shoenberg paper

7/30/2019 Shoenberg Paper

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Kevin Fisher

April 27, 2013

Analysis – Kies

Schoenberg Questions/2 Statements

1. In twelve-tone music, what types of harmonies are avoided?a. According to Schoenberg’s article, all consonances are avoided. This

includes major and minor triads, including thirds, fifths, octaves, and

unisons. This is the same for simple dissonances too, including

diminished triads and seventh chords, which contain simple 2nd

intervals. Schoenberg says this is not based on a specific rule, but the

general style of twelve-tone composers. Eventually, a “happy mixture”

containing some of these sounds will be established.

2. Was Schoenberg extremely public about his tone-row methods?

a. Schoenberg was not open or public about his use of tone-rows for

approximately two years. This is because he knew his colleagues and

other musicologists would be perplexed about this concept. At thetime, he did not call this a tone-row “system”, but a “method” as a tool

for composition. He did not even assume this method as a theory,

either. He believed that you could use the tone-row as a tool and

compose music as one had previously done before this new “method”.

He did fear that other composers would become confused, and

inevitably, they did.

3. How does Schoenberg feel about functional harmony?

a. Schoenberg does not believe in one idea of harmony. He believes that

there are many different ideas out there in regards to composition

and structure. The main point he makes in the articles is that the

composer must be conscious of his/her fantasies. The composer must have a sense of security and a sense of precision when writing music

because the ideas must be believable and convincing for the

composer. Whatever chord progressions or fundamental movements

the music is doing is irrelevant – it is the process and background

stability by which the music is created that is more important.

4. What is a unit?

a. A unit is “the two-or-more dimensional space in which musical ideas

are presented”. A phrase is an example of a musical unit. Schoenberg

explains this concept with the example of English words. No single

word can stand alone – it must coincide with other ideas. The same is

for music. One note on a page means nothing unless they are analyzedand controlled by the other notes surrounding the specific note. It is

all about the bigger picture when it comes to units. A musical rhythm,

harmony, or melody is nothing by itself – it must be considered with

other musical entities, which therefore deem a musical unit. A basic

set, in the twelve-tone method, can be used in whole or in part, as they

are part of one musical unit.

5. What is retrograde inversion?



a. Retrograde means backwards and inversion means upside-down.

Thurs, retrograde-inversion, as discussed in Schoenberg’s articles, is

the concept of music that moves backward and upside-down. This

process is used on the same tone-row. The inversion of the prime

series is in reverse order from last pitch to first. First, the inversion

happens. Then the inverted version is taken backwards so that theuntranposed retrograde inversion ends with the pitch that began the

prime form of the series. Schoenberg’s first composition with this

concept was the Piano Suite Op. 25.

6. What are Schoenberg’s thoughts on “sound”?

a. Schoenberg says that sound was once a dignified higher-quality of

music. Now, he says, that idea has deteriorated. Now he thinks that

sound is used as a screen by which the absence of ideas will not be

noticeable. He believes sound is the vehicle for deep, intrinsic ideas.

The sound changes often in his music, based on every idea. At some

points, the sound and ideas are difficult to perceive because of the

rapid changes.7. What does Schoenberg say about writing in canons?

a. There is no merit to writing canons in two or more voices. Schoenberg

believes this because the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th voices just need to enter two

notes later than the previous voice and there will never be parallel

octaves. He believes canons and imitations should only occur to

accompany other voices, simply as a base. This would make the

harmonies fuller and would bring out the main voices.

8. What is an advantage of twelve-tone composing?

a. An advantage of composition with a set of twelve tones is that the

“appearance of dissonances is regulated”. Dissonances aren’t used to

spice-up consonances. The consonances are not of more importancethan the dissonances, but of equal importance.

I agree with Schoenberg’s statements on sound. When I was first exposed to

“atonal” pieces such as Cage’s 4’33” and the twelve-tone Op. 25 Schoenberg Suite, I

was not exactly interested because it was not traditional, consonant sound that I

was used to. After having read the Schoenberg article, I now understand that even

though the sounds are not always pleasant, they are sounds connected to and

affiliated with other sounds. For example, a screeching cello bow on a rough

percussion instrument can be directly correlated with the sounds of the Holocaust

dead camps.

shoenberg paper

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