The theoretical framework of ‘Tonal Atonality’ [its original version] is due to be published shortly

by the author, Vyacheslav Kazarin, as a separate monograph.

The first section is reproduced below.

 

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 Composer  Vyacheslav Kazarin

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SECTION I

Tonal Atonality in the Context of the History of Musical Thought

 

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Chapter 1

The Crisis of Tonality and the Search for a New Universal System

 

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1.1. The Historical Problem of Universality in Music

 

The history of European music demonstrates a rare phenomenon: for two millennia, musical thought was based on just two universal systems:

1. The modal-scale system of antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

2. Functional tonality of the 17th–19th centuries.

 

A universal system is neither a style nor a school. It is a structure which:

• shapes composers’ thinking,

• shapes the acoustic nature of listeners’ perception [a new way of hearing],

• sets the model for form,

• organises time,

• becomes a cultural norm,

• ensures the predictability and stability of perception.

 

Such systems arise extremely rarely. They are not created artificially — they grow out of the ontology of culture.

 

By the beginning of the 20th century, functional tonality had exhausted its potential for universality. Its collapse led to the emergence of a multitude of specific systems, none of which was able to take its place.

 

 

1.2. The failure of 20th-century systems to live up to their universal claims

 

Following the collapse of tonality, musical culture underwent a period of intense experimentation. However, none of the new systems became universal.

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1.2.1. Dodecaphony and serialism

 

Dodecaphony proposed a strict order, but:

• lacked a centre,

• had no cultural roots,

• did not cultivate a new musical ear,

• could not be accepted by the masses.

 

It was a technique, not an ontology.

 

 

1.2.2. Spectralism

 

Spectralism proposed a new acoustic model, but:

• was limited by the physics of sound,

• lacked a universal structural form,

• had no categories of centre or memory.

 

It was an acoustic system, not a universal one.

 

 

1.2.3. Minimalism

 

Minimalism proposed a new concept of time, but:

• lacked depth of parameters,

• had no ontology,

• could not explain complex structures.

 

It was an aesthetic rather than a system.

 

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1.2.4. Post-tonality

 

Post-tonality proposed an analytical language, but:

• it lacked its own ontology,

• it did not shape a new musical ear,

• it did not offer universal categories.

 

It was a description, not a system.

 

 

1.3. The problem of the absence of a centre as a key factor in the crisis

 

All 20th-century systems share one thing in common: they failed to propose a new type of centre.

 

The centre is neither a note nor a function. The centre is:

• stability,

• a point of orientation,

• minimal entropy,

• the basis of perception.

The destruction of the centre led to:

• the disintegration of form,

• the loss of predictability,

• the disappearance of cultural norms,

• the fragmentation of musical thinking.

 

Twentieth-century music became a multitude of distinct languages, but not a unified system.

 

 

1.4. The need for a new ontology, not a new technique

 

By the beginning of the 21st century, it had become clear that:

• a new universal system cannot be a technique,

• it cannot be a style,

• it cannot be an aesthetic,

• it cannot be a set of rules.

It must be an ontology, that is, a system describing:

• the centre,

• the field,

• memory,

• gravity,

• entropy,

• time,

• space.

 

Such a system must describe the structure of musical being, rather than the structure of musical language.

 

 

1.5. The Emergence of ‘Tonal Atonality’ as a Response to a Historical Imperative

 

Vyacheslav Kazarin’s ‘Tonal Atonality’ emerges not as a specific technique, but as an ontological system capable of:

• restore the centre, but in a new form,

• create fields as acoustic environments,

• introduce memory as a structural category,

• describe form as an entropic process,

• define time as kinetics,

• describe space as topology,

• incorporate the listener into the structure of the work.

 

TA [tonal atonality] is the first system since tonality which:

• has its own ontology,

• possesses internal completeness,

• forms a new type of listening,

• is capable of describing any music,

• is rooted in culture,

• possesses the potential for universality.

 

 

1.6. Tonal Atonality as the third universal system in the history of music

 

If the modal-scale system was a vertical system, and functional tonality a horizontal system, then Tonal Atonality is a system of parameters.

 

It:

• does not destroy tonality,

• does not replicate it,

• does not oppose it.

 

It follows on from it as a new paradigm.

 

TA [being, by definition, an integral part of the consonant-tonal construct] creates ideal conditions for the generation of:

• a system of centre without tonality,

• a system of form without functions,

• a system of time without metre,

• a system of space without harmony,

• a system of memory without a theme.

 

This makes it the first genuine contender for the role of a new universal system following the tonal one.

 

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1.7. Structure of the Further Study

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The following sections of this monograph will examine:

• ontological categories of TA (Section II),

• interval fields as an acoustic medium (Section III),

• parametric architectonics (Section IV),

• the morphology of texture (Section V),

• time and kinetics (Section VI),

• the topology of space (Section VII),

• form as entropic dynamics (Section VIII),

• perception and a new type of hearing (Section IX),

• folklore and tradition as ontological layers (Section X),

• Kazarin’s literary ontology (Section XI),

• the philosophical foundations of the system (Section XII),

• the universality of TA (Section XIII),

• the future of the system (Section XIV).

 

 

SUMMARY OF SECTION I

 

Section I demonstrates:

• why tonality has ceased to be universal,

• why the 20th century did not create a new system,

• why the centre is a key category,

• why the new system must be an ontology,

• why Tonal Atonality meets these requirements.

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