Atonal music |
ATONAL MUSIC (from Greek a – negative particle and tonos – tone) – music. works written outside the logic of modals and harmonies. connections that organize the language of tonal music (see Mode, Tonality). Main the principle of A. m. is the complete equality of all tones, the absence of any modal center uniting them and gravity between tones. A. m. does not recognize the contrast of consonance and dissonance and the need to resolve dissonances. It implies the rejection of functional harmony, excludes the possibility of modulation.
Dep. atonal episodes are found already in the late Romantic. and impressionistic music. However, only in the early 20th century in the work of A. Schoenberg and his students, the rejection of the tonal foundations of music acquires fundamental significance and gives rise to the concept of atonalism or “atonalism”. Some of the most prominent representatives of A. m., including A. Schoenberg, A. Berg, A. Webern, objected to the term “atonalism”, believing that it inaccurately expresses the essence of this method of composition. Only J. M. Hauer, who independently developed the technique of atonal 12-tone writing, independently of Schoenberg, widely used in his theoretical. works with the term “A. m.
The emergence of A. m. was partly prepared by the state of Europe. music at the turn of the 20th century. The intensive development of chromatics, the appearance of chords of a fourth structure, etc., led to a weakening of the modal-functional inclinations. The striving into the realm of “tonal weightlessness” is also associated with the attempts of some composers to approach the free expression of refined subjective sensations, unclear inner feelings. impulses.
The authors of A. m. faced the difficult task of finding principles capable of replacing the structural principle that organizes tonal music. The initial period of the development of “free atonalism” is characterized by the frequent appeal of composers to the wok. genres, where the text itself serves as the main shaping factor. Among the first compositions of a consistently atonal plan are 15 songs to verses from The Book of Hanging Gardens by S. Gheorghe (1907-09) and Three fp. plays op. 11 (1909) A. Schoenberg. Then came his own monodrama “Waiting”, the opera “Happy Hand”, “Five Pieces for Orchestra” op. 16, the melodrama Lunar Pierrot, as well as the works of A. Berg and A. Webern, in which the principle of atonalism was further developed. Developing the theory of musical music, Schoenberg put forward the demand for the exclusion of consonant chords and the establishment of dissonance as the most important element of music. language (“emancipation of dissonance”). Simultaneously with the representatives of the new Viennese school and independently of them, certain composers of Europe and America (B. Bartok, C. E. Ives, and others) used the methods of atonal writing to one degree or another.
Aesthetic the principles of A. m., especially at the first stage, were closely connected with the claim of expressionism, which is distinguished by its sharpness. means and allowing illogical. disruption of art. thinking. A. m., ignoring the functional harmonic. connections and principles of resolving dissonance into consonance, met the requirements of expressionist art.
The further development of A. m. is connected with the attempts of its adherents to put an end to the subjective arbitrariness in creativity, characteristic of “free atonalism”. In the beginning. 20th century along with Schoenberg, the composers J. M. Hauer (Vienna), N. Obukhov (Paris), E. Golyshev (Berlin), and others developed systems of composition, which, according to their authors, were to be introduced into a. some constructive principles and put an end to the sonic anarchy of atonalism. However, of these attempts, only “the method of composition with 12 tones correlated only with each other”, published in 1922 by Schoenberg, under the name dodecaphony, has become widespread in many countries. countries. The principles of A. m. underlie a variety of expressions. means of the so-called. music avant-garde. At the same time, these principles are resolutely rejected by many of the outstanding composers of the 20th century who adhere to tonal music. thinking (A. Honegger, P. Hindemith, S. S. Prokofiev and others). Recognition or non-recognition of the legitimacy of atonalism is one of the fundamentals. disagreements in modern music creativity.
References: Druskin M., Ways of development of modern foreign music, in collection: Questions of modern music, L., 1963, p. 174-78; Shneerson G., About music alive and dead, M., 1960, M., 1964, ch. “Schoenberg and his school”; Mazel L., On the ways of development of the language of modern music, III. Dodecaphony, “SM”, 1965, No 8; Berg A., What is atonalitye A radio talk given by A. Berg on the Vienna Rundfunk, 23 April 1930, in Slonimsky N., Music since 1900, NY, 1938 (see appendix); Schoenberg, A., Style and idea, NY, 1950; Reti R., Tonality, atonality, pantonality, L., 1958, 1960 (Russian translation – Tonality in modern music, L., 1968); Perle G., Serial composition and atonality, Berk.-Los Ang., 1962, 1963; Austin W., Music in the 20th century…, NY, 1966.
G. M. Schneerson
