Post-tonal music theory
Post-tonal music theory is the set of theories put forward to describe music written outside of, or 'after', the tonal system of the common practice period. It revolves around the idea of 'emancipating dissonance', that is, freeing the structure of music from the familiar harmonic patterns that are derived from natural overtones. As music becomes more complex, dissonance becomes indistinguishable from consonance.
Overview
In the latter part of the 19th century, composers began to move away from the tonal system. This is typified in Richard Wagner's music, especially Tristan und Isolde (the Tristan chord, for example). Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Anton Webern proposed a theory on the emancipation of the dissonance to help analyse the general trend and, in particular, their own atonal music. Composers such as Charles Ives,[1] Dane Rudhyar,[2] and even Duke Ellington[3] and Lou Harrison,[4] connected the emancipation of the dissonance with the emancipation of society and humanity.
The basic idea is that as time progresses, the ear becomes acclimatised to more and more complex sounds. This happens not just for individuals but also for societies as they start to write more complex music. Consonance and dissonance become indistinct from each other: dissonances slowly become heard as consonances. Jim Samson[5] explained it this way: "As the ear becomes acclimatized to a sonority within a particular context, the sonority will gradually become 'emancipated' from that context and seek a new one. The emancipation of the dominant-quality dissonances has followed this pattern, with the dominant seventh developing in status from a contrapuntal note in the sixteenth century to a quasi-consonant harmonic note in the early nineteenth. By the later nineteenth century the higher numbered dominant-quality dissonances had also achieved harmonic status, with resolution delayed or omitted completely. The greater autonomy of the dominant-quality dissonance contributed significantly to the weakening of traditional tonal function within a purely diatonic context."
Theory
Music written within the tonal system is generally analysed by defining a certain note as the primary or tonic note and the derived
In the later 20th century, analysts started to adapt these tools to the yet more complex music being written. Musical set theory was first elaborated for tonal music[6] but was quickly applied to atonal music[7] since it simply provides concepts for categorizing musical objects (notes, chords, melodies and so on) and describing their relationship, without defining any particular note or chord as "primary". The later Transformational theory[8] uses a similar approach but concentrates on the relationships themselves. There are also theories which attempt to relate pitch and rhythm.
Application
Compositional applications of these theories are numerous, but in the present context of post-tonal music the most important is
Aside from serialism, other forms of compositional technique arose such as those based on chords utilizing fourths rather than the more traditional thirds (see
Further developments
Examples
Transposition:
- The notes A–B–C–D can be transposed downwards to A♭–B♭–C♭–D♭ (the ♭, called a flat, lowers the pitch by one semitone) or upwards to D–E–F–G (the note D is a perfect fourth higher than the note A, E the same amount higher than B and so on).
- The chord C–E–G can be transposed upwards to C♯–E♯–G♯ (the ♯, called a sharp, raises the pitch by one semitone).
Inversion:
- The notes D–F–E–B can be reversed to B–E–F–D; this form of inversion is called retrograde.
- The upward intervals can become downward intervals and vice versa; this is the form that is properly called inversion.
- These two can be combined and the result can be transposed: these are inclusive rather than exclusive processes.
When viewing the following musical examples, it may help to imagine a mirror being placed between the various versions:
- The chord C–E–G can be inverted to E–G–C or G–C–E; this is called the inversion of a chord.
- Two lines ("parts") of music can be "inverted" so that the original lower one is made to sound above the original higher one; this is inversion of counterpoint and can be applied to any number of parts.
References
- ^ Broyles, Michael (1996). "Charles Ives and the American Democratic Tradition". In J. Peter Burkholder (ed.). Charles Ives and His World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
- ^ Rudhyar, Dane (1928). Dissonant Harmony: A New Principle of Musical and Social Organization. Carmel, California: Hamsa Publications.
- ^ Ellington, Duke (1993). "Interview in Los Angeles: On Jump for Joy, Opera, and Dissonance as a 'Way of Life"". In Mark Tucker (ed.). The Duke Ellington Reader.
- ^ Harrison, Lou (1946). Oscar Baradinsky (ed.). About Carl Ruggles. Yonkers, New York: Alicat Book Shop Press.
- ISBN 0-393-02193-9.
- ^ Hanson, Howard. Harmonic Materials of Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
- ISBN 0-300-01610-7.
- ^ Lewin, David (1987). Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
- ISBN 978-1-84115-475-6.
- ^ Ross 2008, pp. 363–364.
Further reading
- Messiaen, Olivier. 1956. The Technique of my Musical Language (English-language version). Alphonse Leduc.