ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that one such concept, multitonality, leads to incorrect and exaggerated readings of some of Schoenberg's most original tonal compositions. Arnold Schoenberg is so closely associated with the development of atonality and the twelve-tone system that his earlier tonal music, which is sizeable, tends to be considered primarily in relation to his later work. The idea that Schoenberg's more advanced tonal compositions fundamentally undermine these conventions fits neatly with recent efforts to expand the general concept of tonality to include more varied and ambiguous types. Schoenberg acknowledges that schwebende Tonalitat is too elusive to pin down precisely, his remarks do indicate that it depends upon one of two possible conditions: either the tonic is implied without being explicitly stated, or the harmonic motion is "suspended" uncertainly between two keys sharing common chords.
