Noun: 12-tone system
- A type of serial music introduced by Arnold Schoenberg; uses a tone row formed by the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale (and inverted or backward versions of the row)
"Schoenberg's 12-tone system revolutionized 20th-century classical music";
- twelve-tone music, 12-tone music, twelve-tone system
Derived forms: 12-tone systems
Type of: serial music, serialism
Encyclopedia: 12-tone system