Atonality
Atonality refers to a style of music that does not rely on traditional tonal structures, meaning it lacks a central note or tonic around which the composition is organized. This approach emerged in the early twentieth century as a reaction against the established harmonic conventions of the nineteenth-century Romantic period. Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg is a key figure in the development of atonality, credited with creating the first purely atonal compositions, such as "You Lean Against a Silver-Willow." Atonal music is characterized by the equal treatment of all notes, avoiding any dominant harmonies, which can make it sound disjointed or chaotic to many listeners.
While tonality remains prevalent in modern music, atonality has found its place, especially in film scores, where it can evoke tension and various emotional responses. Composers like Alban Berg and Robert Muczynski have also contributed to this genre, using atonal techniques to express complex feelings and moods. The unique nature of atonality continues to challenge and intrigue audiences, prompting ongoing exploration in both musicology and neuroscience regarding its impact on human perception and emotion.
Atonality
Atonality is a term used to describe forms of music in which functional harmony is not present as a primary structural element. Specifically, atonal music lacks a tonic, or a central note around which the composition is organized. As a result, novice listeners often perceive atonal music as random or chaotic noise. Atonality first arose as a popular form in the early twentieth century, emerging as a response to the strictly tonal nature of music composed in the nineteenth-century Romantic period. The original pioneer of atonality was Arnold Schoenberg, an Austrian composer and pianist credited with penning the first atonal musical compositions in the first decades of the twentieth century. While tonality remains the dominant approach to musical composition, atonality has become increasingly common over the years, even though most people think it sounds “strange” or “wrong.” Modern composers often use atonal passages to create sounds that evoke tension or other emotional responses in listeners.
Background
The concept of atonality is in direct opposition to tonality, which is a quality attributed to musical compositions organized around a central note called the tonic. The tonic is the particular note upon which a piece of music is most stable and restful. In tonal music, melodies and chord progressions are inherently pulled toward the tonic. This means that the music is usually pulled back to the tonic no matter what happens within a given song. In most cases, tonal music starts on the tonic and drifts away for some time before ultimately returning.
From a technical perspective, tonality involves a network of relationships between the notes, chords, and keys that make up a musical composition. Tonality first arose as a major component of Western music in the seventeenth century and remains a common element of modern music even in light of the introduction of atonality in the early twentieth century.
Tonality is often known as major-minor tonality. This is because it primarily utilizes the notes of the major and minor scales as the building blocks of chords and melodies. Tonality also makes use of optional auxiliary notes called chromatic notes. In any tonal piece of music, there exists a clear system of strong and weak relationships of both notes and chords to the tonic and a chord built upon that particular note, which is commonly known as the tonic chord. Each key also has some degree of relationship to the tonic key. This hierarchy of relationships allows the notes and chords associated with a particular key to create or resolve tension as they move toward or away from the tonic note and chord. Tensions can also be created or resolved with any movement toward or away from the tonic key. In the eighteenth century, the inherent potential for contrast and tension in tonal chord and key relationships formed the backbone of the sonata and other similar musical forms of the era.
In an aesthetic sense, tonality has a direct impact on how listeners understand music as they hear it. For example, many tonal compositions finish on the tonic. This approach helps the listener to recognize when a piece of music has reached its conclusion. In short, tonality is a crucial element of many traditional forms of music.
Overview
Atonality is an approach to musical composition that does not adhere to any established tonal hierarchies. Instead, atonality makes use of various compositional strategies that make every note equal and avoids any elements that make any particular notes or harmonies appear more dominant than others. This essentially means that atonal music scraps the idea of the tonic in favor of a system that allows for much greater tonal freedom.
The emergence of atonality in the early twentieth century was arguably the next evolutionary step in an ongoing shift in the nature of musical composition trends that began with the gradual weakening of tonal centers in the post-Romantic music of the nineteenth century. No one contributed more to the rise of atonality than Austrian composer and pianist Arnold Schoenberg. In 1908, Schoenberg wrote “You Lean Against a Silver-Willow,” a work typically regarded as the first purely atonal composition. “You Lean Against a Silver-Willow” and Schoenberg’s other early atonal works were composed without adherence to any prearranged structure. Going one step further, Schoenberg also stayed away from any musical gestures that might even suggest some form of tonality. As a result, his compositions were much different than virtually anything else being produced at the time. Schoenberg doubled down on his dedication to developing atonal music when he started exploring new theories of atonality with his Viennese students in the 1920s. One of their most notable accomplishments was the creation of twelve-tone serialism. In twelve-tone serialism, also known as the twelve-tone technique, all twelve notes of the traditional system of Western music are placed into a tone row. When using twelve-tone serialism, a composer refrains from repeating any notes until all twelve have been used and writes only using various iterations of the tone row. In this way, a composer can effectively avoid creating any tonal hierarchies. For their contributions, Schoenberg and his students became known as the Second Viennese School.
Atonal music is not always particularly popular or even pleasant to hear. People who dislike atonal music often perceive it to be a disjointed mix of random sounds with too much dissonance. One possible explanation for this reaction is that the human brain may have become conditioned to find comfort and familiarity in tonal music over time. As such, atonal music may feel strange or somehow wrong. Musicologists and neuroscientists continue investigating music's impact on the human brain and emotions. Some research using electroencephalography has indicated that atonal music’s unfamiliar and unpredictable nature increases brain activity in regions associated with uncertainty, negative emotions, and cognitive processing. This may cause confusion or discomfort, leading individuals to consciously dislike the music, though they may not fully understand why.
Nevertheless, atonality continues to have an active presence in modern music. Most notably, atonal music is regularly used in film scores as a way of evoking tension. Atonal music is often aimed at evoking specific emotional responses in listeners. Polish American composer Robert Muczynski’s Toccata Op. 15 (1961) is an example of this. Written after Muczynski was involved in a car accident, the work is intentionally designed to communicate a sense of anger or rage. Regardless of how off-putting it might be to some listeners, there is little doubt that atonality is one of the most influential developments in the history of music.
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