| the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a
particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C,
C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—that constitute the equal-tempered
scale. In contrast to tonal music, whose unity is perceived in the primacy
of a single construct, the triad (the major or minor chord), serial music is
not pitch centric, i.e., there is no home key. Instead, the presence of
harmonic successions resulting from controlled juxtaposition of various row
forms gives serial pieces their coherence. These forms are the prime,
retrograde (pitch order reversed), inversion (interval direction reversed),
and retrograde inversion, and the twelve transpositional degrees of the
foregoing. Thus, the row functions as an ordering of intervals and not of
absolute pitches. In practice, the row can be presented linearly or
chordally. The twelve-tone system evolved in the 1920s in the works of
Arnold Schoenberg, Anton von Webern, and Alban Berg as the result of efforts
to establish a unifying principle for nontonal music. Classic serial pieces
include Schoenberg’s Piano Suite, Op. 25 (1924) and von Webern’s String
Quartet, Op. 28 (1938). Pierre Boulez and Milton Babbitt have led efforts
toward “total serialization,” the application of serial technique to rhythm,
dynamics, and timbre, in addition to pitch. Important composers of serial
music include Igor Stravinsky, Ernst Krenek, Egon Wellesz, and Walter
Piston. For further information see separate articles on all composers
mentioned in this article. |
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