1914
In Music, Year I After the Rite of Spring
In 1924, Schoenberg formulated the twelve-tone method of composition. As a sign of loyalty, Schönberg's disciples adopted this new composition system. Later, it emerged that Webern had been playing with his own twelve-tone-method for some time; As early as 1911, while working on his Bagatelles for String Quartet, he had prepared a table with the 12 color notes and crossed them out while as he composed.
Schönberg would later regret that "Webern seems to have used the twelve notes in some of his compositions... without telling me."
Actually, Webern not only adopted this system, but he developed it until the extreme. At some point, he had to turn back in the direction of more extensive lines. That happened when he had carried the art of aphorism to the true limit; the next step would have been the silence. In the first instance, this was a problem for him, but he could find the answer to this structural issue in the twelve-tone method. He adopted this technique very strictly in his Op. 17, the Three Sacred Folk Songs for voice, clarinet, bass clarinet, and violin (1924).
It is often said that with his Symphony, Op. 21 (1928), Webern achieved his fully matured style, using, of course, the twelve-tone method. Schoenberg had used an organization based upon fixed series of pitches, but Webern extended this concept to include timbre and rhythm, accomplishing the total serialization.
No one in Paris was ready for that premiere of the Rite of Spring in 1913, in fact, it provoked a big scandal in the audience but, one year later, the Stravinsky’s same masterpiece was played again and then the crowd hailed the performance. With no doubt whatsoever, music in Europe was changing: The Nationalistic Music emerged early in 19th Century trying to emphasize national music elements (such as folk songs or rhythms), due a reaction against the dominance of mainstream classical music tradition. In this way, composers started to separated themselves from standards set by especially German music. Since the beginning of 20th Century, the Nationalist Music begins to be based on a deeper and more rigorous knowledge of the original folkloric sources. The rupture of the traditional tonal system together with the emergence of Impressionism and Expressionism, made easier the adoption of a new nationalist concept in which to fully develop its distinctive features (Rafael F. de Larrinoa, 2018).
On the other hand, the Second Viennese School, formed by Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern, was developing its compositional style. By the same token, the TwelveTone-Method (established in 1923), made official the previous tendency towards filling all music spectra (Alex Ross, 2008). It would be a period of constant innovations; it was the year that changed History".
Sources:
López, A. (2014). 1914. El año que cambió la historia. España: Taurus
Ross, A. (2007). The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. United States: Picador
Zweig, S. (1964). The world of yesterday: An autobiography. Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska Press.
