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How did twelve-tone music influence concertos by Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg?

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caricature of Antonio Vivaldi — concerto Caricature of Antonio Vivaldi, pen and ink on paper by Pier Leone Ghezzi, 1723; in the Codex Ottoboni, Vatican Library, Rome. The inscription below the drawing reads, “Il Prete rosso Compositore di Musica che fece L'opera a Capranica del 1723” (“The red priest, composer of music who made the opera at Capranica [College in Rome] of 1723”).

The development of the 12-tone method by Arnold Schoenberg fundamentally transformed the structural basis of his concertos and those of his pupil, Alban Berg. By replacing traditional tonality—which relied on a central keynote—with a system where all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are related only to one another, these composers established a new principle of unification.12

In this method, a specific "row" or series of 12 tones serves as the structural backbone for a composition, dictating its melodies and harmonies. For Schoenberg, this allowed for greater mastery and freedom in his American-period works, such as the Violin Concerto, Op. 36 and the Piano Concerto, Op. 42.12

Alban Berg, while also utilizing the 12-tone system, often blended it with late 19th-century Romanticism. His Violin Concerto is a prime example of this synthesis; it achieves deep emotional and personal expression by combining 12-tone resources with symbolic and traditional musical elements, effectively bridging the gap between radical modern technique and the classical heritage.3