The Cambridge Companion to Serialism

An authoritative guide to the multi-faceted compositional approach that underpinned twentieth-century art music from Schoenberg to Babbitt and beyond.

Martin Iddon (Edited by)

9781108716864, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 February 2023

350 pages
24.1 x 16.9 x 2.9 cm, 0.76 kg

What is serialism? Defended by enthusiastic champions and decried by horrified detractors, serialism was central to twentieth-century art music, but riven, too, by inherent contradictions. The term can be a synonym for dodecaphony, Arnold Schoenberg's 'method of composing with twelve tones which are related only to one another'. It can be more expansive, describing ways of composing systematically with parameters beyond pitch - duration, dynamic, and more - and can even stand as a sort of antonym to dodecaphony: 'Schoenberg is Dead', as Pierre Boulez once insisted. Stretched to its limits, it can describe approaches where sound can be divided into discrete parameters and later recombined to generate the new, the unexpected, beginning to blur into a further antonym, post-serialism. This Companion introduces and embraces serialism in all its dimensions and contradictions, from Schoenberg and Stravinsky to Stockhausen and Babbitt, and explores its variants and legacies in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Preface
Part I. Contexts 1: 1. Theorising serialism Catherine Nolans
2. The aesthetics of serialism Marcus Zagorski
3. Serialism in history and criticism Arnold Whittall
Part II. Composers: 4. Arnold Schoenberg and the 'Musical Idea' Jack Boss
5. Alban Berg's eclectic serialism Silvio Dos Santos
6. Rethinking late Webern Sebastian Wedler
7. Milton Babbitt and 'Total' serialism Andrew Mead
8. Pierre Boulez and the redefinition of serialism Catherine Losada
9. The serial music of Karlheinz Stockhausen Imke Misch
10. Luigi Nono and the development of serial technique Angela Ida de Benedictis and Veniero Rizzardi
11. Stravinsky's path to serialism Maureen Carr
Part III. Geographies: 12. Serialism in western Europe Mark Delaere
13. Serialism in Canada and the United States Emily Abrams Ansari
14. Serialism in central and eastern Europe Iwona Lindstedt
15. Serialism in the USSR Peter J. Schmelz
16. Serialism in Latin America Björn Heile
17. Serialism in east Asia Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Part IV. Contexts II: 18. Towards an authentic interpretation of serial music Peter O'Hagan
19. Metamorphoses of the serial (and the 'Post-Serial Question') Charles Wilson
20. Technologies and the serial attitude Jennifer Iverson
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: 20th century & contemporary classical music [AVGC6], Theory of music & musicology [AVA]