The Second Viennese School: atonality, series and legacy
MUSIC HISTORY
Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: a historical frame for twentieth-century repertoire without forcing the voice, with Adeline Toniutti's CALYP pedagogy.
Source Jean Mislin · Musicologist, organist and choral conductor · teacher of Adeline Toniutti As part of Adeline Toniutti's research
What is the Second Viennese School in music?
The Second Viennese School names the triad Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945). Between 1908 and 1923 they move from free atonality to twelve-tone technique: composition based on twelve tones related only to one another. For the singer, this is the historical frame for Pierrot lunaire, Wozzeck and Sprechgesang without forcing the voice, in the teaching line of Adeline Toniutti at CALYP.
From equal temperament to the atonal break
Until the eighteenth century, unequal temperament limited modulation. Equal temperament (Werckmeister, 1691; Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier) opened every key. In the nineteenth century, chromaticism (diminished sevenths, remote modulations, unresolved tones) made tonality unstable: Liszt wrote a Bagatelle without Tonality.
Early in the twentieth century, several paths appear: modes, folklore, polytonality, neoclassicism. Schoenberg, Berg and Webern choose the generalization of chromaticism toward atonality: refusal of a tonal pole, a radical break even as it continues historical evolution. Research spans chiefly 1906 to 1923.
Schoenberg: from Wagner to twelve-tone method
Born in Vienna, largely self-taught, Schoenberg played violin and chamber music. Early works are shaped by Brahms and especially Wagner. In 1897 he studies counterpoint with Zemlinsky. From 1904, Berg and Webern gather around him; in 1910-11 he writes his Theory of Harmony.
In 1908 the Second String Quartet with voice (last two movements) enters atonality: « All the barriers of an aesthetic of the past are broken. » In 1912, Pierrot lunaire experiments with Sprechgesang (speech-song) and adapts atonal writing to older forms (lied, waltz, barcarolle, fugue, passacaglia). Until 1923 he composes little while elaborating the twelve-tone method, applied in the Waltz of the Five Piano Pieces op. 23. Dismissed in Berlin before Hitler's rise, he goes to Paris then the United States; he dies in Los Angeles in 1951. Major vocal works: Gurrelieder, Erwartung, Moses und Aron, A Survivor from Warsaw (1947).
Principles of serial music
In the tonal system a strict hierarchy among scale degrees creates the feeling of key. With a twelve-tone series, Schoenberg establishes strict equality among the twelve chromatic pitches. The series (basic form, Grundgestalt) is an ordered row: no pitch is reused before the others; B-flat equals A-sharp; the octave equals the pitch itself.
Three further forms: retrograde (Krebs), inversion (Umkehrung), retrograde inversion (Krebsumkehrung). Transposable on eleven other degrees, they yield 48 melodic possibilities. One then rhythms, accompanies and builds chords from the series. From 1924, Berg and Webern follow: the gap widens between Vienna and other musical capitals.
Berg and Webern: two distinct legacies
Alban Berg, free pupil of Schoenberg from 1904, stays linked to post-Romanticism while adopting twelve-tone technique. Expression comes first. The opera Wozzeck (composed 1917-1922, premiered Berlin 1925) stands with Debussy's Pelléas as a major early-century lyric event. He softens the series: the Violin Concerto (1935, « to the memory of an angel ») rests largely on triads. Late life devoted to Lulu; death on 24 December 1935.
Anton Webern, doctor of musicology (thesis on Isaac's Choralis Constantinus, 1906), Schoenberg pupil since 1904, keeps traditional forms (passacaglia, canon, symphony) despite atonality. Extreme concentration, small forms, tone-colour melody (Klangfarbenmelodie). The series of his Konzert op. 24 divides into four groups of three notes. Killed by mistake in 1945, after 1950 he becomes the model for Darmstadt and Boulez (series extended to durations, dynamics, timbres).
Timeline and key works
- 1904: Berg and Webern gather around Schoenberg in Vienna.
- 1908: atonality in the Second Quartet; Webern's first atonal works.
- 1912: Pierrot lunaire; Sprechgesang.
- 1917-1925: composition then premiere of Wozzeck in Berlin.
- 1923: twelve-tone method (op. 23); Piano Suite op. 25.
- 1935: Berg's Violin Concerto; Berg's death.
- 1945-1951: Webern's death; Schoenberg dies in Los Angeles.
- around 1950: Webern as model for the young generation (Boulez, total serialism).
Other vocal landmarks: Erwartung (1909), Die glückliche Hand, Moses und Aron, Ode to Napoleon, A Survivor from Warsaw; many lieder by Berg and Webern.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the Second Viennese School
Who makes up the Second Viennese School?
Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern, gathered in Vienna around 1904, then around atonality (1908) and twelve-tone technique (1923).
What is the difference between atonality and twelve-tone technique?
Atonality refuses a tonal pole (from 1908). Twelve-tone technique organizes the twelve pitches in a series to avoid tonal hierarchy, as rigorous as the old harmonic language.
What is Sprechgesang?
Speech-song tried by Schoenberg in Pierrot lunaire (1912): notated pitch and rhythm, production between speech and song, without forcing the larynx.
How do Berg and Webern differ?
Berg softens the series and stays post-Romantic (expression, Wozzeck). Webern pushes rigor, concentration and tone-colour melody; model for Darmstadt after 1950.
Sources and quotations
Landmarks and quotations for further reading.
- Jean Mislin: musicologist, organist and choral conductor, teacher of Adeline Toniutti. Notes used within Adeline Toniutti's research.
- Arnold Schoenberg: « All the barriers of an aesthetic of the past are broken »; twelve-tone composition method; series forms (Grundgestalt, Krebs, Umkehrung).
- Hans Stückenschmidt: on the immediate effect of Berg's music on the naïve listener (about Wozzeck).
GO FURTHER
In the music history cluster
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Approach the Second Viennese School with a healthy vocal gesture
Atonality, Sprechgesang and expressionism: link history to technique and vocal health with the CALYP team.