atonality
Composition without key
Atonality is music that lacks a tonal center or key, meaning no single note feels like "home" or the point of resolution.
Developed in the early twentieth century by composers like Schoenberg, atonal music deliberately avoids the hierarchical relationships between notes that characterize traditional Western harmony.
The term is sometimes used loosely to describe any music that sounds dissonant or unfamiliar to conventional ears: The film's score drifted into atonality during the nightmare sequence.
Fixed-sequence composition technique
- chromaticismUse of non-scale tones
- aggregateCombined sum total
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
- inversionReversal of position
Lack of harmony
- cacophonyHarsh, clashing sounds
- discordLack of agreement
- jarringDisturbingly incongruous
- harshnessUnsparing quality or manner
tension · disharmony · unresolved · cluster · chromatic · angular · astringent · dense
Distorting reality for emotion
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
- experimentalTesting new methods
- unconventionalDeparting from standard practice
radical · abstract · disorienting · cerebral · uncompromising · challenging · provocative · groundbreaking
Years 1901-2000
- contemporaryOf the present age
- modernistAdvocate of experimental forms
- postwarAfter hostilities end
- interwarBetween major conflicts
Vienna · academic · conservatory · musicology · analysis
serialism
Fixed-sequence composition technique
- chromaticismUse of non-scale tones
- aggregateCombined sum total
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
dissonance
Lack of harmony
harshness · tension · disharmony · unresolved · cluster · chromatic · angular · astringent · dense · complex
expressionism
Distorting reality for emotion
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
- experimentalTesting new methods
unconventional · radical · abstract · disorienting · cerebral · uncompromising · challenging · provocative · groundbreaking · revolutionary
Schoenberg
Atonal method inventor
- CarterOne who carts
twentieth-century
Years 1901-2000
- contemporaryOf the present age
- modernistAdvocate of experimental forms
- postwarAfter hostilities end
interwar · Vienna · academic · conservatory · musicology · analysis
- classical musicBach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms
- harmonyharmony, chord, chords, triad, triads
- Austrian musicMozart, Haydn, Schubert, Johann Strauss, Strauss
- Modern ClassicalStravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, Shostakovich, Prokofiev
- modernismPicasso, Matisse, Duchamp, Braque, Kandinsky
- discorddiscord, Discord, dissonance, discordance, dissonant
tone, intonation, atone, atonement, detonate, detonation, toneless, tonality, atonal