Präludium (Suite, Op. 25)

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Musical Terms (2)

• serialism English
  A compositional technique, developed by Schoenberg from around 1921, in which all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale are arranged into a fixed series (row or tone-row) and all melodic and harmonic material in a composition is derived from that row and its systematic transformations: inversion (the intervals reversed in direction), retrograde (the row backwards), and retrograde inversion (backwards and inverted), each available at all twelve transpositions. Schoenberg's first complete twelve-tone work was the Walzer from Op.23 (1923), followed by the entire Suite Op.25 (1921–23). The Piano Concerto Op.42 and the Phantasy Op.47 represent the late serial style.
  Twelve-tone music sounds more intuitive when you know the row. Before performing Op.25 or Op.33, identify the row and its four basic forms. Then locate them in the score — they appear melodically, harmonically, divided between the hands, and sometimes compressed into chords. This analytical work does not replace musical interpretation but supports it: the row is the substrate, not the surface.
• tone-row English
  Also called a twelve-tone row, series, or Grundreihe (basic row). The ordered sequence of all twelve chromatic pitches that forms the structural foundation of a twelve-tone composition. No pitch appears twice in the row until all twelve have appeared. The row is not a theme but a precompositional ordering constraint; themes, harmonies, and textures are all derived from the row in its four standard transformations (original, inversion, retrograde, retrograde inversion) at all twelve transpositions — giving 48 possible forms. Schoenberg believed the row gave atonal music the same kind of internal coherence that tonality had previously provided.
  Understanding the row analytically helps enormously when learning twelve-tone piano music, but the performance goal is always musical expression, not serial demonstration. In Op.25, the row is audible as a surface gesture in many places; in Op.42, the serial organisation is more absorbed into a lyrical, almost tonal surface. Let the row inform your understanding of phrase structure and motivic return without making it the basis of your expression.