• Atonalism

    Origin

    atonal + -ism

    Full definition of atonalism

    Noun

    atonalism

    (usually uncountable; plural atonalisms)
    1. The school of atonal musical composition
      • 1998, February 27, Lee Sandlin, Over Powered, No matter how melodramatic the story behind the music might be, most audiences won't buy atonalism; Arnold Schoenberg could have been devoured by escaped circus tigers while he was finishing the Variations for Orchestra and it would still get booed off the stage.
      • 2008, October 8, Charles Mcgrath, Musical Odyssey: Circus Marches as a Boy, Grand, Topical Operas as a Man, As a young composer, he wandered for years in the desert of atonalism and then, following the example of John Cage , he detoured through the wilderness of music based on an aesthetic of randomness and anarchy.
    © Wiktionary