In music, unified field is the 'unity of musical space' created by the free use of
melodic
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...
material as
harmonic material and vice versa.
The technique is most associated with the
twelve-tone technique
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...
, created by its 'total thematicism' where a
tone-row
In music, a tone row or note row (german: Reihe or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets a ...
(melody) generates all (harmonic) material. It was also used by
Alexander Scriabin, though from a diametrically opposed direction, created by his use of extremely slow
harmonic rhythm
In music theory, harmonic rhythm, also known as harmonic tempo, is the rate at which the chords change (or progress) in a musical composition, in relation to the rate of notes. Thus a passage in common time with a stream of sixteenth notes and ch ...
which eventually led to his use of unordered
pitch-class sets, usually
hexachords (of six pitches) as harmony from which melody may also be created.
It may also be observed in
Igor Stravinsky's Russian period, such as in ''Les Noces'', derived from his use of folk melodies as generating material and influenced by shorter pieces by
Claude Debussy, such as ''Voiles'', and
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
. In
Béla Bartók's Bagatelles, and several of
Alfredo Casella
Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.
Life and career
Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a fr ...
's ''Nine Piano Pieces'' such as No. 4 'In Modo Burlesco' the close intervallic relationship between motive and chord creates or justifies the great harmonic
dissonance.
[Samson, Jim (1977). ''Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920'', . New York: W.W. Norton & Company. .]
See also
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Counterpoint
*
Polyphony
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...
*
Pitch space
In music theory, pitch spaces model relationships between pitches. These models typically use distance to model the degree of relatedness, with closely related pitches placed near one another, and less closely related pitches placed farther apa ...
Sources
{{Atonality
Post-tonal music theory
Harmony