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Article: Atonality and beyond.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
- Article from:
- American Scholar
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Phi Beta Kappa Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Sudip Bose in his review of The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross contends that the history of Western music is a progression from tonality to atonality. There is no historical evidence for this. Western music was at its most atonal and dissonant, perhaps, during the 14th century. Many compositions that are now well-loved staples of the concert repertoire were at their premieres harshly criticized for their unbearable dissonance. Bach's church compositions were notorious for this.
The reason why audiences have been averse to "modern music" has nothing to do with dissonance, but with ...