The key to understanding 20th century music: On Hemitonicism and Webern's Op. 11, No. 2 & No. 3, Marco Alejandro Gutierrez

Marco Alejandro Gutierrez Hemitonicism is a system characterized by a combination of the semitone and chromaticism. It is the key to understanding the structure of Anton Webern’s music and his compositional process. It is an independent pitch system and self-sufficient. As can be said of twelve tone technique, or traditional tonal music with its characteristic management of Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant. Harmony always develops faster than form. Despite Johann Sebastian Bach’s advances in the field of harmony, his musical compositions are in older genres and styles***. It was until Ludwig van Beethoven that these advances in harmony met their match in musical form. The same can be said of the advances in harmony made by Arnold Schoenberg at the very beginning of the XX century. Much like Bach (who Schoenberg referred to as the very first twelve tone co...