“Directionality in Twelve-Tone Composition”
Christoph Neidhöfer (McGill University)
Volume 10.3 (May 2024)
The equal representation of the twelve pitch classes in the twelve-tone row poses a particular challenge: how can a twelve-tone composition convey a sense of direction while constantly cycling through the aggregate, which, unlike diatonic and most other modes, has no intrinsic pitch-class hierarchy, since all pitch classes relate to each other in exactly the same way? This video illuminates how twelve-tone composer Julius Schloss (1902–1972) developed strategies to create directionality, that is, a clear sense in the harmonic, melodic, and phrase-structural organization of the music of moving from one place to another, thereby counteracting the “static” tendency of the twelve-tone method (Adorno [1949] 2006) with its commitment to the pitch-class equilibrium in the row.
Keywords: Twelve-tone music, serialism, directionality, form, Julius Schloss