How did Anton Webern's Stefan George songs mark a change toward atonality?

Anton Webern’s songs based on the poetry of Stefan George, composed between 1908 and 1909, represent a pivotal shift in his creative development. While his earlier works, such as the Passacaglia (1908), remained rooted in traditional tonality, the Stefan George songs marked his entry into the realm of music no longer governed by a fixed tonal center.1

This transition was part of a broader exploration of atonality—a revolutionary concept that rejects the necessity of a central key to organize pitches and harmonies. By moving away from the functional harmony that had defined Western art music for centuries, Webern began to prioritize new methods of structural coherence, such as melodic fragmentation, wide intervallic leaps, and the innovative use of dissonance and timbre. This period initiated a style characterized by extreme conciseness and intense expression, setting the stage for his later contributions to the 12-tone Viennese school.12