What is Atonality?
Atonality or Atonal music is (western) music that lacks a tonal center or key. This definition can be expanded upon by saying that atonal music does not always have to be serial and can be thought of as all the notes of the chromatic scale functioning independently of one another. This leaves room for a number of genres, techniques and theories to be part of this larger almost all encompassing term.
Historically it can be a bit fuzzy trying to pinpoint when exactly atonality came into existence.
Traditionally we consider Arnold Schoenberg and his peers of The Second Viennese School (SVS), Alban Berg and Anton Webern to be the fathers of atonality but really it can be traced back further. An example of the technique's usage is "Bagtelle sans tonalité" by Franz Liszt in 1885, approximately 20 years before (SVS). It is important to also note that the term itself wasn't coined until 1907 by Joseph Marx, an Austrian composer, used it in a scholarly study of tonality and the basis of his doctoral thesis. [Wikipedia] It is however not generally debated that a crisis of tonality between the late 19th and early 20th century in classical music is what bore atonality as we know it. Unusual melodic and rhythmic inflections, confusing harmonics, and otherworldly chord choices were gradually introduced until the previous ideas of tonality were almost forgotten.
It helps to think about this shift in phases when discussing the key players and their conventions.
Free Atonality (or Free Chromaticism) was the conscious attempt to avoid any and all traditional diatonic harmony. Including pitch collections such as major or minor triads, three or more successive pitches of the diatonic scale, and harmonic or melodic octaves. This technique was a predecessor to 12 Tone Technique and is said to have an "integrative element...a minute intervallic cell" (or small rhythmic or melodic design that can be isolated or make up part of a thematic context.) [Wikipedia] that could not only be expanded upon like a tone row but could also have all pitches act as pivots to new ideas or repeating statements. [Wikipedia]
Because of how vague the rules of free atonality can be I believe that composer and theorist George Perle provides the most user-friendly advice on the subject of composition. "...to choose pitches that do not imply tonality. In other words, reverse the rules of the common practice period so that what was not allowed is required and what was required is not allowed." Furthermore unlike some of the other more specific techniques "Atonal compositional techniques and results "are not reducible to a set of foundational assumptions in terms of which the compositions that are collectively designated by the expression 'atonal music' can be said to represent 'a system' of composition" [Wikipedia]
Some examples of compositions utilizing Free Atonality are Berg's opera "Wozzeck" and Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire".
2. Systematic Atonality
Although 12 Tone Serialism is covered more in depth in my post under Michael J. Calamas' work "Echo Chamber" it is important for us here to note that this second phase which began after WW2 includes more than just that as it showcases numerous attempts to create systematic or organized means of composing without tonality. Other composers who utilized this more systematic approach included Iannix Xenakis (also spelled Yannis Xenakis) who was a Greek-French composer, music theorist, architect and engineer. He used mathematic models in set theory, game theory and stochastic processes. His work "Metastaseis" is a fantastic example of this. [Wikipedia]
About Joseph Birch:
Composer Joseph Birch is a student of Spanish and Music at the University of South Carolina. He has studied classical guitar under Christopher Berg and is influenced by the compositional styles of Latin American guitarists. Additionally, he writes for small ensembles and choirs.
Birch can be contacted for commissions and performances at
Jmmbirch99@gmail.com or (803) 842-5217
Nemo dat quod non habet:
This piece is a venture into free atonality, also known as free chromaticism.
The main theme is contrast; tempos and dynamics as well as tonality and atonality in its passages. It is idiomatic to the guitar and heavily influenced by Latin American Guitarist/Composers of the 20th Century.
Citations:
Wikipedia:
Atonality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality
Yannis Xenakis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iannis_Xenakis
Youtube:
Schoenberg "Pierrot lunaire": https://youtu.be/bd2cBUJmDr8
Xenakis "Metastasis": https://youtu.be/SZazYFchLRI
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