Serialism

Definition:

A method of composition in which a fixed permutation, or series, of elements is referential i.e. the handling of those elements in the composition is governed, to some extent and in some manner, by the series (Griffiths, 2006).

History

In 1921 Arnold Schoenberg said to his pupil Josef Rufer, that he had ‘discovered something that will assure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years’ (Griffiths, 1990). He was referring to his discovery of Serialism.

At this time, many composers were embracing atonality. Schoenberg however, did not like the disorder and intuition involved in this style; for this reason, he created something new in reaction.

Serialism offered a way to order and control musical composition. Schoenberg, along with his pupils Berg and Webern, composed many works using this method.

12 Note Serialism

Also referred to as ‘tone row’ or ‘series’.

‘The twelve notes of the chromatic scale are arranged in a fixed order… which can be used to generate melodies and harmonies… which remains the binding of the work’.

(Griffiths, 1990).

Ways in which the series can be used and manipulated in a composition:

· Individual notes of the series can be displaced at any octave

· The series can be transposed by any interval

· The series can be inverted (turned up side down)

· The series can be heard backwards (retrograde)

Serialism’s Resurgence and Total Serialism:

The end of the Second World War saw a revival of interest in Serialism. Composers such as Roberto Gerhard from Spain, Nikos Skalkottas from Athens, American Milton Babbitt and Parisian Pierre Boulez re-explored and extending serialism at this time.

Boulez was one of the first composers to investigate the possibility of applying the rules of twelve note serialism to other musical parameters. This later became known as Total Serialism. In the first section of his work Structures for two pianos (1951), Boulez had made the break through into total serialism. He had made a series of, not only pitches, but of durations, attacks and dynamics with each aspect strictly controlled according to the serial principals.

Also in 1951, Karlheinz Stockhausen composed a work of Total Serialism. In Kreuzspiel, a work for winds, piano and percussion, the rules of serialism were applied to rhythm and dynamics.

Serialism:

‘Serialism is not a style, nor is it a system. It simply provides the composer with suggestions, suggestions in many ways less restrictive that the conventions of diatonic harmony or fugal composition’.

(Griffiths, 1990)

‘Arnold Schoenberg and his pupil Alan Berg, believed that the use of the twelve-note method need not deprive their compositions of significant and perceptible links with the forms and textures of earlier periods’.

(Whittal, 2005)

‘Composers of total serialism saw themselves as concerned primarily with structure and organization, as architects or engineers of sound’.

(Griffiths, 1990)

Although Serialism became the “favoured means of expression for high modernism” in the 1950s, it was never widely favored by ‘classical’ audiences.

(Wikipedia, 2006)

Reactions against Serialism have been said to also help produce musical movements including Minimalism and Neo Romanticism.

(Wikipedia, 2006).

Examples:

Schoenberg (1921 onwards)

Violin Concerto By Berg (1935)

Structures By Boulez (1951)

Kreuzspiel By Stockhausen 1951)

References

Griffiths, P (2006) “Serialism” Oxford University Press, retrieved July 28 2006, from http://www.grovemusic.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/shared/views/article.html?from=search&session_search_id=1029137634&hitnum=1§ion=music.25459

Griffiths, P (1990) “Modern Music”, Thames and Hudson: New York.

Toop, R (2006) “Stockhausen, Karlheinz: Compositional Techniques”, Oxford University Press, retrieved July 30 2006, from http://www.grovemusic.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/shared/views/article.html?section=music.26808.4&authstatuscode=200

Whittal, A (2005) “Berg and Schoenberg”, Universal Music Company: Australia.

Wikipedia (2006) ‘Serialism’, retrieved July 28 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serialism