Functional Harmony and its Relationship to Schoenberg's Early Post-Tonal Music
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis argues that harmonic function did not disappear entirely the day that Schoenberg ‘freed music from the shackles of tonality.’ It is rather easy to assume that harmonic function cannot exist without tonality. However, within this thesis I aim to demonstrate a system of functional harmony that can operate independently of tonality, and to show how it can suggest form in early post-tonal music. With a focus on voice-leading, this thesis suggests there are continuities with preceding harmonic practice that current analytical methods, such as set theory and transformation theory, while making other relevant observations, miss. The approach used is built on the observation that not all interval classes are treated equally by Schoenberg. The most significant is his treatment of ic6, which still functions as we would expect it to in tonal music: by resolving in contrary motion by semitone to ic4. The ic6 can be a subset of a larger set, and, likewise, so can the ic4. The other vertical sonority that Schoenberg takes specific care with is pcset 3-12 (the augmented triad), which again functions in a way reminiscent of tonal voice-leading. One pitch class will remain in the following set, while the pitch class an ic4 higher will resolve up chromatically. Again, the initial pcset 3-12 can belong to a larger set and so can the resultant set. When functionality is viewed in this way in the early post-tonal music of Schoenberg, it highlights the use of classical formal units as described byWilliam Caplin, whereby passages act as post-tonal versions of classical formal units, such as sentences and periods, and pieces often fit standard small binary and small ternary forms. In addition to this, Kofi Agawu’s introversive semiotics, which were developed in relation to the Classical period, are also relevant when describing beginning, middle, and end paradigms in Schoenberg’s early post-tonal music. I believe it is the use of functional materials divorced from tonality, whi…
abstract: This thesis argues that harmonic function did not disappear entirely the day that Schoenberg ‘freed music from the shackles of tonality.’ It is rather easy to assume that harmonic function cannot exist without tonality. However, within this thesis I aim to demonstrate a system of functional harmony that can operate independently of tonality, and to show how it can suggest form in early post-tonal music. With a focus on voice-leading, this thesis suggests there are continuities with preceding harmonic practice that current analytical methods, such as set theory and transformation theory, while making other relevant observations, miss. The approach used is built on the observation that not all interval classes are treated equally by Schoenberg. The most significant is his treatment of ic6, which still functions as we would expect it to in tonal music: by resolving in contrary motion by semitone to ic4. The ic6 can be a subset of a larger set, and, likewise, so can the ic4. The other vertical sonority that Schoenberg takes specific care with is pcset 3-12 (the augmented triad), which again functions in a way reminiscent of tonal voice-leading. One pitch class will remain in the following set, while the pitch class an ic4 higher will resolve up chromatically. Again, the initial pcset 3-12 can belong to a larger set and so can the resultant set. When functionality is viewed in this way in the early post-tonal music of Schoenberg, it highlights the use of classical formal units as described byWilliam Caplin, whereby passages act as post-tonal versions of classical formal units, such as sentences and periods, and pieces often fit standard small binary and small ternary forms. In addition to this, Kofi Agawu’s introversive semiotics, which were developed in relation to the Classical period, are also relevant when describing beginning, middle, and end paradigms in Schoenberg’s early post-tonal music. I believe it is the use of functional materials divorced from tonality, whi…
author: Newton, Neil
license: https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:07:07Z
provider: University of Auckland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: ResearchSpace@Auckland

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property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2292/19501