ABSTRACT
When Schoenberg composed the rst twelve-tone piece in the summer of 1921, 1 the “ Prelude” to what would eventually become his Suite, Op. 25 (1923), he carried to a conclusion the developments in chromaticism that had begun many decades earlier. The assault of chromaticism on the tonal system had led to the nonsystem of free atonality, and now Schoenberg had developed a “method [he insisted it was not a ‘system’] of composing with twelve tones which are related only with one another.” 2
Free atonality achieved some of its effect through the use of aggregates, as we have seen, and many atonal composers seemed to have been convinced that atonality could best be achieved through some sort of regular recycling of the 12 pitch classes. But it was Schoenberg who came up with the idea of arranging the 12 pitch classes into a particular series, or row, that would remain essentially constant throughout a composition.
