Lesson plan
Developing variation
In musical composition, developing variation is a formal technique in which the variations are produced through the development of existing material. The term was coined by Arnold Schoenberg, twentieth-century composer and inventor of the twelve-tone technique, who believed it was one of the most important compositional principles since around 1750: The technique has also become associated with Johannes Brahms, whom Schoenberg believed to have used it in its "most advanced state". Schoenberg distinguished this from the "unravelling" procedures of contrapuntal tonal music, but developing variation may be related to other textures and to Schoenberg's own freely atonal pieces which employ a "method of atonal developing variation each chord, line, and harmony results from the subtle alteration and recombination of musical ideas from earlier in the piece". Schoenberg also described its importance to his development of serialism. Haimo applies the concept to vertical (pitch) as well as horizontal (rhythm and permutation) transformations in twelve-tone music on the premise of "the 'unity of musical space after suggesting that Schoenberg reconciled serial organization and developing variation in the twelve-tone technique.
Article summary
In musical composition, developing variation is a formal technique in which the variations are produced through the development of existing material. The term was coined by Arnold Schoenberg, twentieth-century composer and inventor of the twelve-tone technique, who believed it was one of the most important compositional principles since around 1750: The technique has also become associated with Johannes Brahms, whom Schoenberg believed to have used it in its "most advanced state". Schoenberg distinguished this from the "unravelling" procedures of contrapuntal tonal music, but developing variation may be related to other textures and to Schoenberg's own freely atonal pieces which employ a "method of atonal developing variation each chord, line, and harmony results from the subtle alteration and recombination of musical ideas from earlier in the piece". Schoenberg also described its importance to his development of serialism. Haimo applies the concept to vertical (pitch) as well as horizontal (rhythm and permutation) transformations in twelve-tone music on the premise of "the 'unity of musical space after suggesting that Schoenberg reconciled serial organization and developing variation in the twelve-tone technique.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.