What does atonality mean?
Atonality is a noun describing music that has no tonal center — no single note functions as the 'home' key around which melodies and harmonies revolve. Emerging prominently in the early twentieth century through composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, it marked a decisive break with centuries of Western classical tradition built on major and minor keys. Atonal music typically employs all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale with equal freedom, often producing harmonies that listeners accustomed to tonal music perceive as dissonant or unresolved. Beyond its strict musical meaning, atonality occasionally appears in figurative use to suggest a lack of order or coherence. The word carries intellectual weight in discussions of modernism and avant-garde art, and while some audiences regard atonal works as difficult or abrasive, others consider them among the most significant achievements of contemporary composition. Understanding atonality is essential to grasping the trajectory of twentieth-century music.
The absence of a key or tonal center in music; compositional practice avoiding establishment of any pitch as tonic.
"Berg's early songs occupy the transitional space between late Romanticism and full atonality."
Primarily a term of music theory and criticism.
Figuratively, an absence of harmony, order, or coherent structure.
"The essay described the political discourse of the era as a kind of rhetorical atonality."
Rarely used in the plural; when it appears, it typically refers to different varieties or instances of atonal compositional practice across composers or periods.
"The survey traced the distinct atonalities of the Second Viennese School and their American successors."
When Arnold Schoenberg abandoned musical keys in the early 1900s, critics called it chaos — today his 'chaos' sits in every conservatory curriculum as one of music's great revolutions.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of atonality
Atonality derives from the Greek-derived prefix 'a-' (meaning 'without') combined with 'tonality', which traces back through French and Italian to the Latin 'tonus' and ultimately Greek 'tonos' ('tension, tone'). The German equivalent 'Atonalität' was coined in the early twentieth century amid debates over Schoenberg's new compositional direction, and the English term followed shortly after. It shares its root with words such as 'tone', 'tonic', and 'intonation'.
Related word forms
How atonality is actually used
A technical term from music theory and criticism, generally neutral in register though sometimes carrying pejorative connotations among listeners who dislike non-tonal music. The figurative sense is rarer and usually found in literary or critical prose. Both British and American usage are identical.
Easily confused with atonality
Atonement means reparation for a wrong or sin, while atonality is a musical term for the absence of tonal center — the words share a prefix but nothing else.
There is no separate word; 'a-tonality' is simply a misreading — the term is always written as one word.