Atonality - Wikipedia An example of atonal music would be Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", which is a song cycle composed in 1912 The work uses a technique called "Sprechstimme" or spoken singing, and the music is atonal, meaning that there is no clear tonal center or key
ATONAL Definition Meaning - Merriam-Webster The meaning of ATONAL is marked by avoidance of traditional musical tonality; especially : organized without reference to key or tonal center and using the tones of the chromatic scale impartially How to use atonal in a sentence
What Is Atonal Music? Definition, History, Composers Examples The term atonal refers to music that’s composed without an atonal center For example, we all know our musical system has a total of 12 tones Each tone is a half-step lower or higher than the one after or before it
Atonal Music: 3 Characteristics of Atonal Music - 2025 - MasterClass Atonal music is a style of music that does not adhere to the traditional harmonic concept of a key or mode Songs and concert pieces that anchor around a major or minor key possess tonality By contrast, atonality does not make use of the traditional scales and modes found in tonal music
What is atonal music? - Classical Music However, atonal music rips up this set of ‘rules’, taking a completely different approach, where there are no discernible keys or typical harmonies Compositions in this style may sound a bit chaotic or even downright weird compared with traditional tonal compositions, but it still takes skill to get it ‘right’ Who invented atonal music?
Atonality | Twelve-Tone, Serialism, Avant-Garde | Britannica In practice, the atonality of a composition is relative, for an atonal work may contain fragmentary passages in which tonal centres seem to exist Schoenberg’s song cycle Pierrot Lunaire (1912) and Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck (1925) are typical examples of atonal works
What is atonal in music? - California Learning Resource Network Atonal music is a type of music that does not use a tonal center, or key, to organize its melodies and harmonies This means that atonal music does not use the traditional rules of music theory, such as chords, scales, and melodies, to create a sense of tension and resolution
Definition of atonal | Words Defined Without a tonal center; lacking a harmonic structure The term "atonal" primarily originates from music theory, but it has also been used in other contexts to describe a lack of a central tone or tonality
ATONAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary People in normal conversation speak in atonal cadences because to do otherwise would be personally tiresome as well as expose them to ridicule