Twelve-Tone Tonality [Hardcover]

George Perle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1978

In this classic work, George Perle argues that the seemingly disparate styles of post-triadic music in fact share common structural elements. These elements collectively imply a new tonality as "natural" and coherent as the major-minor tonality that was the basis of a common musical language in the past. His book describes the foundational assumptions of this post-diatonic tonality and illustrates its compositional functions with numerous musical examples.
The second edition of Twelve-Tone Tonality is enlarged by eleven new chapters, some of which are "postscripts" to earlier chapters--clarifying, elucidating, and expanding upon concepts discussed in the original edition. Others discuss new developments in the theory and practice of twelve-tone tonality, including voice-leading implications of the system and dissonance treatment.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Schoenberg would have been fascinated by this book, with its outstanding intellectual vision and its steps towards a reconciliation between notions of tonality and twentieth-century pitch structure." -- Jonathan Dunsby, Music and Letters

"The precompositional system Perle suggests represents a major intellectual achievement and reveals insights into and a mastery of twelve-tone relationships that anyone might envy." -- Bo H. Alphonce, Journal of Music Theory --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

George Perle is a distinguished composer and Professor Emeritus of Music at the City University of New York. His books include Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern (Sixth Edition, California, 1991); The Operas of Alban Berg, Volume 1, Wozzeck (California, 1980) and Volume 2, Lulu (California, 1985); and The Listening Composer (California, 1990). He has been a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr (June 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520033876
• ISBN-13: 978-0520033870
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,131,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very technical description of how Perle composes music with 12 tone sets, January 25, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twelve-Tone Tonality, Second edition (Hardcover)

This book should really be titled "My method of composing with 12 tones". Because it is George Perle's account of how he composes serial music. The examples are taken from his music and a few other like minded folks, but it is not a general description of how composers such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, or anyone else wrote serial music.

There is nothing wrong with writing a book like this. Many people admire Perle's music and love working through a very technical book like this. Certainly, the music puzzle solvers will get a big kick out of all the ways of manipulating all of the set possibilities.

However, the general music lover will simply be overwhelmed. Can you hear the stuff Perle is talking about? Some say they can. I think Perle's method does provide aural structures that gain a certain kind of priority and in that way function as a kind of "tonality" (the traditional way of producing a hierarchy of pitches in a key). Still, the average music listener will not have the understanding or listening chops to get at what Perle is going after. But do they really get Berg or Webern?

So, if you really want to dig into one man's view of a way to work 12-tone sets into music, this could be an interesting book for you. If not, then turn to something else. Maybe Perle's "Serial Composition and Atonality" would be more appropriate and useful to you.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting But Dense, February 4, 2011

By 

P. Makk "PopcornBubbleRay" (Indiana) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Twelve-Tone Tonality, Second edition (Hardcover)

I find Perle's extension (and refinements, which were much needed) of the idea of dodecaphonic music to be really and truly genius. Incredibly fascinating for both composers and musicians just interested in theoretical oddities. I do, however, think this book could've used some editing. Some of the concepts Perle presents could use more thorough explanations and some could use substantially less. Also, I feel that the order of the first few chapters could've been juggled a bit to build more cleanly upon one another. If you can slog your way through this one though, you'll have some really fresh and exciting compositional ideas as well as a renewed appreciation for the potential of the twelve-tone idiom.

5 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very Tough Read, but very rewarding, April 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Twelve-Tone Tonality, Second edition (Hardcover)

A very good book, but you will need patience to
read it. However, once you have understood the
concepts, the amazing structures inherent in the
12-tone scale become apparent. I am presently
working on an extension of the theory to N-fold
divisions of the octave