 Expressionism started in the early 1900s in

Germany.
 The main characteristic of the style is that it presents
subjects with a rather distorted form to express a
personal emotion.
 Distorted forms, facial expressions, and movements
are used to evoke moods and ideas.
 Characterized by its intense and emotional style
 Much tension which may sound rather edgy(nervous)
to people who are used to listening to mostly
classical and popular music.
• A. Absence of a tonal center (atonality) – absence of a
tonal center
• B. Angular melody – the melody moves bigger leaps or
intervals
• C. Noticeable dissonances throughout the music. – sound
that is not pleasant to the ear.
• D. Absence of traditional harmony – not usual harmony
that is heard in music.
• E. Episodic- does not have main theme, which is
fragmented.
• F. Variety of textures – different texture in music.
• New approach to the use of pitches, which is called the
12 tone theory.
• Also referred to as serialism.
• Uses all the 12 tones.
• Composers uses 12 tones by creating a row. Spotted at
the beginning of the composition its either horizontally
or vertically.
The prime is the original row.
The retrograde is the prime form backward.
The inversion is the original row with all intervals in the row inverted
(going in the opposite direction of the original).
The retrograde inversion is the inversion retrograded (and therefore
might have more appropriately been labeled “inversion
retrograded” since “retrograde inversion” sounds like it refers to the
backward form inverted instead of the inverted form backward).
 Born on Sept. 13, 1874 in
Vienna, Australia. Known for
his atonal music, which includes
serialism, thus creating a new
method of musical composition.
 Served as mentor to Alban
Berg and Anton Webern.
 He began to compose short
pieces for violin at an early
age. Then created
compositions for trios string.
 His early works were tonal in nature.
 In his later works his melodies and harmonies
became complex until the mentioned standard
elements in melody and harmony and became less
important in his musical expressions.
 His “Three Piano Pieces, Op 11.” which he
composed in 1909 is representative of his
expressionistic style.
 His music reached its recognition in the late 1920s.
 His music was considered advanced for its time.
 With the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Schoenberg
was forced to migrate to the United States where he
resumed practice of his Jewish faith.

 In 1939, he composed “Kol Nidre Op 39,” for mixed

chorus, speaker, and orchestra. It is a prayer sung at the
start of the service for the Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom
Dippur)