Noun: twelve-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 'Suite for Piano' is an early example of composition using the twelve-tone system";
- twelve-tone music, 12-tone music, 12-tone system
Derived forms: twelve-tone systems
Type of: serial music, serialism
Encyclopedia: Twelve-tone system