# first twelve-tone technique compositions?



## vlncto (Nov 26, 2012)

I recently bought a small collection of autograph manuscripts and printed scores of the German composer Anton Bauer (1893-1950). Nowadays he is nearly forgotten and - if -only remembered for collecting and preserving Bavarian folk songs and melodies. But in my collection I also found a printed score of a "Twelve tone music, for piano" which dates from 1926. I am not very familiar with the history of the twwlve tone technique, but it seems that Anton Bauer early adopted the ideas of Schoenberg. I checked an online list of dodecaphonic compositions and beside the first works by Alban Berg or Anton Webern there no earlier works in this technique. So could this Bauer composition be one of the first dodecaphonic compositions ever? Or did a lot of little known composers write in that technique around 1925 and are now just forgotten? I would be grateful for some information on the history of dodecaphonic compositions and an evaluation how interesting the Bauer composition could be for the music history.


----------



## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

Josef Matthias Hauer was also experimenting some 12-tone techniques independently of Schoenberg.

Very interesting composer, actually.


----------



## Myriadi (Mar 6, 2016)

Here's a blog post by Ian Pace which you may find interesting:
https://ianpace.wordpress.com/2014/...oenberg-and-the-origins-of-twelve-tone-music/

The piece he includes a performance of, Golyshev's string trio, is a hauntingly beautiful work which features 12-tone techniques and a serial approach to durations - in 1914. However, Golyshev's life and work remain very poorly researched (and his music is all apparently gone, apart from the trio), so the dating may not be secure.


----------



## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Lenny said:


> Josef Matthias Hauer was also experimenting some 12-tone techniques independently of Schoenberg.
> 
> Very interesting composer, actually.


Big, big fan of Hauer.


----------



## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

I believe the first complete dodecaphonic composition was Schoenberg's op. 11 (1909).


----------



## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Omicron9 said:


> I believe the first complete dodecaphonic composition was Schoenberg's op. 11 (1909).


Op. 11 is among the first in which Schoenberg abandoned tonality more or less definitively, but it is not a 12-tone composition. That comes in op. 25.


----------



## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

Eschbeg said:


> Op. 11 is among the first in which Schoenberg abandoned tonality more or less definitively, but it is not a 12-tone composition. That comes in op. 25.


My mistake; I think you're correct.


----------



## vlncto (Nov 26, 2012)

I quickly checked the Wikipedia entries before I wrote this thread here and it says that Schoenberg "invented" the Dodecaphonie in 1921 and another Wikipedia entry of dodecaphonic compositions lists not a handful of compositions before 1926. So "my" Anton Bauer composition could be nevertheless one of the very first works in this technique. The heading of the score says explicitly: "The melodies of this composition are constructed by the principles of the twelve tone music."


----------



## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

vlncto said:


> I quickly checked the Wikipedia entries before I wrote this thread here and it says that Schoenberg "invented" the Dodecaphonie in 1921 and another Wikipedia entry of dodecaphonic compositions lists not a handful of compositions before 1926. So "my" Anton Bauer composition could be nevertheless one of the very first works in this technique. The heading of the score says explicitly: "The melodies of this composition are constructed by the principles of the twelve tone music."


I'm quite curious about this composer, never heard about him, I wrote you a PM


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

If the Schoenberg work above is not considered to be 12-tone, I don't see how the Hauer piece can be. The latter is not something I would replay, but I can see why others would like it.


----------



## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

DaveM said:


> If the Schoenberg work above is not considered to be 12-tone, I don't see how the Hauer piece can be.


The Hauer piece features a consistently recurring 12-pitch sequence (Bb Eb F Db G E A C F# D B Ab). The Schoenberg piece doesn't.


----------



## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Eschbeg said:


> Op. 11 is among the first in which Schoenberg abandoned tonality more or less definitively, but it is not a 12-tone composition. That comes in op. 25.


I must amend the above statement: op. 25 is Schoenberg's first fully 12-tone work, but his op. 23 (Five Pieces for Piano) and op. 24 (Serenade) feature individual 12-tone movements. Both works still come after Hauer's _Nomos_.


----------



## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

According to this page, Schoenberg's Op. 19, written in 1913, contains the first 12-tone technique.


----------



## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Tchaikov6 said:


> According to this page, Schoenberg's Op. 19, written in 1913, contains the first 12-tone technique.


I'm looking at the Sehr langsame movement, one of the two movements from op. 19 mentioned, and so far I'm not seeing a recurring tone row. I see that the first measure more or less exhausts all twelve pitches but I'm not seeing how this pattern is continued beyond that. Anyone else tried analyzing this thing, or know of an analysis that discusses its dodecaphony?


----------



## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

It looks like the dodecaphonic, non-tonal center of history is subject to interpretation. But the music is fascinating nevertheless.


----------

