. XIII is free atonal music throughout the piece, the set appears in the piece is mostly abstract subset. In parts of Ether-Cosmos no. XIV-XVII are atonal music base on serialism but there are tonal musicelement hidden in some part of piece. In addition composer also emphasizes the symmetry in every pieces.Composer give the rhythmic and meter the asymmetry and ambiguity by various process such as emphasizing the syncopated rhythms, irregular rhythmic groupings, augmentation-diminution including additive process, by using the metric displacement technique and using 2 meters simultaneously to create the character of polymeter and polyrhythm. Overall results showed that composer used same set but the set reflect different sound quality because the difference of pitch organization in each pieces.

- by Nanthakorn Ponglertwut
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- Set Theory, Atonal Music, Music analysis, Rhythmanalysis
- by Dana Amir
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- The uncanny, Clarice Lispector, Tonality, Atonality
- by Luca Nigro
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- Arnold Schoenberg, Atonality, Atonalismo, Serialismo Dodecafonico

Computer programs that facilitate analysis of atonal music are indispensable tools for music theorists. However, most of the programs currently available on the Web are limited to the derivation of Tn/TnI types and interval vectors and basic twelve-tone operations and cannot handle rotational arrays of tone rows, transformational relations between pcsets, and so on. By contrast, “JDubiel,” written in Java, is platform-independent, easy to use, and ready for almost all analytical techniques employed in pc-set theory and transformational theory.

- by Akira Takaoka
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- Computer Science, Atonal Music, Pitch-class Set Theory, Atonality

- by Gordana Grujić
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- Music Theory, Music Perception, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern
- by Julie Brown
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- Twentieth-century Music, Wagnerism, Schoenberg, Atonality