The Twelve Tone System in Context

'The Twelve-Tone System in Context' is an illustrated introduction to how Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone system works, its origins and how it influenced later composers such as Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez & Karlheinz Stockhausen.

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The twelve tone system is often regarded as 'artificial' or 'mathematical' but, in fact, there were expressive, artistic reasons for its development that had their roots the Romantic Era. This video outlines these as well as explaining how the system works in practice and how it gave rise to the integral serialism of composers such as Boulez & Stockhausen among others.

Use is made of material from my earlier video, Pythagoras & the Music of the Future III, which includes even more background and detail. https://youtu.be/ao0C5w_JNn8

N. B. It has come to my attention that there is a small editing error in the audio at 3:36 which somehow was overlooked. I apologise for this and thank the viewer who pointed it out.

The opening musical fragment is from 'Kontra-Punkte' by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1953) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_UC-fvUeiw

Also featured are excerpts from;
Franz Liszt: A Faust Symphony
Richard Wagner: Prelude to Tristan & Isolde
Arnold Schoenberg: Suite für Klavier Op. 25
Anton Webern: Concerto for Nine Instruments Op. 24
(all the foregoing digitally rendered by Robert Lennon)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gruppen for Three Orchestras No. 6 (1957) Ryan Power; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ie56qP742w
Pierre Boulez: Répons for six soloists , Instrumental Ensemble and Electronics (1980…) Soundcraft 28; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwt3ERYFQZs

Check out my recent videos for more on music theory/history and virtual orchestral music production : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGZTxQG9kSfIwcUvdJ0uBMA/videos



#arnoldschoenberg #albanberg #antonwebern