The Genesis of a Specific Twelve-Tone System in the Works of Varese

Abstract

The phenomenon according to which the composer considers it as a basic and decisive question how to interpret the existence of the twelve tempered semitones and how to formulate his position and relationship with this tonal structure can be first observed at the time around the turn of the century. This question seems to have been the main compositional problem of the first third of the 20th century, but it has remained, as a basic issue further enriched by the experiences of the following years, and modified by the examination of other musical parameters an unavoidable consideration in the theoretical and historical examination of Western art music to the present day. Although the endeavours aimed at abandoning the traditional restrictions of the twelve-tone system are not part of a single, unbroken line in music history and indeed, the suggested manners of solution are widely differing, these often contradictory trends stem from a common source. All of them have experienced the insufficiency of the twelve-tone system and a sort of exhaustion of its possibilities, having recognized the possibility of creating tone-structures artificially; and parallel with all this a false notion has also taken root according to which the restricting, stiffening tendencies of European art music traditions are essential features inherent in the tonal system itself. Even the slightest differences in the attitudes to the twelve-tone system have produced significant and far-reaching consequences in compositional practice to such an extent that in many cases their only feature in common is the twelve-tone system as a mutual point of reference. Even so, it is perhaps safe to say that the most important single development in music at the turn of the century is the simultaneous resurrection of these endeavours. Supplemented with certain other musical phenomena (e.g. metrics, form etc.), it may be considered an epoch-making element, a historical dividing line.