Serialism

by Arnold Whittall

From the earliest years of the 20th century composers sought ways in which to break from earlier musical traditions. Serialism is one of the most prominent innovations resulting from this. From Schoenberg to Stockhausen, Berg to Boulez, this introduction tells the story of how serialism emerged, and provides a basic outline of serial compositional techniques. • Introduces serialism - a traditionally complex but key area of music studies - in a thorough and straightforward way • Clearly and concisely describes the technical aspects of serialism, using illustrative music examples • Contains a glossary to aid readers unfamiliar with specialised vocabulary.

Genres: Music

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by Arnold Whittall aims to familiarize readers that already have a firm knowledge of music theory with serialism, from its beginnings with the Second Viennese School to later 20th-century composers in Europe and the United States. This is essentially a textbook, abounding with samples from the scores and charts and diagrams illustrating serialist composers' permutational games, but it never gets too dry and I found it enjoyable.

Nearly half of the book is dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg (as the technique's inventor), Alban Berg, and Anton Webern. Not only are there separate chapters for each of the Second Viennese School composers, but Whittall goes back and offers a second chapter for Schoenberg, noting how his later serialist works differ from his earlier ones. I found that this considerably expanded my appreciation of Schoenberg's music. Another strong point of the book's coverage is its look at Josef Matthias Hauer; many readers may already be aware that there was someone exploring twelve-tone rows independently of Schoenberg at the same time, but Whittall explains what Hauer's music was like and why his peers and later musicians found him such a mediocre composer compared to Schoenberg.

The remainder of the book consists of several chapters alternately entitled "American Counterpoints" or "European Repercussions". These trace how Schoenberg's peers and heirs used the methods he invented, taking it in new directions and sometimes eschewing uses that Schoenberg favored. A major point of Whittall's book is that even composers who expressly denied they were writing twelve-tone serialism (e.g. Elliott Carter, Iannis Xenakis, Alexander Goehr) nonetheless used techniques in a very similar spirit.

The downside of the book is that the composers after the Second Viennese School get less and less treatment, so that by the time we are past Milton Babbitt and a few Darmstadt figures (Luigi Nono, Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio), the commentary is reduced to some comparative generalities without really reflecting the richness of their art. For example, I was happy to see Per Nørgård included in Whittall's survey, but Whittall leaves out his most famous serialist technique (the so-called infinity series) for a description of a somewhat minor piano piece in his output.

Still, this is a useful book and shouldn't be left only to students in a course: ordinary fans of 20th-century modernism will also get more out of their favorite music after reading this book.

[Gort · Rating 5 out of 5]

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