serialism

noun

se·​ri·​al·​ism ˈsir-ē-ə-ˌli-zəm 

: serial music

also : the theory or practice of composing serial music

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The Bechers were recognized by the New York art world in the early ’70s for the affinity of their deadpan serialism with the aims of Minimalism. —Richard B. Woodward, WSJ, 10 Aug. 2022

An essay by Young in the accompanying booklet, though, lays out his thoughts on the limitations of serialism. —New York Times, 24 Mar. 2022

A decade after basing a whole festival on Bruckner and minimalist master John Adams, Franz Welser-Most Thursday night at Severance Music Center juxtaposed the grand Austrian symphonist with Arnold Schoenberg, the father of serialism. —Zachary Lewis, cleveland, 25 Feb. 2022

University music departments were dominated by an approach whose variants were known as atonality, twelve-tone music, and serialism. —Walter Simmons, Harper's Magazine, 25 May 2021

And the serialism and the sadness and the all of it. —Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2021

Drawing from symphonies, chamber music and conceptualism, electro-acoustic fusions, neo-romanticism and choral music, string quartets, song cycles and serialism, Reynolds embraces and expands many traditions. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Sep. 2019

Although the compositional method is related to mid-century serialism, the formula tends to yield tonal-sounding motifs, with Michael’s theme hovering around D minor. —Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 17 June 2019

Wuorinen, who marks his 80th birthday later this year, was once the orchestra’s composer-in-residence, at a time when his commitment to the principles of serialism was more orthodox and pronounced. —Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 Mar. 2018

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Word History

First Known Use

1955, in the meaning defined above