When creating a chunk of music, composers have sure frameworks by which to develop their concepts – they’ll choose specific keys and can use the tonic (the primary word of the scale in any key) because the centre level from which to create melodies and harmonies to assist flesh out their piece, for instance.
Composing on this approach is named ‘tonal music’ and it supplies construction and creates complementary tones that mix nicely collectively.
What’s atonal music?
Nevertheless, atonal music rips up this set of ‘guidelines’, taking a very totally different method, the place there aren’t any discernible keys or typical harmonies. Compositions on this model could sound a bit chaotic and even downright bizarre in contrast with conventional tonal compositions, but it surely nonetheless takes ability to get it ‘proper’.
Who invented atonal music?
The atonal model of music took off within the early 20th century, with Arnold Schoenberg on the forefront of the style. Schoenberg advocated ’twelve-tone music’, the place every of the 12 tones within the chromatic scale are performed solely in relation to one another, moderately than in relation to a set key. This implies – not like tonal music, which has the tonic at its centre – there isn’t a mounted focus on this model of atonal music, as every word is given equal significance.
Examples of atonal music
Schoenberg’s work consists of Pierrot Lunaire; Variations for Orchestra, and his Six Little Piano Items (Opus 19). Different composers who adopted in Schoenberg’s footsteps embrace Alban Berg – his opera Wozzeck and Piano Sonata, for instance – and Anton Webern, who composed Klavierstück amongst different atonal works.
