Schoenberg S Atonal Period Influences And Effects
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Schoenberg’s Atonal Period: Influences and Effects
Daniel Pureco
Music 62H
Professor Stefan Litwin
16 April 2015
Daniel Pureco
Professor Stefan Litwin
Music 62H
16 April 2015 Schoenberg’s Atonal Period: Influences and Effects At the start of the twentieth century, as the Romantic era had just drawn to a close, it started becoming apparent to many composers that the traditional system of tonality was no longer sufficient for the composer’s expressive needs. In only a small handful of years, composers began to increasingly abandon tonal language in their compositions in favor of new techniques. One such example of this is the famous Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg adopted a style now known as atonality, although at the time of its adoption by Schoenberg his new style had no specific name. Even many years after his use of it, Schoenberg disagreed with the new description of his music as “atonal.” Schoenberg himself said “the expression ‘atonal music’ is nonsense. ‘Atonal’ cannot be something in which tones occur, [instead] something that does not pertain to tone.” Schoenberg then went on to state how his music is better described as “polytonal” due to his use of a unique succession of tones that do not relate to one another (Simms 8). There is as of yet no known reason for why Schoenberg adopted the new style. When asked why he decided to go the route of atonality (as it is now known), Schoenberg said that he was obeying an “inner compulsion” and that he was “driven onward by the need for brevity, precision, definition, and clarity” (Simms 7). Regardless of the cause of Schoenberg’s turn to atonality, there is little doubt that Schoenberg’s influence on atonality is exceptionally apparent on both his pupils and on other composers, past and current. In fact, his atonal period could be said to have been more
Schoenberg’s Atonal Period: Influences and Effects
Daniel Pureco
Music 62H
Professor Stefan Litwin
16 April 2015
Daniel Pureco
Professor Stefan Litwin
Music 62H
16 April 2015 Schoenberg’s Atonal Period: Influences and Effects At the start of the twentieth century, as the Romantic era had just drawn to a close, it started becoming apparent to many composers that the traditional system of tonality was no longer sufficient for the composer’s expressive needs. In only a small handful of years, composers began to increasingly abandon tonal language in their compositions in favor of new techniques. One such example of this is the famous Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg adopted a style now known as atonality, although at the time of its adoption by Schoenberg his new style had no specific name. Even many years after his use of it, Schoenberg disagreed with the new description of his music as “atonal.” Schoenberg himself said “the expression ‘atonal music’ is nonsense. ‘Atonal’ cannot be something in which tones occur, [instead] something that does not pertain to tone.” Schoenberg then went on to state how his music is better described as “polytonal” due to his use of a unique succession of tones that do not relate to one another (Simms 8). There is as of yet no known reason for why Schoenberg adopted the new style. When asked why he decided to go the route of atonality (as it is now known), Schoenberg said that he was obeying an “inner compulsion” and that he was “driven onward by the need for brevity, precision, definition, and clarity” (Simms 7). Regardless of the cause of Schoenberg’s turn to atonality, there is little doubt that Schoenberg’s influence on atonality is exceptionally apparent on both his pupils and on other composers, past and current. In fact, his atonal period could be said to have been more