"Atonal" redirects here. For the ruler of the Mixtec kingdom of Coixtlahuaca, see Atonal II.
Ending of Schoenberg's "George Lieder" Op. 15/1 presents what would be an "extraordinary" chord in tonal music, without the harmonic-contrapuntal constraints of tonal music.[1]
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality, in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a single, central triad is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale function independently of one another.[2] More narrowly, the term atonality describes music that does not conform to the system of tonal hierarchies that characterized European classical music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.[3] "The repertory of atonal music is characterized by the occurrence of pitches in novel combinations, as well as by the occurrence of familiar pitch combinations in unfamiliar environments".[1]
The term is also occasionally 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.[3] However, "as a categorical label, 'atonal' generally means only that the piece is in the Western tradition and is not 'tonal'",[4] although there are longer periods, e.g., medieval, renaissance, and modern modal music to which this definition does not apply. "Serialism arose partly as a means of organizing more coherently the relations used in the pre-serial 'free atonal' music. ... Thus, many useful and crucial insights about even strictly serial music depend only on such basic atonal theory".[5]
Late 19th- and early 20th-century composers such as Alexander Scriabin, Claude Debussy, Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Edgard Varèse have written music that has been described, in full or in part, as atonal.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][excessive citations]
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality, in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about...
Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of atonality. The two composers invented new musical forms and new sounds. Ravel's...
key centers, a move often described (though not by Schoenberg) as "free atonality". The third, from 1923 onward, commences with Schoenberg's invention of...
drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions...
compositional styles, many of Liszt's later works also feature experiments in atonality, foreshadowing developments in 20th-century classical music. Franz Liszt...
system, which gave keys and chords their identity, pointing the way to atonality in the 20th century. Some music historians date the beginning of modern...
are oil painting, printmaking, photography, cinema, musical tonality, atonality, jazz, rock, opera, and the symphony orchestra. Philosophers have invented...
Samson, Jim (1977). Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900–1920. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02193-9...
Gardens breaks away from conventional musical order through its usage of atonality. The piece was premiered by Austrian singer Martha Winternitz-Dorda and...
Ambient house tracks generally lack a diatonic center and feature much atonality along with synthesized chords. The Dutch Brainvoyager is an example of...
Bohemia. The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism (Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg), neoclassicism (Igor...
quarter of a century later. Britten's technique in this cycle ranges from atonality in the first song to firm tonality later, with a resolute B major chord...
1950s, many "Gothic and supernatural horror movies utilize dissonance, atonality, and unusual configurations of instruments to signify all sorts of anomalous...
clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and atonality, as well as non-rock genres like free jazz, funk, and disco. The scene...
According to Sondheim, when he asked Milton Babbitt if he could study atonality, Babbitt replied: "You haven't exhausted tonal resources for yourself...
Modernist music List of modernist composers Composers Genres and techniques Atonality Experimental Expressionism Futurism Microtonal Modes of limited transposition...
that he had recognized but not fully embraced. He had also believed the atonality of serialized music to run counter to his desire to reach a wide audience...
a montage of different styles, including folk music, popular song and atonality. Amongst his influences was Alban Berg's (1885–1935) opera Wozzeck (1925)...
divided into three (somewhat arbitrary) periods, based on increasing atonality: early, 1883–1902 (Opp. 1–29); middle, 1903–1909 (Opp. 30–58); and late...
training and his own improvisational skills. He expressed elements of atonality and fugue. Brubeck, with Desmond, used elements of West Coast jazz near...
Assembly in 1992, recorded between 1985 and 1990. This album embraces atonality and abandons most conventional concepts of modes, scales and pitch. Emancipated...
tonal system to accommodate their ideas. After a brief period of free atonality, Schoenberg and others began exploring tone rows, in which an ordering...
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