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twelve-tone technique

American  

noun

Music.
  1. a modern system of tone relationships in which the 12 tones of an octave are not centered around any one tone, but are unified by a selected order of tones for a given composition.


Example Sentences

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By reputation an expert practitioner of twelve-tone technique, Lieberson had always had a secret yen for sensuous, late-Romantic harmony.

From The Guardian May 28, 2013

In Italy, the land of Verdi and Puccini, Luigi Dallapiccola, 46, is the chief disciple of Arnold Schoenberg's strange-to-the-ear twelve-tone technique.

From Time Magazine Archive

A visit to Paris shook him out of his native conservatism: he experimented with radical rhythmical structures, later with the twelve-tone technique, but absorbed only what he wanted from them and went his own way.

From Time Magazine Archive

One result was that musical ideas could not be fully developed with Stravinsky's twelve-tone technique.

From Time Magazine Archive

From Webern, Boulez derived and refined Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique to its uttermost austerity, and from Messiaen he absorbed an interest in Oriental cultures.

From Time Magazine Archive

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