12 tone harmony

So, I understand the basic theory behind 12 tone music as far as melody goes. But how the crap do you write a harmony for it? Is it supposed to be contrapuntal with 2 different 12 tone lines harmonizing or does only the melody have to be dodecaphonic while the harmonies just support it? Thanks in advance.

generally, the harmony is built from the tone row itself...

ie: the first three notes of the row form your first chord, the next 4 form another chord, and so on... then the trick is to make the various notes that pop up in the chords fit into your row as melodic material. It's a heavily mathematical way of composing, and you sort of have to enjoy the little puzzles and brain busters that it engenders.

generally, you will have multiple versions (transpositions, inversions, retrogrades, mirrors) of the row being played simultaneously, and often the notes of the row will skip from voice to voice (instrument to instrument) making it rather hard to keep track of.

like I said, somewhat of a puzzle situation.

For example, you might notice that notes 4 through 8 of your original tone row match perfectly with notes 9 through 12 of the 3rd transposition of the mirror inversion.. which means that if those two versions of the row are used at the same time, you don't actually have to repeat 12 notes from each row. The coinciding notes fulfill the requirement for all notes of each tone row to sound. You would only actually need to hear 20 notes instead of 24, since 4 notes are common.

generally, the harmony is built from the tone row itself...

ie: the first three notes of the row form your first chord, the next 4 form another chord, and so on... then the trick is to make the various notes that pop up in the chords fit into your row as melodic material.

Is this highly mechanical way of composing going to produce something that is beautiful to the ear as opposed to being simply neat on paper? Or is the trick to choose a tone row that is going to produce something musical given the constraints?

Raphael

Is this highly mechanical way of composing going to produce something that is beautiful to the ear as opposed to being simply neat on paper? Or is the trick to choose a tone row that is going to produce something musical given the constraints?

Raphael

well, that is up to the composer, isn't it.

one can judge the results for oneself. it either pleases you or does not.

I, for one, love the Violin Concerto of Alban Berg. I think it's one of the most emotional and meaningful works I know, but he spent an immense amount of energy developing a tone row that would be open to interpretation as "almost tonal".

That violin concerto was one of the main pieces that inspired me to start writing a dodecaphonic piece :toothygrin:

A lot of 12-tone music is really beautiful. And then some is just hard to listen to. Berg's Violin Concerto may be pretty - his Kammerkonzert surely is tough.

A lot of 12-tone music is really beautiful. And then some is just hard to listen to. Berg's Violin Concerto may be pretty - his Kammerkonzert surely is tough.

hehehe, "pretty" isn't a word I'd use to describe it... it IS beautiful.

that violin concerto just rips me up inside every time I listen to it.

Canonizing your tone row can create some interesting harmonic effects depending on the nature of your tone row. I know Anton Webern did some canonized works, or at least partly canonized.