Schoenberg was a fiddle player

POL wrote:

>Carl: the idea that consonance is not important in serialism is very
>odd. Sorry, can't let that one pass!

Carl replied:

Sorry, maybe I should have specified *atonal* serialism. Insomuchas
Norman Henry insists the subject of the last fugue in the WTC can be
viewed as a tone row...

But I don't really know. Do you make a distinction between serialism
and atonal serialism? If so, can you offer a definition of serialism,
and a definition of atonality? What I read of Schonberg (not much) I
thought I understood, and it seemed like nonsense to me. Since then
I've heard at least 10 different people speak on what they thought
serialism was, and they all said different things, and all of it still
seemed like nonsense to me.

What I've heard of serialist music (not much), seeemed like nonsense
to me.